Drifting or trolling for channel cats.

So, I have watched all kinds of videos on Youtube trying to learn as much as I can about different tactics for catfishing. This year I would like to change it up when the sit and wait style is not producing fish. I have many questions about how to do this. Do you troll with the current or against it? When your trolling do you cast your line way out or just let it go off the side of the boat? Do you let your line drag the bottom or keep it off a little? Any help would be great. I know there are a few wise old timers out there full of wisdom (Steve & BK)

A few years back Bret Clark drifted(at night) for channels along the breaklines of the main channel with the current here in pool 8 with fillets of sunfish(skin and scales on),no lead,real slow and easy…just drop the bait and drag about 20ft behind the boat….

It worked

This is a video I did last year. It is on a Reservoir with very little current. There are a few others on Youtube if you type in Santee Cooper Rig.

http://youtu.be/6LVwmKyIpBs

There are some many things to consider when drifting/trolling rivers with current. When I do it on the Mississippi, I point my trolling motor upstream and get the speed just a tad slower than the current. Fish out the back of the boat with enough weight to keep you rig verticle…probably 4-8 oz. Rig up a three-way with a float on the hook leader just as the Santee Cooper rig is describbed. You can somewhat control where you drift witht e trolling motor but be careful, it’s easy to get squirrely if you’re not paying attention.

I fish for cats very similar to vertical jigging for walleyes. Keep in contact with the bottom by bouncing the rig and you’ll get snagged up much less than if you let it drag. Hang on to your pole because when a big channel cat hits, he’s liable to pull that rod right out of your hands.

I have never trolled for cats upstream but if the current is very slow, you might be able to do that. Steve can probably answer that one better than I.

I have always used cut bait, frogs or chicken liver. It’s a lot of fun. Good luck with whatever you do.

L8R…Ken

Cool video. Thanks

Just going to go look for Steve D’s article on drifting for cats…but I’m thinking he’s working on it now.

My cat trolling presentations have evolved over the years. I did an article in the In-Depth Outdoors Article Forum that explains what we were doing back in 2008. Bret Clark and I were both drifting and trolling back then and sharing ideas and techniques. We had pretty good success back then and if you are just starting out I would recommend trying this. Here is the link to the article: http://www.idofishing.com/forum/showflat.php/Number/895220/fpart/1/cat-tip-of-the-day-drifting-for-channel-cats

The last couple of years I have been basically doing the same thing Ken does. His video is excellent and would show you exactly how to troll.

I like stable, normal river levels for trolling. It is hard right now with the water over the banks and a fairly strong current flow. Trolling is a lot more work than just anchoring up and it is tougher with high water conditions. I have never trolled this early in the season – I find it is an excellent presentation in late summer when the shad show up. I try to follow the shad and troll through and in and around large shad pods. That time of year the cats are all done spawning and usually migrate south to the BIG water after shad.

As far as general trolling presentations. When fishing current areas I prefer to troll upstream into the current for boat control. I normally look for areas with a light current flow and try to run upstream at about .5 mph. I run a 3-way with a short sinker drop of about 12″ or so. I want enough weight so I can let out line until I make bottom contact. Then I just tap, tap, tap the bottom with the weight as I troll forward. If I lose contact I will drop some line until I make contact with the weight. When that weight taps the bottom I know I have my bait in the bottom target zone.

Follow the Santee Rig set up that Ken has in his video. I run pretty much the same Santee Rig that Ken does. I like his idea of a 2 to 1 leader ratio. The Santee Rig keeps you from getting hung up.

When I am fishing the BIG water south of Stillwater I treat it like a lake and fish pretty much the same way Ken does. I run a 3-way rig and cast out enough line and weight to get the rig to the bottom so it is just ticking the bottom as I troll. The tip of the rod should be tick – ticking the bottom and you can see it as you troll. If it is not ticking – let out line. I prefer to troll at about .5 to .75 mph. When I am trolling the BIG water I try to troll into the wind – again it is a boat control thing.

Last fall I had pretty good trolling success right at the end of the year. I had some success with flatheads and that was a lot of fun. I upsized my baits so I also needed to upsize the floats and my weights for the Santee Rigs. You need to experiment until you figure out what works for you.

I am going to add some flash and vibration to my trolling rigs this year to see if that will attract flatheads. I am going to try adding lake trolls and dodgers and flashers to see if that will lure in flatheads. I’ve got all the equipment and I am just waiting for the right river conditions. Should be fun to try something different.

I have pitched cranks for smallies and caught more cats then smallies,have caught quite a few trolling also and I was allways goin up stream with leadcore,boy do they ever hammer that crank when trolling,fun times.

Wow. Thanks for taking your time to put that together. As soon as the river settles I will give it a try. Thanks Steve

Another way to present baits in a drifting presentation is to use floats. the water is clear and the fish live in the weeds. I don’t want to drift right over them so I anchor and let the wind and current drift my floats and then I toss them back up wind/current and drift them again. With 6 baits (2 fishermen) I can cover a really big circle and action can come from anywhere.