I am fairly new at river fishing and have been wondering if anyone has heard of/done any drifting for cats on a river. I am in South Carolina and the river I fish has an average depth of around 8-12 ft and and most holes are around 10 to 15ft. I imagine a drift sock or two could slow you down enough but i have no idea how to keep the bait moving at my speed other than hanging just off the bottom directly under the boat(which I would think would spook them that shallow. So is this something worth pursueing or is anchoring the best bet?

If you want to drift fish , I would slip bobber rig the bait to ride just above the average depth of the bottom.

Drift with a bobber, that's what I do.

Here in central Wisconsin, drift-fishing is used big-time by walleye fishermen. Drifting with the river current using a trolling motor to maintain a vertical orientation of your line as you drift. Rigs consist of a lead-head jig of various weights and minnows for bait. A lot of incedental channel cat catches occur.

Drifting and trolling for cats is very productive. You will be suprised at the cats you will catch with this method. Yes a drift sock will slow you down and it will help you. Depending on the current you may want to use 2 drift socks. A simple carolina rig with a slip bobber about 2-3'' above the hook will help your bait stay afloat just off the bottom.You can cast your lines out in a staggered pattern to cover the most water. Also it will present your baits more than once to an area. Here is how we do it when we (Team Cat-astrophic) drift rivers. One or two drift socks, 4 rods rigged Carolina style with 65# briad and 25# 18" leaders with slip bobbers. We run 4 rods in Monster Rod holders and will cast them out at approx distances of 20yds on the 2 outside rods followed by 15yds on one inside rod and 10yds on the other inside rod. This lays down a good scent trail and presents the baits more than once to the same fish. Give it a try and see how it works for ya. Good luck and catch the big one.

I'm confused. I would think that using a drift sock in river current would tend to speed you up rather than slow you down. I frequently use a sock when drifting for walleye, but this is done on a lake where wind is the problem, not current.

Interesting...it does seem that a drift sock would increase your speed in current. Hey Ohio Catter, could you explain how you do it a little further? I must be missing something.

My bad troll into current. Was thinking about lakes. Everything else stays the same.

You can use a trolling motor to slow your drift downcurrent, use enough throttle to keep your ground speed less than the speed ofthe current.