QUERY: Float Rigs at Anchor or Drift!

Subject: QUERY: Float Rigs at Anchor or Drift! Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:18 am

Hello out there in Kitty Land! I need some feedback on some of ya'all's experience using float rigs while anchored and adrift over deeper waters (20+ feet), please? Cool

Where I fish up in Georgia, on the Flint River, near the town of Bainbridge, there are numerous deep water channels and holes where the flatheads, especially, hang during the day. Our recent trip showed my partner and I that an early dawn to 10 a.m. and a late evening bite, 6 p.m. until nightfall (sorry, I'm allergic to night fishing Sleep

) was the preferred times for success. sunny

From researching information, I have come to discover that the best bait is live small bream (caught on the river with ultralight equipment or fly fishing rigs). However, I am finding out that some "cut baits", like river shad, is superior choices for catching some of the bigger channel cats, too? study

Clue me in or refer me to whomever is the best mentor(s) on this site to help us along as we get through the rest of this hot summer months until the cooler temperatures of the fall season! Very Happy

Subject: Re: QUERY: Float Rigs at Anchor or Drift! Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:19 pm

Grumpy and Cactus Bob are the "go to guys" on floats,,maybe they will chime in on this one
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If Im missin....Im gone catfishin

Subject: Re: QUERY: Float Rigs at Anchor or Drift! Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:44 pm

reggie , i will give it a shot .......................... slipfloats can be bought in the 10 to 12 inch cigar shape or big round out of styro .... depending on the current speed and wt of the bait used is important ...... personally , i use a coke bottle with a swivel on the bottlecap as a slipfloat ... that will hold up any amount of wt i need and any size bait fish i use ........ at the bait shop , u buy stop knots in a little package , 5 to a pack i think ........ that goes on the line first , at the desired depth u want to fish ........ then a bead, then the slipfloat , then the wt (slide wt of some sort) then the hook ......................... u can move the STOPKNOT up or down the line to change the depth u present the bait ........shoot back a question if i didn't "splain" it just right ...........

Subject: More Drift Rig Information Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:55 am

Thanks Bob! I have all those basic float rigs now. How about some tactics for using them that has paid off for you?
1. Where do you find the best places to use the floating rigs?
2. At what depths do you find to be the most successful when you use these float rigs?
3. Do you find that using the float rigs at drift or at anchor to be the most effective?
4. What is the best live bait (or do you use cut bait too?) you use on the float rigs?
5. What times do you find to use the floating rigs?
6. Are the float rigs more effective than the sinker rigs in locating flatheads?
7. My partner and I are not "night fishermen". Therefore, we will be assaulting the cats in the early am and late pm times. Are we really hampering our success ratio during the summer months? It is "hotter than a pepper sprout" down here in north Florida until October. We are especially choosing to fish in the early hours of the morning (dawn until 10 am) to avoid most of the heat and sunburn.
8. We have huge lake Seminole, with tons of deep channels, holes, and rocky/wood structure, plus three main river systems (the Flint, Ochlockonee, & Apalchicola) to try all these techniques out for the big catfish. There are mainly flatheads and channel cats, with some blue catfish mixed in to enjoy! What would you suggest as a good starting point to begin our quest for the flatheads?
9. I understand that the "summer time" is catfish spawning time? Is that true for flatheads, too, or just the channels and blues?

There, that is enough questions to pester you with. Thank youo for the advice! gunfighter