STEP 5: MAKE THE DRIFT.
The biggest mistake novice drifters make is trying to fish directly beneath the boat. The depth of the bottom often varies, even on a fairly uniform flat. If you drop your bait to the bottom on a vertical line, the bait loses contact with the bottom as you drift across the flat. Since channel cats hold on or near the bottom most of the time, a bait riding above the bottom spends a good portion of the drift out of the fish zone.

At the beginning of a drift, let out enough line to maintain a 45-degree angle from the rod tip to the point where the line enters the water. The precise length of line varies according to the depth you're fishing and the speed you're moving, but 100 feet or so is about right for most conditions. A slightly shorter line is better for shallower water and calm winds, while a longer line is needed for deeper water and a faster drift speed.

Your goal is to tick the bait along the bottom with as little added weight on the line as possible. In most situations, I don't use a sinker. The weight of the bait--for me that usually means a big chunk of congealed beef blood--and perhaps the weight of the snap swivel connecting my main line and leader, is enough to achieve the proper depth. But for deep water and strong wind, a bit of lead sometimes is necessary.

Last year while fishing Merritt Reservoir in Nebraska, a friend and I found channel cats in 50 to 65 feet of water in the main river channel. Thankfully there was almost no wind so we used the trolling motor and the sonar unit to stay on top of the fish. We also added a 1/2-ounce sinker to our standard drift rigging to maintain bottom contact. With this combination, we caught and released 12- to 18-pound channel cats all night at a depth that most drifters would think beyond their reach.

STEP 6: EVALUATE THE DRIFT.
The final and perhaps most important part of the process, and a step overlooked by most anglers. After you make the first drift through an area, answer the following questions: Did you catch fish? If not, it might be time to head to your next spot or try another drift across a different portion of the flat. If you did catch fish, try to determine where they were holding. How deep was the water? How big were the fish?

I hope you saved a waypoint on your GPS each time you hooked a fish, allowing you to work back through the same spot again. When you first begin fishing a new lake, fish as many spots as possible during your first few trips. Record a waypoint each time you catch a fish, and in a short time, you'll accumulate a milk run of productive spots that should continue to produce fish all season.

Once you gain experience--on the lake and with the technique--it's often better to hone in on small areas that hold good numbers of the size fish you're after. Sometimes I'll zero-in on a section of a flat that's only 100 yards long, drifting this short run again and again and ignoring the rest of the flat. Sometimes I might even drop the anchor and fish static baits on the bottom, but not as often as you might think. Even when fish are fairly concentrated, drifting usually is more productive than stillfishing.

Evaluation really is a never-ending process in itself. Successful drifters constantly monitor their sonar units, checking the depth and looking for catfish or baitfish. They consider, too, how the spot they're fishing differs from the surrounding area; where the cats should be and what they should be doing based on weather conditions and time of day; and how the wind speed and direction is affecting their drift. It's a lot to think about, I'll grant you, but when you're catching fish it all seems worthwhile.

*Tom Lawrence is an avid catfish angler from Papillion, Nebraska.