Drifting is getting good

[John]

Drifting at night is the ticket around here right now. I was out Saturday night till about 1 and caught several nice channels and blues.

[shb]

Hey John, good to hear from you again. I tried setting some limblines for flatheads this weekend for the first time. out of 20 lines I caught 2  channels that weighed 3lbs each. I was using 9inch crappies for bait, and how those little channels got hooked I will never know.  Almost all the baits were hit but no good flats got hooked. My first instinct is too get bigger hooks, bigger tougher baits and, maybe shorten up the length of the lines so they are right on the surface with no extra line to get tangled.

What do you use for bait when you are drifting for them?

[John]

I use shad for drifting. I like rather small ones 3-4 inches in length, and hook em through the eyes. If I happen to catch bigger shad in the throw net, I cut them and like to use the head.

I do my limblining for the big flatheads in the early spring, mid March till about the first of May. If I was gonna set some out this time of year I would try to get them close to log jams or similar cover.