Madcatter and I were drifting in Benbrook yesterday, on flat bottom well away from the timber, nothing showing on the graph except bottom.

We were using the usual setup - circle hook, float on the leader, slinky weights. We kept getting hung up on the bottom. Most of the time we were able to pull the loose, but three times I was stuck and couldn't pull it loose, had to cut the line. One time I got spooled because I wasn't watching when the line was being drug out.

I know when you're drifting across depth changes that the line will pull due to drag across the bottom, but what would cause the rig to just hang up completely.

I am very curious why this happens and interested in any theories you may have.

We wound up getting some decent fish -2 ~ 25#, 2 ~ 32#. The fish were very fat, losts of shad in the water so I guess they're gorging.

I think Madcatter will be posting pictures later - plus a tale of two hooks!

Rocks

Mermaids playing tricks. They think it's some sort of payback.

Rocks on BB can be a bear... not sure what size weight you are using, but you may consider a smaller one for drifting and possibly not letting a lot of line it the depth is pretty consistent, both will minimize drag on the bottom and should result in less snagging of the bottom.

I didn't know that rocks were so prevalent on BB. Really didn't even think about rocks, but, that makes sense. I do let out a lot of line when drifting and usually use 3 oz weights. I'll try shortening and lightening up and see if that helps. Thanks for the info.

Not too sure about the mermaid theory but I'll keep a close watch!

remember that on you sonar you can tell the composition of the bottom, Strong red color is a hard bottom... green softer

How deep of water were you fishing? IMO 3oz is too much inless your drifting in 40+ fow.

Lots of things...rocks most likely, old trotlines, old water logged branches/logs sunk into mud, etc. We never drift with more than 2 oz of weight and I prefer 1.5 oz pencil weights. The narrower the weight the better IMHO.

Thanks for all of the feedback and advice. Looks like there are a few things I need to do differently.

Great info in this thread. Thanks!

Iam not a catfish expert by no means but I have fished drift on bottom a lot. The way I set up for drift on hard bottom is useing a triple swivel my main line is my heavy line and leader with hook and float is same test I use a 17 lb test line for weight so I just loose weight if hung up bad. hope that helped. You can even use a cylinder drop shot weight which
when hung up you only loose 1/2 inch of line at a time.

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I drift with weights anywhere from 1 to 3 ounces depending on wind, bait size and other factors.

I've used no rolls, egg sinkers, slinky weights of a variety of different styles, pencil lead and just about everything else.

I've fished them side by side to see what happens and compare to no end. The vast majority of the time if you're going to get hung up, you're going to get hung up. It doesn't matter how much weight you're using or what the sinker style is.

There's times the slinky weights help but it's a lot of hassle also and I've decided the benefit doesn't outweigh the hassle to make them but my opinion could change tomorrow.