Fall Drift Fishing: The Ultimate Fishing Technique

There is absolutely no better time of the year for drift fishing than the months of October and November for many species of freshwater fish such as small mouth bass, many species of trout, and even walleye. In small to medium sized rivers where "drift fishing" is the most effective, the fall offers some of the best fishing that can be experienced all year long. In this article I will draw upon my twenty five years of experience with fall drift fishing to outline why "drift fishing" is the ultimate technique to use when fishing for any of the aforementioned species of fish.

Let's begin with the aspect that many anglers tend to overlook which is the number of fishermen that you see on the river during the fall months. As a general rule you see many less fishermen on the river during the fall fishing season. This means that the fish experience much less fishing pressure at this time of the year than they do during the spring and summer seasons, which is a good thing for fisherman. The bottom line is that the less fishing pressure that the fish that you are attempting to catch receive, the more likely those fish are to bite whatever it is that you are offering them.
Next you have your surroundings. While "drift fishing" at any time of the year gives you the ability to be ensconced in nature while you are doing something that you enjoy (which this is a good thing), in most area's the months of October and November offer some of the best scenery that nature has to offer. Although the scenery has no impact on your ability to catch fish it is nonetheless a feature of fall drift fishing and does wonders for a fisherman's mental attitude in many cases.

Now, how about the various techniques that can be used when drift fishing and the technique that is the fishing technique to use when drift fishing during the fall of the year. Obviously, many baits, lures, and/or flies can be used successfully when drift fishing in the fall but the ultimate fishing technique to use has to be drift fishing with a live worm. I have been using this very technique with great success for more than twenty years and it has outperformed the other techniques by a rate of two to one.

The key to using this drifting technique is to rig your worm in a natural and realistic manner and to allow that worm to flow naturally with the current of the river that you are fishing. Weight is added and/or removed from you line by using split shot sinkers, with the ultimate goal being to add the perfect amount of weight so that your worm bounces or "ticks" along the bottom as it drifts with the current.

The bottom line is that fall drift fishing is incredibly productive and "drifting" a live worm is the ultimate fishing technique to use when you are on the water during the months of October and/or November.