[imonembad]

I went to Reel foot a couple of years ago and learned a cool trick for fishing in the wind. You need about 25 foot of anchor rope and a piece of log chain. The log chain size is determined by the size of your boat and the amount of wind that gives you trouble. Tie the chain to the rope on either end. Tie the loose end to your boats rear cleat. Drop over the chain and your boat will slow down. The chain will slide along the bottom when you use your trolling motor and won't get hung up. The main draw back is the chain is usally covered in mud when you bring it back on board, I keep mine in a two gallon bucket to keep all the crud out of my boat.

Good fishin,
Drew

 

[Jared]

this is an interesting idea. Thanks for sharing it

 

[Mike McKay]

i might just try that..

god knows northern waters get windy

 

[fish4funinfl]

May have to try that with my newly aquired 17' aluminum boat.

 

[imonembad]

I've tried it on everything from catfish to crappie it really works. Drew

 

[grayfox]

We used to ( and still do ) do this on the white river in Arkansas trout fishing and it does work great but we did it a little different, short piece of rope tied to a rubber tarp tie down strap and then the chain off the front of the boat. It kept your boat drifting in a straight line !!!

 

[hi steel basser]

I bought one of those drift socks from Cabelas, Like the last post said it just drifts you in a straight line. To make things worse, you can't correct your position as easy because the sock doesnt go where the boat wants to go. I'm down to trolling motor or anchor. If there's a better way, please tell me.

 

[Ouachita]

I used the log chain method in LA, but not here. It works great in mud, sand & small gravel. Our AR lakes, though, tend to be stumpy and there's often a lot of brush piles, rocks, all sorts of things to claim the chain. All it takes is to let it crawl through a V-shaped rock or stump that won't turn it loose.

I have two different size drift socks. One won't do it unless using the trolling motor with one tied to the stern. For strictly drifting (no trolling) the socks normally go out at each end of the boat, in my case a 24" at the bow, an 18" at the stern. The idea is since the bow is lighter wind will catch it and take it downwind easier. If the wind switches I can pull one in closer to keep the boat aimed right. With one sock the boat ends up bow or stern downwind, even if tied to mid-deck. It's a chore, needing two people to manage that, so I don't use them much. If you decide to use them be sure to select a pair of sock sizes matched to the boat. A drift sock 18-30" diameter (opened) will handle up to a 20' boat, varying by make and style of sock.

Without a buddy helping out it's tough to keep a bass out of the sock ropes, so keep that in mind. His job is to lift a line up out of the water to let you move under it if the bass takes off around the bow (or stern).

Now if you were to want to follow a weedline in high wind, use the larger sock tied at the stern to slow the boat, and troll to steer with no sock at the bow.

Don't do like I've done ONCE, taking off without pulling the socks in. The cleat comes off before the ski rope breaks.

Jim

 

[Oldfart9999]

On water with rocky bottoms there is a side benefit, it attracts smallmouth. Tubes, worms & gobies on the bottom are bass killers then. Sash weights work well also.
Rodney