If your trolling a creek or waterway, do you troll with the current or against it? Just asking for opinions on the subject. Do you have any other methods? For instance, like using using a driftsock to pull you along.
boys in murrell’s/pawley’s/north inlet know their flounder. trolling flap against the tide… creepin those minners along.
no flap, just find a place where the wind and current are pushing together and idle low against it.
i could be wrong, but i believe trout trolling doesn’t require such a slow speed.
That’s pretty much what we do too, but we haven’t trolled around too much lately. Maybe give it a shot this weekend and see what we can do.
Drift socks don’t pull you along. Drift socks slow your drift.
quote:
Originally posted by IM4USCDrift socks don’t pull you along. Drift socks slow your drift.
A guy was telling me they use a sock in the current on the bow, and drag about a 6’ length of chain off the stern to keep the boat straight in line with the tide? Apparently, the current pulls the sock and the chain adds a little resistence keeping it straight. He has a 14’ aluminum Jon boat. I haven’t tried this myself but imagine it wouldn’t work well if the wind had more effect on the boat than tide. (I’m assuming he has no trolling motor)
That guy is misinformed. Unless he has 6’ of chain dragging on the bottom, it is doing effectively nothing. If it is on the bottom, it is the same as dragging an anchor. It may keep the stern fairly straight during a cross wind, but current speeds and wind speed will determine that.
Upon further review, as they say, that does appear to be a novel way of maintaining your boat straight in current. However, most of the creeks/waterways (as you stated) I frequent are much too narrow to go through all of that.
As I stated, drift socks are intended to be used offshore to slow your drift over a prescribed area.
Secondly, this proposed method could result in disaster.
Most creeks in this area have bottoms littered with debris, natural or man-made. What happens if the dragging bottom chain gets hung on an obstruction?
The “pulling” drift sock is pulling you. The dragging chain is holding you back. They are fighting against each other and putting a strain on your boat hardware. Add into the equation a nearby boat tossing a large wake…it swamps you before you have an opportunity to do something, anything. You are screwed, as they say. If you have on board floats to secure to the lines prior to cutting them loose in an emergency, to be able to go back to retrieve either the sock and/or the chain, you are good to go. If not, good luck. If you are prepared to think that fast, good on you.
Bottom line, if the cost of a quality drift sock, plus the cost of quality heavy chain, plus the cost of two (2) quality retrieve floats, plus the cost of quality extra line and hardware to secure everything together, adds up to far less than the cost of a trolling motor, maybe. Not for me.
Save up for a trolling motor.
Swamping is never a good thing.
I wouldn’t do it.
Period.
Used trolling motors are very inexpensive and plentiful; even at pawn shops…
“The big one’s still swimming, let’s go.”
Thanks for the input guys! I think we’ll stick with a trolling motor lol. I also found a ton of info on line about using a drift sock and a trolling motor together. If you google “drift sock fishing techniques” you’ll see them. It does make sense in certain conditions I think when used together with the trolling motor.