using a drift sock

[chille51]

I've seen reference on here a few times to using a drift sock when jigging. I feel like my butt heavy 17' Arima could benefit from this tactic, but want to make sure I am doing it safely and efficiently. Can someone provide an idiot's guide - what's the rigging look like, how do you deploy and retrieve, off the stern or midships etc.?

 

[Old Blue]

I wouldn't out in the salt, the thought of getting it caught in the motor isn't exactly appealing. Just shift your motor in and out of gear in reverse to slow down the drift is much more reasonable.

 

[sly_karma]

I've tried a bit, wanted to see if I could jig without the kicker running. It works when wind is the main issue, but is defeated by fast current. Went back to bumping the kicker in and out of reverse.

 

[chille51]

My boat just doesn't really like back trolling in anything but flat calm conditions. Or maybe its me that doesn't like it - the amount of water I take into the splash well doesn't make me enjoy myself. So I end up trolling more often than not, if I can't drift slow enough. Hence the interest in this concept.

 

[Squire]

I accidentally hit the like button but I’ll add my experience with one: I had a lake boat prior (20’ Regal) which didn’t lend itself to mounting a kicker and the 350 MAG MPI inboard at idle wouldn’t do less than 5 mph. I used a drift sock tied to the tow ring to slow me down to less than half of that for trolling and because it was centered it never interfered with the lines. It’s not the same application as drifting but it was effective.

 

[King Crab]

I used to use a drift sock or “sea anchor”. A few times I forgot it was out and tried to take off with it still out. (Tied off to the rear cleat).

I find back trolling with my kicker way more effective in keeping your lines straight up and down. Simple to do if you have a tiller kicker or centre console.

 

[wildthing]

couple of old buckets with a whole in the bottom try it out ....