Drift Socks

[Bill Ludwig]

I am looking to purchase a drift sock to slow down the boat to get to better trolling speeds. How and where do you attach the sock to on the boat. Do you need two to keep the boat going straight? Any risk of chewing the sock up in the prop? Please advise how you guys use them.
Thanks,

[FreeByrd]

Bill,
First thing you want to do is make sure you buy a "Trolling Bag" / not a drift sock. Trolling bags are made of much heavier duty material than the typical driftsock. A trolling bag can double as a driftsock, but the driftsock won't do double duty as a trolling bag for very long...

You want to attach the bags from the middle / springline cleats with just enough line to allow them to fully deploy in rough conditions / but short enough so they can't get into your props and won't be in the way of setting lines, netting fish. You'll want a trip line rigged to the back of the bag as well.

Size of the bag(s) will depend on your boat size. You will most likely want to get two smaller size bags and leave them rigged one on each side of the boat. One larger bag will tend to make most smaller boats tough to steer. The larger boats can get away with using one larger bag per side.

The best bags I know of are the Buggy Bags available online at www.amishoutfitters.com Check them out there and give Capt. Frank a call to discuss / order. 1-800-473-1748

Good Luck,
Steve Carlson

[Bill Ludwig]

Steve, great info, you mentioned a tripline. How do I set this up and where do I tie it off to?

Bill

[FreeByrd]

Bill,
There will be a loop on the back/small end of the bag to tie the tripline to. As far as where you tie it to on your boat, it just kind of depends on your boat setup. If you have a railing farther back than the springline cleat where the main line is attached, then that is likely a good spot. A rear cleat might work as long as it won't let the trip line get back far enough to get in the prop(s). Around the base of a stout (not plastic) rodholder might be an option. On my current boat I have the trip line rigged to also cleat to the middle/springline cleat. Works fine but sometimes the lines get twisted rigged this way - not really a problem and if I want to untwist them it takes about 15 seconds to bring the bag in and redeploy it.
Steve

[Pond scum]

I second the trolling bags over the drift socks for the very reasons stated by Steve.