Slowing down the wind drift....

First of all, this site rocks. Thanks to everybody. Slab, gotta order me some stuff soon.

So, I watched one of the Reelfoot vids with one of the "legends." He mentioned with the wind, he had to use the trolling motor and both anchors, front and back. They were spider rigging. I'm trying to figure out how to spider rig in the wind, with a wind sock, etc. But here's the kicker,,,,they were fishing facing into the wind. I mean, I'm not positive of that, but the trolling motor was on the bow so they must have been into the wind.

How does everybody spider rig in the wind using anchors, chains, or wind socks? Thanks again!

In to the wind. Set trolling motor less than wind speed and allow the wind to slip you backwards. Can be done bow into the wind or bow down wind and trolling motor reversed. No need for socks, chains, or anchors with this method.

Sideways to the wind, I use drift socks.

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I suspect what he was doing was going backward as wich said. He was doing it that way because Reelfoot is so full of setup's tha socks would have stayed hung up. Most of us go with the wind and deploy socks out the back thus slowing you down and only using troller to steer Boat.

https://www.cornfieldcrappiegear.com...t-paddle-set-1

I use a 5gal bucket off each corner of the stern works good

I used a sea anchor today while spider rigging in my jon boat.. I tossed it out the back of the boat & let it go about 15' behind the boat. To keep straight I tied off to a gunnel cleat & allowed enough slack to go around the motor & straight behind the boat. It kept me going slow & an occasional bump on the TM was all I needed to move along at .35-.50 mph in that wind.

Capn, I was just about to ask about 5g buckets. That's what I was about to do.

mrdux, I do have priorities...like a HDS or a i-pilot. haha

I found that on Reelfoot that chains work the best because they don't hang up on the stumps. A 5 foot length of log chain off each side of the boat tied to a rope. Let out enough to get to the speed you want, your back to the wind and it will just slowly let you slip across the area you want to fish.

I've used a gallon bucket also, drill holes in the side, to play with how much it slows you down.

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From experience I would prefer not to battle the wind especially with a 12v Tm, My 24v 80# Mg on my Tracker is more up for the job, but when its windy I prefer to head into the wind scouting until I mark enough fish then set up to drift over the areas. Its much easier on the batteries and driver this way, My rule of thumb is to use 2 five gallon buckets off the rear cleats if the wind is 10 mph or less, more than that I use a good size drift sock.

The bucket did pretty good today. The craziest thing happened at one point. The dam is so open, that the river actually started pulling me by the drift bucket.