Boat control-current and wind

I went out on the big Columbia last weekend. Water temp 40 degrees, east wind blowing 10 to 20mph down current. Strong current flows. Brrr! I was trying to jig by running the boat nose into the current, backing down maintain vertical jigging. To keep the nose straight, I had to use too much throttle on the bow mount to maintain control. The jigs would sweep too far below us and had difficulty maintaining bottom. What ended up working best was pointing the nose down stream and using the gas kicker in reverse to maintain position and proper speed. Very difficult. No fish for the day. Any other ideas to maintain boat control in these conditions?

Honestly….If i can’t control my boat for whatever reasons…I find a different pattern to fish…Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t, but you have a better chance catching fish if you’re fishing rather than trying to control the boat…

How much power does your trolling motor have?

I think I put this in the wrong forum… maybe general discussion would have been better. Anyway, 48# Autopilot on bow, 9.9 Yamaha 4-stroke power thrust on the stern. Plenty o power.

Nose forward w/ a wind sock or basic 5 gallon pail on a rope may have slowed you down enough.

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I think I put this in the wrong forum… maybe general discussion would have been better. Anyway, 48# Autopilot on bow, 9.9 Yamaha 4-stroke power thrust on the stern. Plenty o power.

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Boat control is a mother at times isn’t it?!

I think you obviously have plenty of power on the back end but not at all on the front end. A 24 volt bow mount system, probably 74# thrust, would make your life a little easier under such conditions. I also agree with the above post, if you’re fighting to maintain a specific technique and it’s just killin’ you to try to maintain proper boat control, you may switch up and try another method.

Fish mojo,

When encountering high winds like you described using your kicker is the way to go. This is what I do in situations like that, works like a charm .

Is your kicker used with the steering wheel or is it a tiller steer? I would think having it connected to the steering wheel would make it a bit harder to maneuver.