Drift Sock?

Has anyone tried slowing the troll speed of their boat using a drift sock?

No, but I have used a redneck drift sock. Worked fine to get the big motor to troll down.

yes they are a must if your motor wont troll down. depending on the size of your boat and how fast you are going they cant be beat.

Im not sure the size of my sock but i get about .5 mph slower using it going forward.

I have heard of some people using a 5 gallon bucket but i like to be able to fold down the sock and store them away…

I have, but I ended up going with a kicker, just so the bag never got in the way. The bag worked well, but it was just another thing to forget. Forget to take it out of the water, forget to put it away and have it flop all over when running etc…

That’s just me though, but yes, it did work well.

I have been using one for 10 years on a 17 foot boat with a 115 hp motor. I use cabelas black bag in med size and it takes off 1-1.5 mph on my gps at idle.

This is a professional tool and should be used by skilled operators only. Please remember to SECURELY fasten the lanyard to a solid object on your watercraft. I got my last drift sock by backtrolling on the bottom ona rock reef on the south side of the pond. Thank you whomever.

A small sock, on a short rope, clipped to your bow eye will run under your boat and out of the way. You need to make sure you use just enough rope to get it in the water, and not enough that it can get back to the motor. It will also help keep your bow down in waves.

On a bigger boat, you can run a tandem bag setup on a rope that runs from one front cleat, under the boat, to the other front cleat, if a single bag doesn’t slow you down enough. It can be a pain to hook up, but works well and the bags stay out of the way.

You have to remember to pull them before you move or you will be donating them to somebody else when they snap off.

I have done both. The single worked great on my 16 foot boat. But, like Wimwuen stated, a kicker is a far better way to go on a bigger boat.

I have the 155 opti, and it idles at around 2mph. I think I will try the sock. So a medium sock under the bow, not behind the boat.

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I have the 155 opti, and it idles at around 2mph. I think I will try the sock. So a medium sock under the bow, not behind the boat.

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I shoould proof read better…115 Opti

With the right sized bag off your bow eye, you should be able to slow down to 1.0 or possibly less.

would it put too much pressure on the trolling motor to hang it off of?

Should you always clip it to the front of the boat when trolling?

Drift sock off the front works good but have gotten mine in the motor a couple of times. This has happened when someone else in the boat was trying to be help full with it and didnt understand how I had it set up. Guess Im saying make sure you take care of it or the other person know exactly what to do.

The drift sock can slow you down from turning if you have a lot of turns in your trolling run. You still need to make those fine speed adjustments with the main motor also. Now using the bow mount trolling motor to slow you down works great on these issues. Front of the boat will turn easy and you can make those fine speed adjustments just be changing the speed of the bow mount. Just remember that if you do decide to stop to turn the front motor off or you will be running back over all of your lines. Just another option for slowing the boat down.

Think James has a video on the tandem trolling socks in the archives somewhere.

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I have the 155 opti, and it idles at around 2mph. I think I will try the sock. So a medium sock under the bow, not behind the boat.

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I clip mine on a cleat just in front of my windshield and that way I can just stand up and grab the Blue pull line to get it in before I move or take off.

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would it put too much pressure on the trolling motor to hang it off of?

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I wouldn’t run it off the trolling motor, but that’s your call.

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would it put too much pressure on the trolling motor to hang it off of?

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yeah I wouldnt do that, theres alot of pressure when you are moving. I just use my side cleat by the bow. only draw back on the side is its alittle harder to steer since it wants to pull.

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would it put too much pressure on the trolling motor to hang it off of?

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yeah I wouldnt do that, theres alot of pressure when you are moving. I just use my side cleat by the bow. only draw back on the side is its alittle harder to steer since it wants to pull.

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That’s the beauty of using the bow eye. It centers under the boat and eliminates the pull to one side.

I might have to give that a try this year, it be nice to get out of the way too.

i,ve found that 2 small socks works a great deal better than 1 ..with 1 sock i was always vering off to 1 side or the other.. ya i watched james video and it works the best..do not tie the sock on the trolling motor