Drift Sock or Kicker

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72″ Wave Tamer. That 72″ is the perfect size for pulling you tight on the anchor rope or slowing your fall off of buildings or bridges.

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Do you think the 50″ would work on my little 16.5′ Lund?

Yes, I think it would. I like that 72″ jobbie in larger boats when the current is all but gone come late summer. I think you’ll see good results with the 50″.

Wow! You can’t get a more thorough response than that…thanks James

Jim

><(((>

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If there’s anyone out there that would like to demo a set of the trolling bags, let me know. The only thing I ask in return is that you provide “before and after” trolling speeds along with your boat and motor combo. I’m located in South MPLS / Richfield…. all you have to do is pick them up and look reasonably trustworthy.

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I’m heading up this weekend and would LOVE to try this out if they’re available! This would be perfect as we have an 18.5 Starcraft with a 125. I’m either stuck a) drifting or b) using the bow-mount trolling motor as our 125 doesn’t run nearly slowly enough to use for trolling.

I work in Richfield/Bloomington, so that would be easy. Let me know with a PM if that’s a possibility.

Cheers!

If you are trying to troll across a stiff wind using a single sock on the front eye on the boat keeps the nose from wanting to swing with the wind.It worked for us great a couple years ago on Mille lacs on a windy night.South winds wanted to push the nose of the boat north but it would hold a fairly straight line with a single sock and it would roll from one side of the boat to the other as you turned around.

Thanks for the great responses James!

My Dad just purchased a 16.5ft Lunker w/ a 40hp EFI motor. The motor run’s awesome but won’t idle down past 3mph or so. This just might be the ticket to achieve those troll speeds were looking for!

Would you recommend the 2 smaller bags or could we get away with 1 larger one?

Pete

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If there’s anyone out there that would like to demo a set of the trolling bags, let me know. The only thing I ask in return is that you provide “before and after” trolling speeds along with your boat and motor combo. I’m located in South MPLS / Richfield…. all you have to do is pick them up and look reasonably trustworthy.

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I’m heading up this weekend and would LOVE to try this out if they’re available! This would be perfect as we have an 18.5 Starcraft with a 125. I’m either stuck a) drifting or b) using the bow-mount trolling motor as our 125 doesn’t run nearly slowly enough to use for trolling.

I work in Richfield/Bloomington, so that would be easy. Let me know with a PM if that’s a possibility.

Cheers!

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Of course you can borrow them. PM sent.

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Thanks for the great responses James!

My Dad just purchased a 16.5ft Lunker w/ a 40hp EFI motor. The motor run’s awesome but won’t idle down past 3mph or so. This just might be the ticket to achieve those troll speeds were looking for!

Would you recommend the 2 smaller bags or could we get away with 1 larger one?

Pete

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You can get away with one off the bow but the two smaller bags, one off each side, offer much better boat control. I’m pretty sure once you’ve tried the two bag method you’ll never go back.

How about trolling in shallow water/river situations? Have you ever experienced the bag(s) hanging on on a log or any fixed debris?

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How about trolling in shallow water/river situations? Have you ever experienced the bag(s) hanging on on a log or any fixed debris?

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No, I’ve never had that happen. The Wave Tamers don’t sink so you’d really have to get yourself in the “stuff” to run into an issue.

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How about trolling in shallow water/river situations? Have you ever experienced the bag(s) hanging on on a log or any fixed debris?

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No, I’ve never had that happen. The Wave Tamers don’t sink so you’d really have to get yourself in the “stuff” to run into an issue.

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Sounds good, I appreciate the feedback

Happy to help.

A little late jumping in on this one, but finally had a chance to get the boat out and have the motor working.

I played around on Wissota yesterday with two Minn-Kota drift socks I picked up on clearance last fall at Farm and Fleet. Tied one off each side of the bow as demonstrated in the video.

I have a 16 foot aluminum fishing boat with a 40 horse tiller and the motor runs a bit rough when trying to idle down for trolling.

Without the socks, trolling speed was 2.5 – 2.7, with the socks 1.0- 1.3. Speeds based on a handheld GPS. There wasn’t much wind to deal with.

I will most likely be using this technique in the future

When using a sock as a trolling bag make sure the sock is strong enough to be used that way. With a “V” hull boat using one trolling bag under the boat can cause directional problems when the sock moves from one side to the other under the boat. I do like the idea of rigging the sock under the boat, just make sure that it is far enough forward so it can not become tangled in the prop. It also adds some speed flexibility to your presentation if you can troll forward or backward if conditions allow. Typically the prop is not as efficient in reverse so you will see a slower speed in reverse than forward. It might be something to try, or at least get a speed reading for reference. I currently have a 19 foot I/O runabout. Using a sock or two is one way to slow the boat down when other options like trolling motors and kickers are not feasible or easily mountable. Slowest normal idle speed is 3.7 mph or so. A 40″ Wave Tamer under the boat brings it down to 1.7. A pair of 25″ socks slow it down to about 1.4 – 1.5 mph and provide much better directional control. The two disadvantages I see are the possibility of a fish getting tangled in the sock during a fight and the fuel consumption at idle is more than a small engine. A large engine may be expensive to feed, but it may be cheaper than other alternatives.