How do you position your boat for the drift?

[Fuzzy Details]

Friday night we had a good wind and some 4+ foot waves. Without any sock, my boat (29' CC with outboards) wanted to position itself so the waves were hitting the stern pushing it along. Obviously waves on the stern is not a good idea so I tried to put a sock out tied to the bow. The best it could do was position the boat so the boat was sideways to the waves. Another bad and uncomfortable drift.

I ended up pulling the sock and turning the motors so the waves quatered into the stern. The boat was moving much faster then I would like but I did not want the sock off the stern because I did not want the waves to crash the stern. I had my 10# downrigger ball on the light and it still barely kept it under.

I know I need a bigger sock but I'm curious what you swording veterans have learned in positioning.

[rollin]

we set the sea anchor at midship and take the swell. its not real comfortable sometimes, but the only way to fish our spread.

bigger lead for faster drift keeps the baits in line.

just my 0.2.

[just2fish]

FD did you try a bridle. i keep a chute in a bucket on the boat. if i have to deploy the thing it is usually tied to a bridle so i can move the point where it pulls from. rarely from the bow. more towards mid ship or just forward of that. port or starboard, i favor starboard, cause im right handed.

[Fuzzy Details]

Rollin, usually I do midship as well but the waves were just too much for that last night.

I had 2.5#'s weight on my bait and then reduced it as the weather improved.

[rollin]

wow. mustve been swift. i find that 24oz is usually ok unless its really fast and i switch to 2#.

[Captain Ollie]

Friday night's wind of NW 20+ knots (forecast said SE 5-10) just plain sucks and just makes for an uncomfortable drift in anything smaller than a yacht. When I stopped on the 52 it was like I was sitting in the middle of Haulover inlet on an outgoing full moon tide. :shock: Man I can't tell you how glad I was to be in my cat. With the wind against the current like that its pretty much impossible to get the boat to sit the way you would want it to. You just have to make the best of it. Your much better of fishing fewer lines until conditions change or you get sick of sitting in the "paint shaker" and you just bail. I can tell you that I had a couple of newbies on the boat last night and when I stopped their eyes were the size of dinner plates. I have been known to fish out there in some horrendous conditions but I try my damndest to avoid being out there in any north wind conditions. But sometimes when you listen to the idiots at NOAA you find yourself wondering how they could get it so f-ing wrong.

[RiskTaker]

Originally Posted by just2fish

FD did you try a bridle. i keep a chute in a bucket on the boat. if i have to deploy the thing it is usually tied to a bridle so i can move the point where it pulls from. rarely from the bow. more towards mid ship or just forward of that. port or starboard, i favor starboard, cause im right handed.

I agree 100% with the way Just2fish described it, with the exception of being able to fit it in a bucket, but some do. This allows you to tune the boat's position; however, you must accept the tradeoff to have another loop of line in the water, your variable bridle. (In the world of catamarans, the bridle is the "optimum solution" for an anchorage setting; otherwise, you will ceaselessly track left, then right, all the while, trashing the bottom and ultimately working your anchor(s) loose. Not something I would like to happen while sleeping overnight. No matter how you describe it: an unbridled situation is BAD, BAD, BAD. But the Bridle is the HEALER, for the Catamaran situation.) Now going back to drift fishing applications.

The method of deployment I have typically experienced was a simple attachment "fore" or midship, (this was an unbridled scenario), probably because you would like to throw the "sock" in the simplest of terms, and on the flip side to retrieve it "even faster", quite simply. Something about the KISS principle that keeps it this way. But by all means, experiment with the bridle method and if you don't like it: you can always revert right back to the Simpler Solution. We were out Friday night on a 33' Jupiter (my first time with this boat and most of the crew, so consider that vessel at the very beginning of the swordfishing learning curve): we wanted a little bit more orientation, than SSa to the waves, so I threw out a 5 gallon bucket off the bow. It looked good but did not translate into any type of effective adjustment. You have got to have the sea anchor if you need/want to adjust your natural drift position.

If you have a fish on, then get the "sea-anchor out of the water, first thing. The Captain can then hold the boat in same alignment without the boat turning out of whack. Plus if you will be moving in the direction of the fish, you need to be clear "the sock" for boat movement. Just DO it.

Most guys I see using the chutes are small ones, with the exception of Albar1. He does it right, in my opinion: (a 9 foot Paratech Sea anchor). Although for a truly good sea anchor dispatched for safety reasons, the 9 footer is still to small and you should have a 15 footer out there. (This is a 30-40' vessel application.) But for fishing purposes, this may be Overkill. So the moral of the story is this: you really should have 2 sea anchors on board. If you have none, then you are UNSAFE being offshore!

Because the right sized one will spin the boat with boat "pointed to" or at least "quartered to" the waves, when attached at the bow. Plus you will have lots of line let go, like 100' to 300'. Don't you think that I am exaggerating either, for a safety deployment. Check out: http://www.seaanchor.com/ for some good reading material.

But for fishing purposes, the sea anchor is kept as close as practical to the boat, so you don't send out lines and get them tangled. So for sure you need get used to using one. But don't be a lazy bones: get that thing out of the water fast if a fish takes a line. I hate line tangles: and I even hate more parachute tangles.

What's in your bag?

[just2fish]

RT it's a big bucket :-?) i have a 26' boat and the sea anchor at least 9' however when its deployed the diameter is about 2/3 of that. i riged it with 1' of stainless chain to the ropes and 20' of 1/2" anchor line to the boat. and if need be i have 150' of 1/2" spooled up to use as a drone.

[Relentless33]

Originally Posted by RiskTaker

So the moral of the story is this: you really should have 2 sea anchors on board. If you have none, then you are UNSAFE being offshore!

How is this?


Plus you will have lots of line let go, like 100' to 300'. Don't you think that I am exaggerating either, for a safety deployment. Check out: http://www.seaanchor.com/ for some good reading material.

Wouldn't this be interrupting your spread? If not, how would it be better than having it feet away?

Note: I am not trying to cause any difficulties or asking in any sarcasm, I am asking to increase my knowledge.

[just2fish]

R33, he talking about if you need it in an emergency, like your motors quit and the wind is blowing and the waves are crashing it will keep your bow pointed into the bad stuff and slow you drift. The chute will be lower in the water where it will be more effective cause the water is less likely to moving as fast below the surface as it would be at the surface. (i think)

[Relentless33]

Got it, thanks. We thought about the distance of the sea anchor but have had it fine with about 15-20 feet out. I have heard about much farther but see it only being trouble with lines.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[Fuzzy Details]

I have the biggest sea anchor sold at Bass Pro and as I discovered Friday Night, it is too small for my 29' boat. It would not keep the bow into the waves.

R33, Its unsafe to be offshore without a sea anchor because in the event of motor(s) failure, you need to position the boat so the bow takes the wave head on.

The second comment focused on safety. You would not put it that far from the boat to control drift. But remember that as a wave pushes the boat up, the sea anchor, if placed close to the boat, will try and prevent the rise so it may allow the wave to crash over the boat.

[just2fish]

when i use mine its around 20' from the boat and the dump line is tied to the mid ship cleat. just pull it and the whole thing flops onto the boat. maybe 10 seconds to get it out of the water. pretty good for an old guy

[Relentless33]

Correct, my misunderstanding on that one. But we run ours 20 feet away and it works fine, we use it with the yellow sea-anchor rope sold at Bass Pro Shops. And Fuzzy: You don't have the biggest one, we got ours works there (Team Numark, it's yellow) and it's sized ofr our 33' boat. They didn't have it the first two times we looked though.

[Fuzzy Details]

Well maybe they have larger ones now. I got mine a few years ago and its blue, not sure on the diameter.

Going by the website above, looks like I need a 12'. Safety items are an easy sell to the wife. Now getting her to accept the fact that I NEED a set of 80's will be a tough one.

[Relentless33]

You would rather INVEST in 80's instead of investing in another 50 and spooling both of them for that one time you get spooled and have to throw a reel over the side only to watch the next one get dumped the same way :lol: invest is the key word :twisted:



:roflmao:

[catching]

Originally Posted by Relentless33

You would rather INVEST in 80's instead of investing in another 50 and spooling both of them for that one time you get spooled and have to throw a reel over the side only to watch the next one get dumped the same way :lol: invest is the key word :twisted:



:roflmao:

Yes invest in the 80's, if a fish is dumpimg you and can realy put the heat on the fish without the line breaking; if one of my 80W gets dumped like my 50W did 130's are next ;


Jr. has not has not had a 50W dupmped on him yet.

I am thinking 130's are coming soon the way were are going :shock:

[Boboe]

Originally Posted by rollin

wow. mustve been swift. i find that 24oz is usually ok unless its really fast and i switch to 2#.

I was using 3 18oz weights one night, and my lines looked like I was fishing in a river without any lead. That's right, 54 oz of lead and my lines looked like I was trolling for blue marlin. We didn't stick with it too long that night

[Boboe]

[quote="Fuzzy Details"]I have the biggest sea anchor sold at Bass Pro and as I discovered Friday Night, it is too small for my 29' boat. It would not keep the bow into the waves.

We used a cargo parachute that they use when dumping huge crates out of C-130's for a while on our 42 footer. Finally we got a "proper" sea anchor.

[Relentless33]

SWEET, whatever works right?

where would you even get yiur hands on one of those? lol :lol: