Boat position in the wind

First off, I have a Tracker 1448, which doesn't have nearly the weight of a bass boat to keep it from being blown around in the wind.
On windy days, when I find a piece of offshore structure or bait ball on the graph and throw out a marker bouy, then go a hundred yards upwind, by the time I grab my rod and get on the deck, I've already drifted way downwind, past the marker. I've been looking at drift socks, but I don't know how practical or effective they might be. I've also considered dropping a mushroom anchor to create drag, but I'm afraid that would spook the fish. Trying to use my trolling motor to maintain position was just frustrating.
Does anyone have any suggestions or can tell me how they approach maintaining boat position on open water?

Well, a couple of ideas...

If you're lucky enough to have any timber, stumps or stick ups in the vicinity, I use one or two of these.

http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/blakemore-8-brush-gripper/pid-19334?N=283850192&affcode=42&kwid=ps_cse&cid=PLA_001992460&kwid=productads-plaid%5E78041091558-sku%5E001992460-adType%5EPLA-device%5Ec-adid%5E51684504678

The addition of a powerpole might also help if the water is less than 8 feet deep. (and I'm a fan of the less expensive pole... i paid like 1300 for mine, sure it's not as pretty painted, but whatever, it works like a champ)

Over 8 feet, I would have no problem dropping an anchor. Fish have a short memory, even if you spook em, they will forget all about it within 20 minutes.

I also am the type that actually enjoys sticking to one are for a while. So my wife and I will usually tie up to something and maybe work that area real good for a an hour or more before moving just maybe a 100 feet, tie off again.

In a solid wind, especially anything approaching 15 mph, the trolling motor is a huge pain to deal with, it's very frustrating, even in a bass boat. I would say anchors are so cheap, why not have two of them board and just give a whirl. One at the front and one at the back on the opposite side should hold you pretty solid.

Nice looking boat btw! Don't let the wind ruin it for you.

And for the weight of your boat, I would consider, at the very least look at, one or two of these

http://www.power-pole.com/jlmarine/power-pole/micro.aspx

Crank the trolling motor highest speed and get after it, also you can already put your trolling motor in the water crank it up high and big motor idle to the bouy and jump up to the trolling motor and face the front of the boat into the wind and keep at it, trolling motor will be like an anchor that'll hold you in that place, runs down battery's quickly but beats going and fishing a mud hole out of the wind. Lol

folks offshore structure might be in the range of 15+ feet in which a power pole would be useless. I would look for a large drift sock, or an anchor to hold you in place and get it on an anchor reel so you can get it up faster and down quicker and more hassle-free.

I own one of those and I have mixed feelings about it. I had to return one because it stopped working but customer service was fairly swift. Now with my new one I have to click to button multiple times to get the anchor down. Its pretty annoying but when it works it is convenient. It also sticks up 9 feet out of your boat, so thats pretty annoying too. They are expensive. With that said, there is nothing else quite like it and its great when its working.

Another thing to think about is upgrading your trolling motor, if you have a 45lb thrust upgrade to a 70lb thrust and it will hold your light boat there much easier. Just another option

I own a Tahoe, heavier but catches wind more than a bass boat so I know your pain. I anchor off too one of the rear cleats so I can cast downwind to my target and use the trolling motor to keep from swaying back and forth. It's a quick fix and $20 for a decent anchor.

get a terrova, it will hold you pretty well against the wind

Yes a windsock will help you. You will still need to use the trolling motor but it will slow the boat down. The bigger the sock the better. I got tired of fighting the wind and bought a terrova and haven't looked back

The power pole is pretty much useless in open water over 10 feet. I have a manual pole for shallow water that uses a 3/4" fiberglass solid rod. But for deep water, no good. A Terrova would be awesome, but I don't have the boat or budget to justify the cost (er, to my wife). I have limited space in the boat so maybe a couple mushroom anchors, or maybe one sock, one anchor? In any case, it has to be a solution that's kinda inexpensive.

Thanks very much. I did the entire buildout myself. I made the steering console out of some old solid cherry cabinet doors someone gave me years ago.

^^^^^
This is good advice. Sock is least expensive "temp" fix. Bigger trolling motor helps big time!

Put your troll motor deeper in the water.

I've read that Tournament bass fishing dramatically changed fishing strategies back in the 70s. Running and gunning became popular as getting your sack full was the priority. I don't do it much myself, but anchoring and really fishing a specific location can produce great catches if you have the patience to do it.

Your boat looks so light that a windsock should be a noticeable improvement. You might even try 2 socks. You can make your own out of a scrap piece of tarp to give it a try before you buy one. The nice thing about them is that they will slow the drift in wind but don't really effect your trolling motor if you want to fish a shoreline and stay straight.

Im not trying to be a debbie downer, but am in the same situation, bought a drift sock and still got blew all over the lake. Maybe two would work, but id probably get them tangled up with each other. Ive tried anchoring and the wind just drags the anchor behind my boat. Flat side aluminums like yours and mine are just not made for open water fishing. Im in the market for a fiberglass boat to see if that will help the problem.

I went out with a guide who has a aluminum boat. it was windy. He used inexpensive rope and land scape bricks as anchors. It worked o.k. but he still had to stay on the trolling motor to make corrections, but the bricks slowed the changes down and if you lose one its only a few dollars. But darn that Terra nova looks like the way to go. Can anyone say if they have a decent reliability, with all the electronics I cant help but wonder how long the service life would be.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the fact remains, unless you're willing to tie up, fiberglass, bigger boat is the answer. Trust me, I know from experience. After two tin rigs, one of which was almost 20 feet long and would get blown around like a kite.

I think what I'll do is try the double mushrooms, one on each cleat, and if that doesn't work, then I'll add a sock. If that doesn't work, then it looks like I'll have a great excuse to upgrade to a glass boat.

my best advice for all trolling motors is to go hand control.you can keep both feet on the floor and relax better while stand up fishing ,which most serious fisherman do. hand control motors break down far less often than those with cable systems_fewer parts _easy to fix.add a simple push pull handle and you are ready to fish!it is the way to in texas _we have wind most all the time.!

There are times when I wish i my foot control was a hand lever control (like almost everytime I use it)

I had a similar problem with my alum boat, know what I did? Learned I can catch shallow fish year round In the right places and cover. If I want to fish banks in the wind I motor up wind and drift down bank, then run back up, or tie to trees or anchor. Don't let the wind ruin your day, find a way to fish it, it's not required to spend money on poles or terrovas until you are fishing big tourneys with a 19+ bass boat. But If you have a few grand to spend go ahead.

WIND SOCK - These show WIND DIRECTION at airports.
DRIFT SOCK - THIS is what anglers use in the water!

In my early boat-owner days I went through 3 small boats, two alum. and one fiberglass. I learned the value of drift socks decades ago when Lake Okeechobee was my home water and still use them today even though I have been in 20+ foot fiberglass boats for 20 years. I currently carry 3 size choices in my boat and have been known to deploy two of them at once. Nobody really needs three - I simply up-sized and kept the extra one in the boat.

Dragging anchor is a no-no according to many experts (and I agree). Even if the fish forget, you may leave a muddy trail on the bottom or tear up the cover holding them. The dragging also sounds better than it works because it can either hang up, or slip so fast that you move faster than if you had used a drift sock. I would not hesitate to use a 48 inch drift sock with your boat. It is better to have big than not enough, trust me. It only needs a short line, rarely gets hung on anything, and will weigh a lot less than adding another anchor to the boat also!

Those are great points. Thanks very much.

That's exactly what I've been doing; fishing shallow, going upwind and working my way back downwind to save battery time and not having to fight the current.
But I've also been wanting to explore deep structure and been trying to figure out how to do it in my lightweight boat. And I did mention earlier I don't have the budget for stuff like a Terrova. If I did, I'd also own a proper bass boat...

I really don't like the idea of dragging mushroom anchors, they will drag up a bunch of mud and that mud will blow right back on your spot. you can make a drift sock simply draggin a 5 gal bucket but a real drift sock is much better. Don't buy a small cheap one get a good sized one $60 bucks or so. Drag it from the bow and it will really stabilize the front of the boat and keep it from swinging all over.

I started with boats similar to yours and found I could idle the big motor just fast enough to nearly match the wind then minimize the bow swing with the drift sock and move the boat around with the trolling motor. Really works good for holding that spot on a spot.

If you wanna anchor then get a spike type that will really hold then swing on a long rope back and forth over the fish. You can control the length of the swing by letting out or pulling in rope. You will be surprised at the water you can cover swinging on a long rope with the good anchor. You can cover the whole end of a point or big rockpile for instance. No motor noise either. These are tried an true tactics from way back walleye fishing

Try these tactics before you spend thousands on a glass boat because then you won't want to pull an anchor into the new boat and get it dirty!

I found the chene anchor to work well. I have the big one and a second small one. I have 100' of anchor rope on each. The big one will hold in pretty rough stuff and not drag on the bottom like a mushroom. I also have a large drift sock to slow me down.

And I will second the bigger trolling motor. I went to a 24volt 70#... still get blown around, but I can get back to where I was faster.

http://www.basspro.com/Chene-Anchors/product/850/

I fish in an 18 foot tracker, and yes, wind is and always will be an issue with these aluminum boats. BUT... I can fish offshore structure pretty dang efficiently. You just have to have a big enough trolling motor to handle it. I've got a 24v 70 on my tracker, and can use it in up to 20-25 mph and stay in places I want, or move around against the wind. It can be done. The hard part is to learn to drive the trolling motor while doing everything...fishing, catching, releasing, retying...everything. Because, as you know....if you let off of it...you'll be blown off your spot easy. But even still, if you have the proper size trolling motor and you do have to get off of it for a minute, you can crank it up and get back on your spot quickly.

Is it ideal....no. But for my situation, the pros outweigh the cons on the alum vs glass comparison, so I do what I need to do to fish where I want to fish.

look at this videos of terrova handling the wind really well

terrova windy - YouTube


Terrova windy 2