I've been a boater for about 4 - 5 years and always follow the motto that experience is the best teacher. With that in mind I'm trying to peg minds with this: When we come up on a spot, we usually tie a rope to the structure to fish. But the boat will sway back and forwards side to side and we end up fishing where we were not intended to fish.

Does anyone have any smart ideas on how we should tie up our boat to stay in a spot as long as the fish stay? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Bow into the wind

Or if you have to, tie off both bow & stern. Opposite directions of course!

Tie off the bow and stern if you can. Or drop an anchor from the stern to keep the boat from swinging.

more tie off points = more stability
closer to the tie off point = more stability

tying too close and from both ends can be a hazard in rougher water though...so sometimes the sway is just something you have to deal with.

Thanks. That makes clear sense!

Tie off and trolling motor if your hitchin' post ain't workin'.

I'm thinking of an electric anchor on the back just for this reason. When I want it quiet and not using the trolling motor but I hate to pull up anchors by hand.

I went out to Ray Roberts and saw that every single tree was cannibalized by solid Zebra Mussels. I've never seen any lake that had as many zebra mussels as Ray Bob. Bad deal when you are in an inflatable. I'm sure it's rough on the paint for aluminum boat and roughs up fiberglass as well.

we use brush clippers, i position the back first and clip to a branch, then move the boat arount with the trolling motor
and clip in the front,..usually works.

Excuse me but what are brush clippers?

Giant metal paper clip with teeth.

Brush grippers

I used to tie up to trees at places like Fork, Monticello, Ray Rob, etc, but I have an i5 on my boat now and I just tap the an hor button and worry about nothing but fishing. The tm lines the nose up into the wind and holds on the waypoint. No more tying up and swinging around trees.