DEFINATELY USE A MARKER BOUY!!!!! Find fish on sonar and immediately throw out small orange bouy. Turn around and stay 20-30 yards away from bouy and you wont spook the school. Sometimes you will actually notice the school move towards you if several people are fishing in the boat. Ever cast and fish you reel in will pull the school closer. My favorite tactic on Cooper Lake.........

If im fishing by myself or with another experienced angler I almost never use my anchor. However, if I have my young kids with me I use it often. We live bait fish primarialy once the weather gets hot. Ive found that in hot weather you can often anchor up on a school of hybrids and catch fish for a good while. Anchoring up with young kids in the boat also gives you time to dedicate to them instead of fighting a trolling motor all day. One day I hope to be able to afford the i piolot but as of now im not afraid to use an anchor if the conditions dictate that.

Best advice is hire a guide. It will cut your learning curb. I have been out with Paul of metroplexguideservice several times. He helped me with my electronics and showed me some new tricks to work lures. There are a lot of great guides on here. Just post what lake u are going to on here and u will get alot of fees back.

Worm on a hook

Brian before I got the I-pilot I hated trolling motors. They were a comlete pain to do all I had to do. I still hate drifting when slabing. I have had about 25 trips since I got my I-pilot and I have droped my anchor 1 time. The way I fish a slab I don't think you can fish it right drifting. They are a lot of ways to catch fish.
Johnny.