Drift fishing

[LashCat]

You're using the wind to drift your boat and drag a carolina rig across your fishing area. You want to contol the speed of the drift with your trolling motor. Do you think you can maintain better control of the boat, speed of the drift, and contact with your bait and the bottom of the lake by positioning your boat stern into the wind and bumping the trolling motor as needed to slow the drift or bow into the wind using the same technique to achieve the same result? Ideally I like to set up perpendicular to the wind which gives both you and your partner good access to the fishing area. That works great in a light chop. But, in a stiff wind boat control is obviously more difficult but still doable. Which boat position do you think is better in a stiff wind?

[basscatraz 2001]

Having the boat nosed into the heavy wind will reduce the exposed area and allow for less use of the troller. A drift sock also will slow the drift and allow better control of the fishing area. One thing I do is look for a bank that is taking a beating by the wind and fish it especially if it has some riprap and stumps. A few weeds won't hurt either. Me and my partner have won several tournaments in a matter of a few minutes with this pattern and we just crank it up on high and do the best we can to stay off the fish, rocks and stumps. I don't look for deep structure with heavy winds, I go right up on em.

[c rig]

Turn your big motor as if you're turning into the wind. Drift sideways with the wind, using the TM to bump your position a little.