is the drift sock good idea for the river fishin? i normally fish upper part of the river. as of last wknd the water was hgih n current r so darn fast i wldnt barely have extra cast into the slow moving water behind the fallen woods without using troll motor to slow down the boat. was wonderin its worth to have one for river fishin maybe get a or 2 extra cast in spot that look so darn good. was wonderin wld it be hassles if sock get stuck in fallen woods or anything like that? thanks

Yeah for sure, I use mine all the time, as a matter of fact I had mine out on saturday

I fish the upper river too. Here are a couple of techniques I use that you may want to think about using for better boat control.

Tip #1: This tip works when you are trying to cast or drift a nice piece of shoreline and the current seems to make the boat drift too fast or causes the bow to swing in or out so that you are always fighting it. Get about a 6' to 8' piece of logging chain and tie it to a piece of anchor rope. When you get lined up on your upstream piece of shoreline drop that logging chain off the bow and tie it off. It will slow up your drift and keep the bow of the boat pointed upstream so you can effectively cast the shoreline. I still use my bow mounted electric motor even with the chain out and the electric will allow you to make minor adjustments to adjust the drift. I never leave home without my drifting logging chain.

Tip #2: I do a lot of catfishing and I am anchoring upstream of promising holes and logjams. When the river gets low and the current isn't very strong on some days the wind blowing upstream will blow the back of the boat back upstream and make anchoring boat control difficult. If you want to keep your boat pointed straight upstream so you can fish off the back of the boat easier just drop a drift sock off the back of the boat and tie it off on a cleat. The drift sock will deploy in the current and hold the back of the boat nice and steady. I use this technique a lot when that south wind is blowing straight up the St Croix.

Great tips SteveD! Yeah, I hate it on those windy days when the boat drifts upstream.

Excellent tips! Thanks!

matty, we should get together and head out to the river sometime.

Wow I l try the logging chain idea. Which store usually hold them? I figures it might be cheaper than drift sock? Thanks! I surely love to fish the river now! Mabe I ll becoming a riverrat??!!

Better triple check with the National Park Service Headquarters, in St.Croix Falls...with all the special Regs for the River and New ones being added, it may not be allowed to drag anything along, thus disturbing the bottom...

Oh Bother!!

Hey Matty - I thought I would share with you a homemade windsock that I made that works pretty good on the river. I primarily use it when I have that south wind in my face and I am anchored up catfishing. I use the bucket to store my anchor in and then when I need a wind sock I just dump out my anchor and deploy the Bucket Sock. It controls my 17' Alumacraft pretty well. The pictures should help you see how I made it and you shouldn't have any trouble making one of your own. It is a lot cheaper than a store bought wind sock. Here is what it looks like deployed:



You start by taking a standard 5 gallon bucket and drilling 5 holes in the bottom with a 1 1/2" hole saw.



Then you drill out 4 evenly spaced 3/8" holes on the top edge of the bucket and run 2 pieces of rope through the holes, each rope about 6'.



Run the rope through a D ring swivel (costs about $3 at the local hardware store). Tie the ropes so that the knots are on the outside of the bucket.



Snap a D ring on the D ring swivel so you can quickly hook it to a piece of rope to tie off on your boat. Just toss the bucket off the back end of the boat, tie it off on a cleat, and it will fill up and keep your boat snug in the current and help fight the wind. It is easy to pull in and comes in handy for storing things in.

I dont think Think the dnr would look kindly disturbing those maple leaf clams dragging something. Be carefull with that might get a lashing from dnr

Thanks for the homemade idea. That's awesome!

Umm wow I think I ll try that bucket idea. Since it work on ur 17' it shld work good on my 15' boat. Thanks for the great idea!