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[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Yamamoto just posted up another one of my articles. It's a good read. The next installment will have better pictures.


http://www.insideline.net/index.php/feature-genfishing/802-the-art-of-draggin-part-one

 

[Marty Klein]

Absolutely good technique; I often use it locally when I just want to let the wind take me along [we do get some wind here in Kansas] or when I'm stopping to chow down a snack or lunch. A lot of times I will throw on a bobber set to keep the bait just off the bottom to avoid potential snags; come on, who wants to stop munching on a Ding Dong or Hammie Sammie to work a snag. Most often I will use a Chompers Twin Tail Hula Grub or a Senko style bait. Kiss the drop sock goodbye for some of the reasons you mentioned. While I try to drift thru fishy waters as a general rule, often i will just let the wind take me where it wants.

 

[Mini]

nice work Tox....but I REALLY think you need to get into "other" Great Lakes before making a statement like this:



"bottom makeup of the Great Lakes, mainly scattered rock, isolated grass and sandy bottom, which allows for extend3ed drifts and minimal fouling/breakoffs."



That may be true for the places you have fished (St Clair and Champlain) but certainly NOT true for the majority of the Great Lakes. I have lost close to 100 jigs in a day fishing on Huron (Sag Bay) or Erie while drifting and dragging....and if you ever get to the northern end of huron or Michigan (Traverse Bay area) you will notice that you dont really see much sand or weeds at all. Its mostly ROCK. Some are bigger than a house.



Also....wind has a MAJOR effect on drifting in a river. Case in point the St Clair River, which flows HEAVY amounts of water north to south, in a STIFF south wind you may drift opposite of the current or sit completely still. Usually it is just slows the boat too much to fish correctly. Thats when drift sock(s) are used to "catch" the natural current "underneath" the wind blown current to aid the boat to drift they way it should. Your bait needs to move at the same rate as the current. Sometimes your boat wont and you never feel the bait.



I have also noticed that deploying my powerpoles in deep water in the current will help when the south wind keeps you from drifting at the correct pace. I have actually considered connecting drift socks to the bottom of the power poles on certain days to get them deeper into the current. Because at times the current will vary at different depths along the water column depending on the area you are fishing and its structure or path.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Good points Mini, some things I never considered. I never meant to imply that all of the lakes were the same but everything I have fished up North including Crystal Lake (by Traverse Bay), Wisconsin and the others all were more sand and rock than what anyone down South has until you get waaay South, but I just made some general statements, I'm sure there are places on St Clair that aren't good for dragging heck, I have gone Dragging in Anna when the wind was howling and didn't use a sock, just kept the nose in the wind and let it blow me backwards. I have heard of guys putting the socks on their powerpoles and not having to drag them in and out. I never thought you could counteract the current in the river with the wind. I was dragging last year in Neeley's boat on a very windy day when he and Carlos left me to fend for myself!!:lol::lol: Those 2 were bed fishing and there is no way without poles or someone else in the boat, I could stay with them. I went out and "Drifted" not really dragging on the Little Moot. It was a blast and with the GPS, I could re-create every drift. Caught a lot of fish.



TOXIC

 

[mike chip]

good job toxic,,

mike c

 

[Mini]

So its set...you are going to Saginaw Bay then?

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Nice Job Tox

 

[Tornado]

I use a similiar technique from the back of the boat on our South Texas lakes. I actually took my all time best a 9.1 on Falcon dragging a brush hog.