The Drogue... drift anchor

Many of the lakes I fish often have strong winds in the afternoon; great for sailing but not for fishing in a kayak. A technique I have used for largemouth and small mouth bass on many occasions is to drag a Crawdad or Sculpin imitation on the bottom; Carolina rigged (see drawing courtesy of Berkley), using the power of the wind to push the boat, scooting the bait on the bottom.

The sinker creates a disturbance and the plastic bait generously smeared with Pro-Cures Sweet Craw Super Gel or Anise Bloody Tuna Super Gel for the sculpin, makes the bait absolutely irresistible to bass. Some of my largest fish have come from this technique; most at mid-day with full sunshine, to early afternoon after many fishermen have given up on the bite and headed for shore.

When there is too much wind, the kayak will move too fast, the bait will lift off the bottom, look unnatural and be worthless as a fish catcher.

To make the drogue work for you; simply ready your fishing gear, attach the Figure 9 Carabiner to the anchor trolley, toss the drogue overboard, adjust the line out, weave the anchor line into the ’biner and use your anchor trolley to set the speed of your drift. Start at 90 degrees to the wind then go less until you have a controlled drift of 1 mph or a little more, regardless of wind speed. This technique does not work everywhere, but it shines when you have a long flat area 10 to 30 feet deep that is adjacent to a drop off, channel or weed line.

To get the bait down and stay down I use the Egg sinker sometimes as much as 2 ounces, usually no less than ½ ounce; if you feel your sinker tapping the bottom every foot or less, you’ve got enough weight. After the morning bite, move into the deep flats for some drift fishing and later move back to the shallows for the evening bite. The bass move back and forth to follow the forage and if we want to catch more fish, we should do the same.

At the end of the line is a Scotty clip which I fasten to a dedicated pad-eye on the kayak. Then about a foot of line, a float and the mesh rope bag, 50 or more feet of drogue line, a swivel (hardware store) and then the drogue. My mesh bags came from the local REI; a small one for the anchor line and a larger one for storage of the whole rig. If you don’t have an REI, look for these at backpacking and outdoor gear shops. They are available in several different sizes and work great for storage of items that get wet.

To connect the drogue line to the anchor trolley I have recently begun to use a “Figure 9 Carabiner” made by NiteIze and available at REI or other similar outdoor stores. The Figure 9 has a spring loaded Carabiner clip on one end which is attached to the anchor trolley and at the other end is a toothed groove to secure the drogue line. It is very easy to adjust the line in and out and if there is any reason to disconnect the drogue, it becomes a simple one hand job to undo the Scotty clip and release the line from the Figure 9 ‘biner, leaving the drogue to float where you left it. Prior to using the Number Nine Carabiner I tied a slip knot in the drogue line where it connected to the anchor trolley, that too works well to act as the quick release.

Make sure to pre-test what you’ve created to be sure the float you’ve selected will float the rig and not sink when you drop it off in deep water.

If you do not have a depth-sounder try to look the lake over during low water conditions. In the Northwest where I do most of my fishing; I visit lakes in the winter to take photos of the exposed areas when the lake is drawn down to pick out possible drift locations when the water level is at full pool in the spring. Dorena Lake photo near Cottage Grove, OR was taken in October '14. Pretty easy to see where possible drift areas will be for the spring. That's the launch ramp at the bottom of the photo. Another launch ramp on the other side of the lake at Baker Bay Campground is accessible even if the water drops another 30 feet.

This is a great technique that is easy to master and sure to put more and possibly larger fish in your kayak. The best part; the components to give this a try are reasonably priced and probably available at your kayak dealer. If not, visit your favorite search engine (such as Google) and search for “Drogue”, “Drift Anchor” or “Drift Sock”. They are available in many sizes; kayak anglers will want to select one that is 18” to 22” in diameter. If you want to try this on a larger boat (with higher sides), as opposed to your kayak, you’ll need to use a larger model. I mainly fish in fresh water and not too concerned of rust. If you use these in salt water, be sure to look for stainless steel components.

Everything in the photos is new; I’ve recently put this together and used it just once as a test in the kayak; prior to this my 26” drogue was used on a 14’ Gregor aluminum boat. No anchor trolley on that boat so you run it with a bridle. One line cleated at the bow and another at the stern with both tied together on nylon plastic “O” ring as is used on a Trolley. Both lines let out equal and the boat drifts at 90 degrees to the wind. If you need less speed cleat the bow line shorter and the bow heads into the wind and the boat slows.
 
One last thing
You’ll see at the small end of the cone is a loop for a line attachment. That loop is for a trip-line. Attach a small diameter line to the loop and the cone can be collapsed when you wish to bring the drogue back to your kayak. Necessary on a larger drogue but, I don’t bother with the trip-line as I find the 18” model of drogue easy enough to retrieve. When looking at drogues you may want to check to see that the loop is available in case you wish to use a trip line, at some point in time.

Love it! that's just the ticket for the coastal lakes here. Been toying with the idea but didn't know how small of a drogue I could use . Like the quick release and the float system.