slowing the troll with troll bags. rigging to make it easy?

[syoungs]

Looking to start fishing the columbia in tri cities for salmon, and my down current speed trolling on the main is to fast. was thinking about getting a couple smaller troll bags/sea anchors, and attaching them to the bow cleats, ending midship on both sides.
want to avoid having them back towards the engine, and where the fish fighting will happen. 2 seems like the ticket to not fighting a boat that wont handle worth a darn.

is there a problem doing this? how big of bags should I get for a 24' trophy with a i/o 260hp mercruiser? If I remember right, ill need to kill about 1.5mph, possibly more.

no kicker motor to run right now, havent been able to find the parts needed to fix my current one, and a new one is out of the question this month!

[Ridgeratt]

Have you given any thought to a 5 gallon bucket or 2. Punch a few holes in it so you can get it back on board. That is what we used before we heard of drift socks.
Tie them off in the middle of the boat on a cleat.
Even 3 gallon buckets will work.

[Skillet]

I'm using drag bags at this very minute to fish for chums in Sitka Sound.

Buckets will work too, and are acheap solution - but they will be constantly banging on your hull. Bags have a trip line attachment on the end that makes it really easy to pick them up.

The farther forward you can arrange them while they stay in the water, the better. If the buckets/bags end up 1/2 way down the waterline that works great.  Farther forward is better, but probably not practical on your boat.  The farther back they are, the harder steering gets, as the boat's stern pivots around the center of resistance when turning.

[Mfowl]

Have you given any thought to a 5 gallon bucket or 2. Punch a few holes in it so you can get it back on board. That is what we used before we heard of drift socks.
Tie them off in the middle of the boat on a cleat.

This is a time proven method!

Not sure what size you need but larger would be my guess over smaller for your size boat. Rigging them forward on the cleats is the right idea. Also they can be trailed out behind the boat on anchor to keep from swaying in the wind. They can also be used to slow a drift in the wind. Just remember to pull them before you run! ...don't ask 

[Blacklab]

Drag bags/sea anchors worked for me. I think they were 18” on a 20’ Stryker middle cleat GL 😉🥃🇺🇸

[syoungs]

Thanks for the ideas and pics!
I think this weekend I'll try it with buckets to see how much of a pain it is, etc, and then buy a pair of them next week if it works like I want it to.

[Stein]

If you go buckets, bring a spare or two, the handles aren't very sturdy sometimes.

[Ridgeratt]

If you go buckets, bring a spare or two, the handles aren't very sturdy sometimes.

For goodness sake think outside the box.
Just drill some better holes and use some rope.
A triangle set of holes.


 

[PointBlank]

Use one on each side so you don’t troll in circles

[Stein]

If you go buckets, bring a spare or two, the handles aren't very sturdy sometimes.

For goodness sake think outside the box.
Just drill some better holes and use some rope.
A triangle set of holes.


 

I thought inside the box and bought a kicker.  Just trying to help a guy out, the guys I have seen pulling buckets are 99.4% using the handle to pull them and they break and then they are done effectively fishing for the day.

[Ridgeratt]

And to think I was under the impression common sense wasn't a superpower.   

[Jake Dogfish]

If you go buckets, bring a spare or two, the handles aren't very sturdy sometimes.

For goodness sake think outside the box.
Just drill some better holes and use some rope.
A triangle set of holes.


 

I thought inside the box and bought a kicker.  Just trying to help a guy out, the guys I have seen pulling buckets are 99.4% using the handle to pull them and they break and then they are done effectively fishing for the day.

Wasting gas to get to the right speed obviously isn’t ideal.  I would prefer to use the proper equipment if I could afford it.

[CP]

I’m not very familiar with trolling in rivers, but can’t you control speed by just bumping in and out of gear? 

[h2ofowlr]

I use the troll bags / sea anchors when I troll for sockeye to maintain my speed.  I have two medium sized ones and a XL one I use off the bow of my boat.  I used to use them all the time on the Columbia when I would sit in a hawg line to keep my boat straight.

[metlhead]

Buckets are difficult to use and continually shifting gears is bad news in time. Anybody use a troll plate?