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With 4 guys, 11 rods, and planer boards, I was able to get her down to about 3.6 knts on one motor. We got one fish in 3 hours of trolling, which was actually pretty good compared to what others I went out be myself and ran 4 rods for an hour or so Friday, and she got down to about 3.9 knts. I'd really like to lose another knot, or even better, 2 knts. She doesn't have trolling valves, and I don't want to add them at this point. I figure that they are a lot of diesel guys here that have had to deal with this. Any ideas? If I need to drag something, what would I drag and where would I tie it off?

Some will drag a 5 gallon bucket on the live engine side. Tie it to the aft corner cleat. According to Nate Herreshoff in 'Sensible Cruising Designs' no boat should ever be on the water without one, and I wholeheartedly agree.

But for slowing down the troll, I recommend a drogue, and a good one. Not some cheapo POS that will tear in a good swell, but something that will double as a useful tool when other things turn to crap and you find that you need it.

Paratech makes a good one.

http://www.seaanchor.com/deltadrogue.htm

Their boat brake is probably better suited for doing exactly what you want, but it's more of a one trick pony and probably shouldn't be counted on in bad weather.

http://www.seaanchor.com/boatbrakes.htm

I have one of their sea anchors, and I can attest to the quality of their product.

http://www.seaanchor.com/seaanchor.htm

john
are you running 3 or 4 blade props
3 would be better for trolling.
and as mike said throw a pail over the side
I have also seen people drag a small tire

john i try everything in the book. build her to be on the racers edge first run had to deal with 12knots at idle. so i change props 5 or 6 times,installed trolling valves and she calm down to 5 knots with one engine two pails,and idle set 50 rpm Below absolute minimum rpm. by cummins specs i also took 5 knots off wot. the props are damm near 95% ,almost no slip together with torque not much i can do. great for tuna she drives perfect with 1 engine when trolling for bass it is in and out of gear with trolling valve in. boat is more productive zig zag in and out of gear enough to drop dredge,twin rig,spoon to bottom then get hit on way up.works for me.

I put the 3-blades back on to try to get the speed down and it helped a little. I also picked up about 1 knt at cruise (2200=22knts).

I'm going to try a bucket and see what that's like, and if it works OK, I'll get a drogue. Crows Nest is a bay boat now, and I want to get whatever will work best.

Any suggestions on the bucket idea? I'm thinking of grabbing a 5-gallon bucket, taking the handle off, drilling holes where the handle attached and running a rope through it. That should be stronger, and it gives me something to tie off to the boat. I'm also guessing that I need to run this as tight to the boat as possible. I run either 5-7 boat rods plus 6 more off the planers, or just 5-7 boat rods (and that's a lot less than most guys around here). I'm wondering how complicated landing a fish will be around the rods and the bucket--although I guess you can clear the bucket as well as a rod or 2. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Any way to run the bucket(s) off the midship cleats to keep them out of your lines? I have no clue, but I do have a stack of Homer buckets and some rope. Let me know if you need a mate!

Cam

There's certainly a lot to be said for having a sea anchor (a.k.a. drogue) on board regardless of anything else... I have a surplus military drogue (originally used to stop a jet after landing) on my boat just in case...

To knock off a knot or two a bucket or two tied off to the stern will probably work fine... You'll definitely need to get rid of the original metal handle and replace it with a rope... Make the holes for the rope handle just under the "ridge" on the bucket's side...

There's no doubt that a bucket or two will get in the way of your fishing equipment... That's unavoidable...

I personally do not like dragging anything when trolling, its bad enough I use when drifting to keep bow into a breeze.

My issue...I forget its there. More then once I got real lucky as boat was put in reverse to maneuver around something when fighting fish. I'd hear bucket hit side and its oh crap I got away lucky. But I fish short handed more often then not.


My last boat, I had a wheel for trolling that I launched boat with, then after bass were gone I put on the normal cruising wheel, when it got cooler I'd jump in and swap back for fall bass season. Trolling wheel had less pitch and more cup. Less pitch for slow troll, heavy cup gave some speed back when running...although still a bit slower. But I was able to get down real slow for trolling spoons. My run to grounds is only 15-20 minutes...so a few minutes more was not a big deal.
Also as engine was not working so hard when running ...if I wanted to get back, I didn't mind pushing a little more then my usual cruise rpm.

The bertram, on one gas motor with idle loping is usually more then slow enough...if not, I pull the spoons for something else or bump...but that gets old fast. just a thought.

While slow trolling is ideal, you can still get bass trolling 3.5-4 kts. I've been trolling spoons in the bay with the new boat and seldom am able to get under 3.5 kts, even with 1 engine. I am still picking away at the stripers. I would try trolling against the tide or cross current before putting out a bucket.

Add more weight ;)

JD, where have you been? You're welcome any time.

Still here just consumed with work &family stuff

John: If you use a bucket put a brace across between the handle holes to keep it from collapsing. A tube that your rope will fit through will work well. Make the rope a loop that goes through the handle hole on the bucket, through the pipe and then through the other handle hole rather than tying it to the bucket on either side.

Thanks for the suggestions. Rawleigh--thanks. I'll do that.