How to Drift fish on a rental boat?

[Rob423]

I am planning on renting a boat at a near by marina (16 foot 8hp) and I wanted to drift fish for fluke. My question is do i go to my starting position and shut the motor and just see which direction the boat is going to turn and then start fishing? or do i leave the motor on and give it gas when i have to straighten out the boat? I never fished this way. I usually just drop an anchor and cast out.

Any tips are much appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

[Gerry Zagorski]

You're going to stop the boat, turn off the engine and let the wind and current move the boat. Once you figure out the direction of your drift you'll want to try and start at a spot where your drift will take you over some structure like an channel edge or something.

The only time you would ever need to use your engine to power drift is when you have no natural movement or the wind is running the opposite direction of the tide. You always want your bait moving and you want it to move in the same direction of the tide so you would bump your boat in and out of gear to give it movement in the right direction.

[Rob423]

Thank you for answering. I understand now.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Best of luck Rob. One other trick sharpies use the get their boat to drift with the current is a drift sock. The sock fills up with water and it helps the boat overcome the wind and drift with the current, which is the way you want your baits drfiting.