Controlling Drift

As a newB i've been reading some of what's out there on yak fishing. In 'Kayakfishing the Revolution' Ken Daubert mentions an old river fisherman's trick of using a short piece of chain instead of an anchor. You can lengthen or shorten the chain to fit the conditions with removable links. Sounds good! Has anyone tried this?

I suppose it depends on what kind of fishing you are doing and where you are doing it. I personally would rather not drag anything across the bottom if I can help it.
I have that same book and IMO it really didn't provide the kind of info I was hoping for. I was hoping for instructions to get things done more than just a "Hey, look at this" approach.
There is a book by Mark Theobald called "Kayak Diving " which has so much applicable info and instructions it is IMO one of the best books for sit-on-tops out there. That coupled with Dennis Spike's Kayak Fishing video and you will have enough information to get you and keep you going for a long long time.

I use chain as an anchor for my cataraft, and it seems to work quite well. I just use one set length though.

Regards,
Scott

I've been using a Minn Kota drift sock that I found at Walmart, and it works great.  It cost me about $12 (about 1/3 the cost of the others that I've seen out there) and it works great.

I've got another question...Some of the drift sock listings I've seen state that they are for lakes and still waters and should NEVER be used in currents or rivers. Can someone explain? My guess is that if the current is strong enough the sock would pull the yak along with the flow and yakker may lose controll of the situation. Do some of you guys use them in the Bay? Thanks for any advice. Tom

If you're in a current and throw in a drift sock, how is that going to pull you along faster? In theoritical fact it should slow you down! Now, if the wind is blowing that would change things.

As for the lake verse current suggestion, I have to think they are talking rivers and streams and not the ocean. In a stream you have issues like catching rocks or the bottom, among other things.

Now getting back to the drift sock slowing you down in a current. A current is faster the farther it gets from the bottom or sides of the river. This is because they create friction or drag on the current. This is a fact and I have won sailboat races in bays by going to shallow water when going against the tide. So the drift sock would be sunk a bit deeper than the boat and be in slower water. In reality the difference in speed is too small to be significant.

Here's a tip, water current and wind currents behave the same.Wind eddies around land objects the same way water eddies around rocks. Wind also blows harder the higher it is off the ground.

The purpose of a drift sock is to slow you down when the wind blows. What most people don't realize is how big they have to be to be effective. On a 20 foot power boat it needs to have a diameter of 15 feet or more. On a kayak, I'd guess something like 3 or more feet. I made one that is 20 inches and it is only a little help. The funny thing is no matter how you hook it to the yak it creates an inefficient situation. If you hook to the side it causes the wind to blow on the side and you have more exposed surface and so the wind has more effect. If you position it from the end then the kayak is in a better position to glide through the water.

Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing other kayakers experience with drift socks. In my experience in a 12 mph wind my 20 incher slowed me down some and the other kayaks  were drifting faster, but I'd still like to drift slower in that wind. From my reading, I'd say something like four or five feet with a line attached to the middle of the parachute to pull the middle in to adjust speed.