Drift Sock?

[Quarry Man]

What does it do in depth? Is it necessary? Only in rivers or in lakes too?

[Al Wolbach]

Drift socks are not necessary for any type of fishing. They are a tool that sometimes help you under certain circumstances. I have used them when drift fishing to slow down the boat when the wind is blowing hard. They work very well for that problem in slowing down how fast the wind can blow the boat. I have never used them in current situations. Someone else can address that aspect.

[RoLo]

 

A 'drift sock' is normally used to reduce the speed of a wind drift, while a 'drogue chute'

is a safety device used in the ocean and Great Lakes. When a vessel looses power in heavy seas,
the hull is laid wide-open to broaching. Deploying a drogue chute (aka Sea Anchor)

keeps the bow facing into head sea (avoiding beam sea) which reduces the risk of broaching.

 

When drifting for summer flounder (known as 'fluke' in NJ), I deployed my drogue chute when the drift

was too swift to be effective. In freshwater though, I only occasionally use a drift sock

which tends to be a nuisance to deploy and retrieve.

 

Roger

[BrianSnat]

Drift socks come in handy in windy situations on  lakes , when the wind is making your boat drift faster than you like.  They will slow down your drift significantly and also help keep your boat's nose pointed into the wind and any waves (provided you secure it to the bow).
 

They are essentially useless on moving water becuase the sock will move with the current. If the current is faster than the wind it can actually speed up your drift. 

[Quarry Man]

5 hours ago, briansnat said:

Drift socks come in handy in windy situations on  lakes , when the wind is making your boat drift faster than you like.  They will slow down your drift significantly and also help keep your boat's nose pointed into the wind and any waves (provided you secure it to the bow).
 

They are essentially useless on moving water becuase the sock will move with the current. If the current is faster than the wind it can actually speed up your drift. 

 

So its kind of like an anchor, only it keeps you moving? Does it slow the boat down by "catching" in the water and preventing the wind from blowing you away? Is it not hydrodynamic?

[MickD]

14 minutes ago, Quarry Man said:

 

So its kind of like an anchor, only it keeps you moving? Does it slow the boat down by "catching" in the water and preventing the wind from blowing you away? Is it not hydrodynamic?

All it does is slow you down when you are being drifted by a wind that is moving you faster than you want.

 

They also can be hung from the bow with a fairly long tether so they go under the boat providing increased drag while trolling with a motor that cannot troll as slowly as you want.  In either case they simply slow the boat down some.

[BrianSnat]

14 minutes ago, Quarry Man said:

 

So its kind of like an anchor, only it keeps you moving? Does it slow the boat down by "catching" in the water and preventing the wind from blowing you away? Is it not hydrodynamic?

It is like an anchor in a manner of speaking.  I'm not familar with the physics of hydronamics, but think that it is akin to a parachute in water. In a static body of water like a lake it will slow your drift.  Of cours a larger one will slow your drift more so it becomes a matter of the size of your boat and the spread of the drift sock. 

On  moving water such as rivers and strong tidal flows the benefits are lost unless  the wind is a lot faster than the stream flow. Consider what might happen to a parachute caught in a sudden downdraft.

[RoLo]

 

 

46 minutes ago, Quarry Man said:

 

So its kind of like an anchor, only it keeps you moving? Does it slow the boat down by "catching" in the water and preventing the wind from blowing you away? Is it not hydrodynamic?

 

There are two kinds of drifts, a "Wind drift" and a "Current drift".

A "WIND sock" as the name suggests, is only useful for WIND drifts.

Imagine what would happen to your wind-drift speed if you tied a garbage can to your stern cleat.

Well, the drift sock as it were, replaces the garbage can 

 

Roger

[ThePolkFolk]

22 hours ago, RoLo said:

which tends to be a nuisance to deploy and retrieve.

I only ever use mine when I have another person on board. If I'm by myself I'll just use a mushroom anchor if it gets too windy.

[gim]

I've never used a drift sock in my bass boat but we used them regularly when we used to walleye fish on big lakes when it was rough out.  We would lindy rig over structure and you need to go 0.5 mph or less.  When the waves were so big that they would drift boat too fast, the drift sock would slow us down.  Sometimes we needed two of them.  My parents still use them regularly on their 2090 Warrior.  It may have a use for bass fishing, but I don't know what that is.

[webertime]

Dragging a Carolina Rig in winds,  sometimes the sock comes out.

[geo g]

A great tool on some real windy days.  If you slow the drift you can still work the bait effectively.