Build your Own Sub!
Handy thing to have wouldn't you say? It gets you right to where the fish are! Oh, just a little too ambitious for you? Well not to worry. A bit beyond me as well. LOL! I think I'll stick to projects just a little less ambitious. On this page I intend to provide you with some projects you can do yourself to save time, money and will come in handy as well. I aim to come up with a few things that'll make life and of course fishing more fun for you & done right, will save you a few bucks in the process (gotta have that gas money to go fishing!). Plus, you'll go forth with the knowledge & feeling of accomplishment that YOU DID IT YOURSELF. I can't emphasize enuff how much of a difference that makes to the well bred outdoorsy type, which by the way also gives you bragging rights . If you have any comments, or projects you'd like to submit, please do! I'll be adding a forum soon where you can post your own but, in the meantime, you can email them to me at [email protected] and I'll be sure to add them.
Build A Floating Dock
Well I made one of these when I lived on Eagle Mountain Lake in Tx by Fort Worth. Just took me about four weekends total of work and was still going strong when I got transferred to Turkey. The local kids loved it and I put a nice brushpile off the end of it. I got a couple of flood lights I got at KMart and put these off the end shining down into the water.I caught a HELL of a lot of crappie and bass off of that dock. It was pretty stable too and I used only 4 drums to make it with. The nice thing about a floating dock (besides being a WHOLE lot cheaper than a piered dock!) is you can pull it out in bad weather (ie>hurricanes!) or just let out the anchor line if the water goes down and you get a new shoreline. Which happens often these days in man-made lakes.
Some important things to remember. The platform can be made out of a variety of woods as long as it is moisture resistant! Cypress,cedar,redwood and Teak are all good choices if you can afford it. If not then pressure treated pine, fir or spruce will work as well. It will last longer with a water resistant coating added yearly as well. Just remember to pull it out of the water so you can do it all as the undersides get the most water contact of course. Now you can just frame it in one of these woods and make the top out of marine plywood as I did. Much easier and cheaper as well. Your choice. Plastic barrels are best as they don't corrode and moss will grow on them attracting baitfish to your dock which is good. Remember to use a good silicone sealant to seal the bung and any leaks in your barrels. Use plenty as you are gonna want this to last a good while. As to how many barrels? That depends on how much water you displace. Water weighs in at 8.33 lbs per gallon. You'll need to have a decent estimate of what your dock will weigh to determine how many barrels you'll need. A 55 gal drum will give you about 455 lbs of flotation. So that gives you a formula to work with. Weight of dock = X. X divided by 455 = Y. Y being the number of drums you'll need. Now you'll want to add at least 2 more barrels for the weight of you, the kids and your gear. That will give you a pretty good starting point to work with.
You simply use the same framing you would use on building a wall. Remember to build this as close to the water as you can because the finished product will be heavy! After you have your frame add the barrel supports. You want to use a couple of boards to keep the barrels in place and not allow them to shift. This will make fore a more stable dock and keep you or the kids from busting their butts trying to keep their balance. More professional too. Makes it look like you know what you're doing that way. Next you add the barrels. I used wire rope going to eye hooks set into the frame to hold mine but there are a variety of ways you can do this as well. Next it's time to flip the whole thing over and put it in the water. What? We're not done? Yes we are. With the land part anyways. Your dock will now float so to keep it from being too heavy to move you should finish the rest on the water. Didn't think of that did you? Neither did I and it was quite a pain getting the "finished" product in the water. Learn from my mistakes and put the framed dock into the water to finish it. Preferably someplace shallow. Remember to anchor your dock to shore cause if the waves come up you will have to go find it. Another thing I learned the hard way. Now you can either finish the deck using boards, decking or plywood sheets. Your choice, Then apply your staining, painting and coatings of choice. Add a couple of davits for typing up stringers, boats, floats or whathaveyou. Then place your dock into position where you want it to stay and anchor. A good way to do this is to pull it out to deeper water and use a cross tie method like the one in the picture to separate anchors on the bottom. I made my two out of a couple of 16 inch tire rims filled with concrete. Worked quite well. I attached them to stainless steel eye bolts in the dock and used nylon rope to attach the anchors. It lasted 5 years until I moved.
I also built a walkway to my dock so I could get it about 8 ft out from the bank. Now you can build a walkway the same way as above and use one or two barrels to float it and attach it to the dock with a could of big cattle gate hinges. This is probably easier to do than what I did.I have seen this and it works well as long as you solidly anchor the end point of the land end. I cheated. My area had a nice slope going out so I just drove a couple of 4x4's in the ground at shore and used pressure treated 4x4 lumber to build me a walkway out to the dock until it got deep enough. I built as I went and it only got difficult at the 4 ft mark. This was about 12 or so feet from shore. I got 12' peices of 2x4 pressure treated pine and used this for building my walkway. I set the first pilings on land using a post hole digger and concreted down about 2 feet. I allowed for 2 feet above the ground for these first 2 and placed them 3 feet apart. I used this for the rest of the way. With my bottom slope I was able to plan on placing my posts about 3 feet apart all the way out to the 4 ft depth. When I got into the water Ihad a hard clay bottom so I was still able to use the post hole digger to get my holes into the bottom. If it had been soft I would have just drove in the 4x4's with a sledge using a board nailed onto the top of my post to keep it from splintering until the post was deep enough to be solid. If you do this in a soft bottom then after your walkway is completed just come back and saw off the tops of your posts to make them even. Trust me, they won't all go to the same depth. I made my holes about 2 ft deep into the bottom then I used a really neat trick. I got some of those footing tubes in the 12 inch size from a buddy of mine that he had left over at his building business. Put them down into the holes,placed my posts inside and filled with concrete into the water until it looked mixed well and the right consistency. Then added a bit more to allow for water seepage. It took a bit to set but after 3 days they were all set well. It was a pain getting those forms back out but I got it done. Then I waited a few more days for everything to settle a bit then finished. I ran a couple of 2x6 stringers alongside my posts for the walkway frame out to the end. Then I used the same for my walkway planks. I cut them all 4 ft long and that made for a nice looking 4 ft wide by about 14 ft long walkway out to my dock. I connected the dock with a 4 of those big cattle gate t hinges and the whole thing looked really good, professional, and was extremely stable. Took me about a month of weekends for the whole thing but was well worth it. I wish I had taken pictures back then but it was 1979 and the internet was still a dream. However I do have an excellant site to share with you put together very well that will show you an in-depth, step by step method he used to make his own and he DID take plenty of pictures! So check it out here at :http://www.instructables.com/id/Floating-Dock-with-Barrels/
Some important things to remember. The platform can be made out of a variety of woods as long as it is moisture resistant! Cypress,cedar,redwood and Teak are all good choices if you can afford it. If not then pressure treated pine, fir or spruce will work as well. It will last longer with a water resistant coating added yearly as well. Just remember to pull it out of the water so you can do it all as the undersides get the most water contact of course. Now you can just frame it in one of these woods and make the top out of marine plywood as I did. Much easier and cheaper as well. Your choice. Plastic barrels are best as they don't corrode and moss will grow on them attracting baitfish to your dock which is good. Remember to use a good silicone sealant to seal the bung and any leaks in your barrels. Use plenty as you are gonna want this to last a good while. As to how many barrels? That depends on how much water you displace. Water weighs in at 8.33 lbs per gallon. You'll need to have a decent estimate of what your dock will weigh to determine how many barrels you'll need. A 55 gal drum will give you about 455 lbs of flotation. So that gives you a formula to work with. Weight of dock = X. X divided by 455 = Y. Y being the number of drums you'll need. Now you'll want to add at least 2 more barrels for the weight of you, the kids and your gear. That will give you a pretty good starting point to work with.
You simply use the same framing you would use on building a wall. Remember to build this as close to the water as you can because the finished product will be heavy! After you have your frame add the barrel supports. You want to use a couple of boards to keep the barrels in place and not allow them to shift. This will make fore a more stable dock and keep you or the kids from busting their butts trying to keep their balance. More professional too. Makes it look like you know what you're doing that way. Next you add the barrels. I used wire rope going to eye hooks set into the frame to hold mine but there are a variety of ways you can do this as well. Next it's time to flip the whole thing over and put it in the water. What? We're not done? Yes we are. With the land part anyways. Your dock will now float so to keep it from being too heavy to move you should finish the rest on the water. Didn't think of that did you? Neither did I and it was quite a pain getting the "finished" product in the water. Learn from my mistakes and put the framed dock into the water to finish it. Preferably someplace shallow. Remember to anchor your dock to shore cause if the waves come up you will have to go find it. Another thing I learned the hard way. Now you can either finish the deck using boards, decking or plywood sheets. Your choice, Then apply your staining, painting and coatings of choice. Add a couple of davits for typing up stringers, boats, floats or whathaveyou. Then place your dock into position where you want it to stay and anchor. A good way to do this is to pull it out to deeper water and use a cross tie method like the one in the picture to separate anchors on the bottom. I made my two out of a couple of 16 inch tire rims filled with concrete. Worked quite well. I attached them to stainless steel eye bolts in the dock and used nylon rope to attach the anchors. It lasted 5 years until I moved.
I also built a walkway to my dock so I could get it about 8 ft out from the bank. Now you can build a walkway the same way as above and use one or two barrels to float it and attach it to the dock with a could of big cattle gate hinges. This is probably easier to do than what I did.I have seen this and it works well as long as you solidly anchor the end point of the land end. I cheated. My area had a nice slope going out so I just drove a couple of 4x4's in the ground at shore and used pressure treated 4x4 lumber to build me a walkway out to the dock until it got deep enough. I built as I went and it only got difficult at the 4 ft mark. This was about 12 or so feet from shore. I got 12' peices of 2x4 pressure treated pine and used this for building my walkway. I set the first pilings on land using a post hole digger and concreted down about 2 feet. I allowed for 2 feet above the ground for these first 2 and placed them 3 feet apart. I used this for the rest of the way. With my bottom slope I was able to plan on placing my posts about 3 feet apart all the way out to the 4 ft depth. When I got into the water Ihad a hard clay bottom so I was still able to use the post hole digger to get my holes into the bottom. If it had been soft I would have just drove in the 4x4's with a sledge using a board nailed onto the top of my post to keep it from splintering until the post was deep enough to be solid. If you do this in a soft bottom then after your walkway is completed just come back and saw off the tops of your posts to make them even. Trust me, they won't all go to the same depth. I made my holes about 2 ft deep into the bottom then I used a really neat trick. I got some of those footing tubes in the 12 inch size from a buddy of mine that he had left over at his building business. Put them down into the holes,placed my posts inside and filled with concrete into the water until it looked mixed well and the right consistency. Then added a bit more to allow for water seepage. It took a bit to set but after 3 days they were all set well. It was a pain getting those forms back out but I got it done. Then I waited a few more days for everything to settle a bit then finished. I ran a couple of 2x6 stringers alongside my posts for the walkway frame out to the end. Then I used the same for my walkway planks. I cut them all 4 ft long and that made for a nice looking 4 ft wide by about 14 ft long walkway out to my dock. I connected the dock with a 4 of those big cattle gate t hinges and the whole thing looked really good, professional, and was extremely stable. Took me about a month of weekends for the whole thing but was well worth it. I wish I had taken pictures back then but it was 1979 and the internet was still a dream. However I do have an excellant site to share with you put together very well that will show you an in-depth, step by step method he used to make his own and he DID take plenty of pictures! So check it out here at :http://www.instructables.com/id/Floating-Dock-with-Barrels/
Make your Own Plug Knocker
Out on the lake and casting your new Moonshine Mirrabalure that you have to mail order from some guy in Alaska that costs 10.99 plus three dollars in shipping? Catching the biggest and most Bass you've ever caught in your life with it? Then it happens...Snag! It won't come loose either and you only bought one. Now what? Strip down and dive in, eh? Well unless your nickname happens to be Gatorbait or your last name Dundee then you probably would rather not do that if you didn't have to. What you need is a lure retriever or a lure knocker as they are often called.There are lots of different types available to be bought and although they are often pricey they will pay for themselves pretty quickly most of the time. As is often the case some do work better than others. I won't get into my opinions here cause everybody's got one. What I will do is give you some ideas of how to make your own.
One of the earliest I ever saw was also one of the simplest. My Grandpa used an old spark plug with a couple of foot long pieces of dog chain he had wired to the plug. He had this attached to about 50 ft of heavy twine. Just above the plug he had placed a large saltwater snap swivel. He would snap the swivel around his line, let the plug slide down to the lure,jiggle it around a bit until he hung the chain in the plugs hooks,then yank hard once and bring the whole thing back up. Worked like a charm every time I saw him use it. You can make a more modern one with a chain link or a carabiner you can get at the hardware store or flea market for about a buck. Add 3 or 4 8 to 12 inch long pieces of dog chain or smaller chain that will fit onto the carabiner or link and attach this to a heavy gauge line. Some people use a couple of large treble hooks instead of/or with the chain. Snap that around your line and do like Grandpa did and it'll save you a lot of change for about 2 bucks or so and a half hours work. The picture above is one I just put together to give you the general idea. I would use a little bit longer chains on a working model. Note: A chain link (the kind that screws together) is a bit more heavy duty than a carabiner and will last longer but the threads do corrode after a bit. Your choice!
One of the earliest I ever saw was also one of the simplest. My Grandpa used an old spark plug with a couple of foot long pieces of dog chain he had wired to the plug. He had this attached to about 50 ft of heavy twine. Just above the plug he had placed a large saltwater snap swivel. He would snap the swivel around his line, let the plug slide down to the lure,jiggle it around a bit until he hung the chain in the plugs hooks,then yank hard once and bring the whole thing back up. Worked like a charm every time I saw him use it. You can make a more modern one with a chain link or a carabiner you can get at the hardware store or flea market for about a buck. Add 3 or 4 8 to 12 inch long pieces of dog chain or smaller chain that will fit onto the carabiner or link and attach this to a heavy gauge line. Some people use a couple of large treble hooks instead of/or with the chain. Snap that around your line and do like Grandpa did and it'll save you a lot of change for about 2 bucks or so and a half hours work. The picture above is one I just put together to give you the general idea. I would use a little bit longer chains on a working model. Note: A chain link (the kind that screws together) is a bit more heavy duty than a carabiner and will last longer but the threads do corrode after a bit. Your choice!
Make your Own Anchor
Items for anchor below
Well this ones quick and easy. You'll need 10 lbs or so of leftover quikcrete or redimix concrete. A 3 lb coffee can or similar sized bucket or pail. The neighbor's kids sand pail works perfect! A large screw eye or eye bolt. Mix the concrete and fill the coffee can with it. Put the eye bolt in the center of the top to use as a tie off for your anchor. It's a good idea to stick a pencil or stick thru the eye and rest it on the can's edges to keep the eye from settling too deep into the concrete. For the sample one below I used a piece of sheet metal with a hole drilled thru it to run the eyebolt thru. This worked quite well to hold the anchor bolt in place. It's also good to add some bolts, more gravel or the neighbor kids marbles to help add weight. Let it cure for a couple or three days, upend the can and voila! You have a great anchor for anything up to a good sized jonboat. Make sure there are no dark areas as this will indicate it has not cured there. These areas will be powdery and brittle. If you have some let it cure another day or two in direct sunlight. For a bigger boat you can add a couple of pieces of re bar set cross ways near the bottom of the anchor with about 4 inches sticking out. The one I made I used a water bucket and half inch re bar. I drilled holes thru the bucket for the re bar and pushed them thru just above the bottom. I used some old # 6 solid copper wire I had and made a loop around both re bars and all the way to the top with a couple of twists at bottom and top. Filled the whole thing with quikcrete and when it dried I cut out the bottom with tin snips. Works great for my 17 ft bass boat. I made the one below to illustrate the easy jonboat model.
Make your Own Anchor Drogue
Don't have your own anchor?Well you might need one of these. Especially if you have a larger boat or fish where the current is strong. Ever toss out the anchor and can't get it back up again? Or worse yet you set two out, fore and aft, then one gets stuck swinging you around into the current and water started coming over the stern? This is especially handy for trip anchors. You need a drogue. It is simply a parachute which will make sure the anchor falls right side up and lands correctly. You can make one easily from an old piece of fabric(towels work well)and about 10 ft of twine. Cut the fabric into a square. Two feet works well for most anchors. Fold into 4 and cut a hole at the apex about 1/4 way down. Tie each corner into a knot.Cut your twine into 5 2 ft lengths. Tie one piece to each corner and join the 4 pieces together at the other ends. Tie one end of the 5th piece to this knot. Tie the other end of that piece to your anchor chain. Bingo! It's done and WILL save a day of fishing.
Make you Own Flats Anchor
You're fishing the flats and the anchor is such a pain? Well here's one you can make that works much better than most. You'll need about a 4 ft length of 3/4 to 1 inch metal (EMT or Rigid) pipe and a little more of that left over quikcrete. Cut one end of the pipe at a 45-60 degree angle. Now jam that end (the pointy one) into the ground about an inch so it stays upright. Now mix yourself up a large cup of the quikcrete and pour into the open end. Or if you have plenty of crete then just mix a batch up in a small bucket or whatever and jam the pipe in so it gets at least 6 inches or more of crete up the pipe then stick in the ground or cover the end some way the mixture won't dribble out. Let cure. This helps weight the pointy end for throwing. After it cures, drill a half inch hole thru the top of the other end for your anchor rope. Wanna get fancy and your open end is threaded, then go ahead and cap it. Now you can throw the anchor easily where it sticks into the bottom and will hold firm but comes out with no problem and will not get stuck. Kinda fun too, playing like a caveman trying to spear a fish!Might even come in handy in a self defense situation. Who knows? Have fun and good fishing!
Make your Own Offshore Lures
Gonna go wild and do two today cause I just thought of this and maybe it will come in handy for you like it has me. Stuck on a rig or going offshore fishing and out of money for lures? At 6 to 12 bucks a pop big lures cost big bucks. These work well, will save the day or your pocketbook and they are easy to make. First is the poor man's topwater. Cut an old broom stick or mop handle into 6 to 8 inch pieces. You can leave them as is or paint them how you want em. I just spray paint them bright yellow ,white or silver with a burst of red at the head on each side. Drill a hole straight thru them end to end. Put some nails that fit tight in the holes in your box. When ready to rig them run your line thru the stick lure and tie on a large treble hook. Force the nail (or screw) thru the hole on the other end binding the line in place tightly. You now have a great Tuna lure. Trust me it works! Some guys even tie or glue on big feathers on each side to give it the appearance of a flying fish. Be creative and experiment.
Another great lure that's easy to make is the poor man's Diamond jig. Buy one and you're out a chunk as these are easily lost to snags as well as fish. Make your own with a little stainless steel tubing in 3/8 to half inch with just a little effort. Cut the tubing into 4 to 6 inch lengths. Now you wanna make the cuts at a 45 degree angle as this makes them flutter on the fall. Drill a small hole thru the top at one end and thru the top on the other end. Now when you rig this, run your line thru the holes and tie off the treble on the end. Peg the top hole with a toothpick binding the line tightly. Another trick works a little better and keeps the line from cutting on the drilled hole's edges.Buy some short ready made leaders. The kind that is used for bottom fishing with a snap swivel on the end. Run this thru the center of the tubing. Now fill the tube with silicone and let cure. Attach the treble to the snap hook. Fish this by dropping down to the bottom and yo-yo ing it back up to the top. Fish will usually hit it on the fall. Be ready for it and beware! Big amberjack just love to smash these and I have lost quite a few of these jigs to them.
Another great lure that's easy to make is the poor man's Diamond jig. Buy one and you're out a chunk as these are easily lost to snags as well as fish. Make your own with a little stainless steel tubing in 3/8 to half inch with just a little effort. Cut the tubing into 4 to 6 inch lengths. Now you wanna make the cuts at a 45 degree angle as this makes them flutter on the fall. Drill a small hole thru the top at one end and thru the top on the other end. Now when you rig this, run your line thru the holes and tie off the treble on the end. Peg the top hole with a toothpick binding the line tightly. Another trick works a little better and keeps the line from cutting on the drilled hole's edges.Buy some short ready made leaders. The kind that is used for bottom fishing with a snap swivel on the end. Run this thru the center of the tubing. Now fill the tube with silicone and let cure. Attach the treble to the snap hook. Fish this by dropping down to the bottom and yo-yo ing it back up to the top. Fish will usually hit it on the fall. Be ready for it and beware! Big amberjack just love to smash these and I have lost quite a few of these jigs to them.
Make your Own Baitwell
First get yourself a large ice chest or cooler sized to the bait you'll be putting in it.Then you'll need to oxygenate your water! This means aeration is required somehow. The easiest is to buy a cheap aquarium aerator at Wally World and plunk it in the bottom. A better one is to use a 12V bilge pump. Connect the pump using some spare wire to a couple of alligator clips. This will let you power your baitwell from the boat and keep it portable.Take a piece of 1/2 inch PVC pipe sized to fit almost the length of your cooler. Cap one end. Drill holes about a half inch apart down the length of the pipe. Or notch the pipe with a saw.(I've heard this gives you more spray and more oxygen in the water but never tried it). Now use a piece of garden hose(the neighbor's if possible) and a couple of hose clamps to connect the pump and the pipe together. Fasten the pipe to one side of your cooler at the top with the holes pointing toward the bottom of the cooler. I used plastic pipe hangers to mount mine. Now place the bilge pump on the bottom and fill with water. Turn on your pump. If you've done everything right the water should start spraying into the cooler from the pipe. NOTE!! Most live bait need good quality water. Either use the water from where you're fishing or treat your water with a preparing solution you can get from any place that sells aquarium supplies. Failing this let your aerator run at least 24 hours before putting any fish in. This will stabilize the water and allow the chlorine to dissipate out. If you want to make it even better spend the few more bucks to get a livewell pump and run the inlet hose(livewell aerators have 2 outlets) long enough to reach over the side of your boat. This will let you take in water thats cooler and richer than surface water. Do this tho and you'll need an drain hose off your cooler to get rid of the overflow. I did this and put the overflow into my livewell and elevate the cooler. Works great for shrimp and chubs.
Make Your Own Sinkers
If you're like me you have a tacklebox or two filled with old jig heads, lures, crushed and deformed sinkers and junk. Now I'm gonna tell ya how to salvage that stuff easily in an afternoon. I also bet if you check out the garage you can find a few other pieces of junk that have lead or are even made with lead in them. I'm gonna show you a cheap easy way to make your own sinkers.
First gather all your junk lead together and then sort them out into piles depending on whats in them(pure lead,jigs,wire and hooks,etc...).
Now if you have access an electric smelter, great! Use it. But just in case you don't I use a good ole propane torch and it works just fine. Also if you want to you can go to your local tackle shop or shop online and get yourself one or more sinker molds. If not then find yourself an old brick. One of those with the indentation on the side. Now get some pliers and hold the lead by its hook or wire or whathaveyou.(old spinnerbaits have lead heads) Place it over the indentation on the brick and Flame On! Play with the torch until you get the heat right. When you melt the lead off of that one grab another piece. Keep the flame playing on the lead in the brick while you do this. Pure lead(old sinkers and such) you can just place in the melted lead. Continue until the brick is full. Let cool and just flip the brick over, give it a tap and voila! You now have a nice shiny lead ingot. If you have a mold you can then melt the lead quickly and easily to fill the molds. If not don't despair. Just cut the ingot into the size you want and drill a hole thru it! Personal sized weights you made yourself out of junk. Remember tho that if you invested in a lead pot smelter you have to separate the lead from the junk wire, hooks and all before you put the lead in the pot. You also have to get the heat right in a smelter before you start adding lead. I like the torch. It's a whole lot more fun!
First gather all your junk lead together and then sort them out into piles depending on whats in them(pure lead,jigs,wire and hooks,etc...).
Now if you have access an electric smelter, great! Use it. But just in case you don't I use a good ole propane torch and it works just fine. Also if you want to you can go to your local tackle shop or shop online and get yourself one or more sinker molds. If not then find yourself an old brick. One of those with the indentation on the side. Now get some pliers and hold the lead by its hook or wire or whathaveyou.(old spinnerbaits have lead heads) Place it over the indentation on the brick and Flame On! Play with the torch until you get the heat right. When you melt the lead off of that one grab another piece. Keep the flame playing on the lead in the brick while you do this. Pure lead(old sinkers and such) you can just place in the melted lead. Continue until the brick is full. Let cool and just flip the brick over, give it a tap and voila! You now have a nice shiny lead ingot. If you have a mold you can then melt the lead quickly and easily to fill the molds. If not don't despair. Just cut the ingot into the size you want and drill a hole thru it! Personal sized weights you made yourself out of junk. Remember tho that if you invested in a lead pot smelter you have to separate the lead from the junk wire, hooks and all before you put the lead in the pot. You also have to get the heat right in a smelter before you start adding lead. I like the torch. It's a whole lot more fun!
Sea Anchor-
Ever been drifting and working a worm or a bait over an area and the wind came up or the current is too strong? You either don't have a trolling motor or don't wanna waste the juice fighting it all day? You don't want to anchor because you want to cover the whole place. Or is the water too deep for your anchor rope? You can use a sea anchor to control your drift. I Just thought of this and it ties into the Anchor drogue quite well. Follow the instructions above for making an anchor drogue above with a couple of minor changes. You'll want to go a little bigger with a sea anchor than you would with a drogue. You're trying to slow down and control your boat not just the anchor! About half again should work out about right. For smaller boats use about a 3-4 ft square towel or old sheet, curtain, whatever. Cut your hole about 8-10- inches around. Now attach your fifth line to a larger drag line long enough to allow your sea anchor to run 6-8 ft behind your boat. You don't want to have to long a line because the sea anchor will go too deep and makes it a lot easier to snag it up. For the same reason you shouldn't use your sea anchor where there are a lot of stumps and snags to catch it on as you WILL be making plenty of these then! Experiment a little with the size and length of your line and it's easy to get it right for your boat.