Hey y’all,

So I got to thinking today (I think too much) while I was out on the water, I've always thrown my soft baits specifically artificial worms, weightless or with a weight T rigged while my boat or kayak was stationary.

Does anyone let their boat drift or have their trolling motor on a slow speed and throw the same lures not stationary?

I’ve always thought throwing these specific lures are better thrown stationary.

I always drift. I don't even carry an anchor. It takes time to drop it and raise it and it would be one more thing I'd have to carry and paddle.

I go where the wind goes. 😆

I do frequently, especially if I’m floating a river. One of my favorite patterns is to float a shoreline that has a lot of overhanging trees. I’ll float with a slow current and skip a Texas rigged, weightless Senko in the shaded area under the tree branches. It will drift along at the same speed I’m moving, and I’ll twitch it along. Smallies will generally be spread out and love those shady shorelines.

If you’re constantly moving the plastic at even just a minimal speed, then it’s not stationary.

I think the term you might be looking for is dead sticking. That is a true stationary lure presentation. You literally let it sit there until a fish picks it up.

Even the hated drop shot isn’t a completely stationary presentation most of the time.

I’m stationary more often than not, when the wind pushes the canoe faster than I care to cover an area over goes one of the anchors. I can spend a whole morning and cover maybe 100 yds x 100 yds.

If I want to swap sides on a body of water and the wind is right, than I’ll let it drift.

13 minutes ago, gim said:

If you’re constantly moving the plastic at even just a minimal speed, then it’s not stationary.

I think the term you might be looking for is dead sticking. That is a true stationary lure presentation. You literally let it sit there until a fish picks it up.

Even the hated drop shot isn’t a completely stationary presentation most of the time.

I believe he’s referring to letting the boat drift and cover water. Not so much dead sticking. When I had a canoe and kayak I always drifted unless I got on a really good spot

The vast majority of all my fishing, regardless of the platform (canoe or boat) is done from an anchored position.

Either with twin Talons or the traditional mushroom unit.

I can't quote an exact percentage; however, history has shown that I am ridiculously more effective when anchored. And that includes when making the presentation (casting) , on the hookset, and playing/landing a spirited bass. Admittedly, it may be 'easier' to just drift around and allow the elements to dictate how my rig sets up on whatever structure/cover I'm fishing. But inevitably, I get the bite I fished all day for, and I find myself "out of position." Which can lead to an off-balance/ineffective hookset. Some type of long-distance releasing cover or structure between me and the bass, or the fish gets into the trolling motor.

None of that is desirable, and most all of it can be avoided by not being lazy

and properly positioning the boat right from the start.

I do not have spot lock, so in deeper water deals, I'm running the Fortrex.

Making some level of drifting unavoidable.

A-Jay

54 minutes ago, padlin said:

I can spend a whole morning and cover maybe 100 yds x 100 yds.

You are thorough. I skitter.

I'm in a shallow drafting jon boat that drifts 2.67 times faster than the wind so I normally Spot Lock and make 1 - 57 cast in an area and then hit the Jog button(5' per touch) 5 - 10 times and start over. That's for mostly vast grassy areas. If I'm fishing a specific piece of cover I also Spot Lock to give me accurate control of my bait.

Like Swamp Girl I don't even have an anchor in my kayak.

So a lot of drifting, try to set up to use the wind, doesn't always work out the way I want it to though.

I have a rudder on my kayak which helps, also learned to use my paddle in one hand to position and rod in the other hand, this is mostly for drop shotting or bottom fishing in the salt for Tog.

In a river sometimes I drift with the current and just let a jig bounce off the bottom on a tight line.

1 hour ago, gim said:

If you’re constantly moving the plastic at even just a minimal speed, then it’s not stationary.

I think the term you might be looking for is dead sticking. That is a true stationary lure presentation. You literally let it sit there until a fish picks it up.

Even the hated drop shot isn’t a completely stationary presentation most of the time.

For clarification,

I meant basically using spot lock or an anchor vs letting my boat drift or be mobile.

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

by not being lazy

I lug my gear through the woods in the dark and paddle miles every time I fish.

Shallow water anchor, deeper water you can drift some, it all depends

I might not be moving but, I let the current do it for me at times.

I don't like wind and I'm very slow so pick days with wind in mind.

Much prefer to mechanically move the boat vs drifting.

It depends.

If there’s very little to no wind I let it move me but keep an eye on my speed and adjust as needed. If it’s breezy, I go down wind and work my way upwind so I have better control over my direction and speed. If I catch a fish when there’s little to no wind, I maintain my position with the TM. More wind and a fish catch or two, I’ll drop anchor.

I rarely fish when it’s windy and if I do I’m basically always moving just hoping to catch something since I don’t have spot lock or a TM tray so it’s quick the workout trying to maintain precise position and even a fish catch will blow my way off course.

It depends! Sometimes I need to not move. Sometimes I need to move. I might go with a slightly heavier weight if the boat is moving just so I can be more efficient.

Most of the time I bump the trolling motor along the shore, then pause, fish and area, then move on. I have two fiberglass tree stakes that are my shallow water anchors/ push poles. On occasion I’ll stick-pin myself at a spot, but mostly I’m slow moving.

I fish from a bass boat. I like to cover water so I normally have the trolling motor turned on. I like to keep the boat moving at .3 to .5 of a mile per hour with a heading providing direction. When I find a fishy area I stop the trolling motor and work it over with or without spot lock depending on conditions.

9 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

I lug my gear through the woods in the dark and paddle miles every time I fish.

I thought you had a canoe parked at a couple of different lakes. Either way, I prefer to fish from an anchored rig

A-Jay

Depends on how strong the wind is and what type of lure I'm fishing. If I'm running a frog, swim jig, crank baits, fluke I'll usually drift or drive along with my TM to cover shoreline and cover spots. If I'm trying to fish a t-rig, jig, etc. I'll spot lock on a place because I want to know exactly what my lure is doing and not wonder if its just dragging over something as I drift. I tend to fish lighter weights than most though, I'm sure if I bumped my weight up to like 1/2oz or 3/4oz or higher I could be fine drifting.

If I'm fishing open water I'm 9/10 spot locked on a ridge or cover and fishing thoroughly until I exhaust the water column and move on.

Both…….

Drift to a spot, anchor

Wind drift along and cast

17 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I thought you had a canoe parked at a couple of different lakes. Either way, I prefer to fish from an anchored rig

A-Jay

I have to walk through the woods with my gear to reach my boats. An anchor would be one more thing in an already crowded, small boat and it would be additional weight to paddle. When you describe not anchoring as "lazy," you don't account for different fishing styles and situations.

Dropping an anchor and raising it in a small boat is oh-so different than your situation. If the water is cold and I'm fishing from my slender, tippy Kevlar boat, dropping and raising an anchor is dangerous.

In my more stable boats, it's still awkward. For example, at my pond, to reach open water, I have to squeeze my canoe through a narrow inlet in the dark with woody bushes on both sides trying to snag every loose item. An anchoring system running atop the gunnels would be one more thing for the bushes to snag. An anchor on the kayak at my pal's pond would be 15 more pounds to drag into and out of the water.

12 minutes ago, Motoboss said:

Both…….

Drift to a spot, anchor

Wind drift along and cast

Smart. You range. I have fished for decades with an anchor, so I'm familiar with the pluses and minuses, but being open to drifting and anchoring is the best approach.