Overcoming Side-to-Side Drift

[Earl Phillips Jr]

The main problem I have when setting up a hole in the swift tide flowes of the James river is keeping the boat from drifting side to side in the current, I have looked for a long time for a solution to this, I think I found it. I use the standard anchor off the bow with a long line played out to get a good grip. then if needed I deploy the drift bucket...............yes a bucket, after seeing this on another site on river fishing I thought I'd try it. I took a 7 galon bucket and removed the handle, I drilled 4 3/8 holes down from the top about 2 inches across from eachother. I then used a hole saw to drill a 2 inch hole in the center of the bottom and 5 around the sides about 2 inches up from the bottom. then two 12foot long 3/8 rope sections are tied to the bucket in the holes at the top, knot on the outside of the bucket. forming a cross in the lines, tie an overhand knot to the end to form a small loop to attach a clip shackle. this will then give you the "yoke" for the bucket, then clip on a rope to the shackle and tie to a cleat on the back of the boat behind the motor. the bucket will fill with water and steady the boat in the current and keep it from drifting side to side, do not play it too far back as it too will then drift in the current, keep it close, about 5 feet back, this way it catches the hydralics from the motor wash and uses the added force from it to help overcome the force of the current.