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Launched the new (old) boat right after sunrise. Do not have a kicker engine yet, so forced to troll with the 85. We couldn't get it below about 3.5 mph, so we went old school with lead core and Needlefish and Triple Teasers (not tipped with bait). Water temp ran around 54 deg. Fishing was good all morning. Caught 2 nice rainbows, (for dinner), and many cutthroats up to 20". All cutthroats were released. We couldn't believe how hard fighting the fish were. We constantly thought we had a bigger fish than it actually was. Most fish were caught with 4 - 6 colors out. Really fun day.
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Thanks for the report. FYI, when you are limited to trolling with your big motor and it won't slow down, try hooking a 5 gal bucket or even two gallon buckets to your rear cleats, that will usually slow you down pretty good. That being said, you did good trolling that fast. Were the Cutts fight hard too? Rainbow almost always fight good but if the cutts did as well that's awesome, I wonder if it was because on the water temp dropping[:/].
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Also if you want more drag from your bucket punch a 2-3" hole in the bottom of it.
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I'm not sure I understand what you are saying, holes in the bucket will give you more drag[:/]? How is that possible?
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Kind of a funny thing. Without the holes you get a hydraulic buffer that forms and the frictional force is limited to the diameter of the bucket. Also, the bucket tends to wobble like a lure dumping the drag.
Punching the hole, a single 2 or 3 inch hole, causes water to flow through and you get the drag from the diameter of the bucket as well as the drag from the water being forced through the hole. Also, it stops the bucked from wobbling .
Personally, I have found very little improvement, but I was able to measure it on a test scale I used.
On the other hand, when I had my fast idle big motor, I trolled backward. The prop is less efficient and the flat back of the boat worked as a brake.
Just saying................[fishin]
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It's counterintuitive, perhaps, but archer is correct. The hole in the bucket adds turbulence, which adds drag. (And makes it a whole lot easier to haul back into the boat, too!)
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[quote Anglinarcher]On the other hand, when I had my fast idle big motor, I trolled backward. The prop is less efficient and the flat back of the boat worked as a brake.
Just saying................[fishin][/quote]
But be careful of back trolling into the wind. If there is much of a chop on the water it can make for a wet day of fishing with the waves splashing against the back of the boat.
You can find drift socks online for a pretty good price too. Then you can get the size of sock that will slow you down to the speed that you want.
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Well that makes sense, that it keeps the bucket from wobbling by drilling the holes. I just figured that since the OP is going to get his kicker running or buy a new one that just using a bucket for now would work for how many ever trips he had left for this year. I know when I first tried it year ago, it worked pretty good, even without the holes but I only used it once or twice, until I got my kicker. Thanks for the info.
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The cutthroats were rod benders, they fought like rainbows.
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