Drift Fishing vs. Fishing at anchor

Drift-fishing offers several advantages over fishing at anchor.

First, of course, you cover more territory. As the boat moves along, the baited hook follows and is seen by more fish than if it is left in one place.
Second, a moving bait attracts more fish than one which lies on the bottom, where it often gets buried in seaweed and sand or falls into a crevice.
Third, a moving bait seems to attract larger fish than a stationary one. Small bottom fish tend to congregate in com­pact schools around stationary bait and either steal it or get caught. But a moving bait is often overtaken only by the larger members of most species. It also attracts more so-called true game fish than a stationary one.
Last, but not least, drift-fishing eliminates the necessity of dropping an anchor and then hauling it up again.

The fact that your bait is always moving into a new area while drift-fishing also works in your favor in another way. When you anchor you may attract a few fish to your bait, but after you catch a few fish and miss others, the remaining ones often become suspicious. Then it's difficult to make them bite. But when you are drifting you are continually showing your bait to new fish which haven't been alerted.

Drift-fishing is most productive for bottom fish when there are large areas such as banks, sand or rock bars, reefs, mussel beds, oyster beds, and etc., where fish are dispersed over a wide area. This is often the case when you seek such species as fluke or summer flounder, halibut, cod, haddock, sea bass, porgies, snappers, groupers, grunts and croakers which often tend to disperse themselves over a broad area.

Drift-fishing is less productive with species which tend to congregate around sunken wrecks, rock piles, holes or other obstructions which do not cover a wide area. However, you can often locate such spots while drifting and then anchor there to fish.

Best results are obtained in drift-fishing when there is a light or moderate wind or tide. The boat should move steadily—not too slow or too fast. If there is no wind and the tide is weak, the boat stays almost in one place. If there is a strong wind or tide, the boat moves too fast and it's difficult to keep your sinker and bait on the bottom.

I remember on one occasion while I was drifting for fluke off New Jersey the wind was about 25 m.p.h. We moved so fast that the sinker was off the bottom most of the time. We tried dropping the anchor to slow down the drift, but one anchor wasn't enough. So we dropped another anchor, and with both anchors dragging we slowed down enough to catch a mess of fluke.


Related Articles:

1. Hooking Fish while drifting
   
2. Drift Fishing vs. Fishing at anchor
3. How to Drift Fish