Minn Kota 1865260 Drift Sock/MKA-26

I have a 21' deck boat and really had trouble trolling before buying this drift sock. My slowest speed was around 3mph and I was not catching any fish on our lake trolling at that speed. I bought this drift sock and secured it to my front and rear boat cleats, tying on to the front and rear of the drift sock, leaving just enough line to allow the sock to sit just under the water on the side of my boat. I secured the lines of the cleats really well BEFORE putting the sock in the water (it is very hard to hold onto once in the water so be sure it is secured). The sock slowed my boat to under 2mph at slowest speed and I am now able to troll at an ideal speed for fishing. Proof is in the pudding - after just a few hours of using this I pulled in two very big largemouth bass plus some rock bass and a few other fish. Tying the rear of the sock to the rear cleat of the boat allowed me to grab the back of the sock and easily lift it out of the water when finished. Ideally I will try to find two proper length lines with clips so that I can keep the lines attached to the cleats and simply clip on the sock and drop it in the water when ready to use it. This is a great alternative to a trolling motor and I am happy with the purchase.Paul

I purchased a pair of these so I could get away from having to use my kicker all the time for trolling. I have a 19' Fiberglass boat with a 115 Evinrude. The slowest I can get to is roughly 2.6 - 2.8 mph on flat water per the gps. 1 bag took roughly 1 mph off of that. I trolled at 1.6 -1.8 for a few hours effortlessly. 2 bags would take me to a crawl and I'd probably have to throttle up a bit for trolling. So far this was a great option for me. We'll see on the longevity.

What a great solution to slowing a small boat down in the wind, especially if you have to stop and go often and/or are floating over sea weed and pulling an anchor up and down is burdensome. In fact, I think these things actually work better than anchors! Well made construction and a well thought of design. So surprised I don't see more of these out on the water. Only thing I don't like is the fact that I can't seem to find Minn Kota's larger models to buy for me power boat and pontoon!Update as of 7/29/2013--I still have the same opinion as to the functionality of this product, but I must note that it is VERY FRAGILE! I found this thing torn up to SHREDS in the back of my truck. Of course, in hindsight, I should have kept this thing protected. It appeared to be stronger, and able to withstand some wear (as it is designed for marine use); however, it appears to have ripped and torn almost as easy as a grocery bag. Still a great product, if you take care of it properly--I just wish it was made a little stronger and this unfortunate thing didn't happen to me.

Perfect for my kayaks(12’ Hobie Outback, 13’ OK Trident). I like that it has weights on the bottom and a float at the top for quick deployment. I only wish it a bright color like yellow or red because the black color gets lost in the dark blue waters that I fish in, although the yellow dump strap makes it easy to locate at a glance.

In the past, if it was windy out, I either didn't launch my fishing boat or I would fish only in "wind-break" areas.After seeing this well reviewed Amazon item, I bought this drift sock 5-6 years ago hoping that it would allow me to actually fish out in the wind by helping control my 14 foot (extra wide) jon boat which only has a trolling motor (no outboard motor) on windy days on the 81 acre lake I regularly fish.The wind sock is made very well as you would expect from being a MinnKota product however, it did not provide any noticeable help in slowing my boat from blowing very fast, across the lake, which prevented me from fishing.I had hoped it would slow my drift down enough to where I could fish on moderate to very windy days so I could work the banks while drifting, down wind. I found that this was still not possible as my boat still raced across the lake acting as if there was no drift sock in the water.I am not sure if my boat was too light (700 lbs) or has too shallow a draft for this wind sock to be an effective tool at controlling drift speed.Or maybe one sock isn't enough for my type of boat on moderate to very windy days. Maybe I need two of them deployed!

This is an excellent product. I have an 18 foot pontoon and I could not get it to troll at less then 2 mph until I added this drift sock. It immediately cut my speed down to around 1 mph. So now I can control my trolling speed for any species or conditions. This drift sock is very well made and has more then paid for itself. Forget trolling plates and other expensive options. This is the way to go if you want to slow down your boat. Once your done you pull it out and store it for next time. Does not come with a harness so make sure your order one.

Only used twice trolling 17 ft bass boat. Got boat slow down to ¾ MPH form almost 2. you can't just throw over the side of the boat. you must have this centered behind the boat. I use a skiers harness to accomplish this

I have a large 14' Tandem Kayak that gets blown around like crazy. I decided to try out this MinnKota Drift sock primarily because I knew the MinnKota brand and know they produce quality products - this is no exception. It is awesome. I can't believe I ever tried fishing without it. It slows you down to a slow crawl even during 20MPH winds.I think the most remarkable thing about this product is that no matter how rocky or snaggy the water is it seems to never get caught up or snagged. It somehow just maneuvers over and around all the junk. Not sure if I've just been lucky or that is the way it's designed.I've only had it for a few weeks but the quality seems superb. I do not think there will be any durability issues. Very nice drift sock buy one and see for yourself.

Good quality, works well. I use it on a Kayak

Works great. Really slows my drift with my 16ft bowrider.

Does what it is meant to do, slows down your troll speed for those big lazy fish that do not want to chase!

fonctionne tres bien

Works great with a tandem blow up kayak. We kept drifting when we were fishing so we thought we would try this. Works exactly the way it was advertised!