As a tournament crappie fisherman Charlotte’s Mike Parrott is no stranger to fishing when he has to. He doesn’t get the luxury of choosing when tournaments will be held and most times, unless a dire situation exists, it’s time to hit the water. Like the Boy Scouts of America like to say: “Be Prepared”.
“No matter what time of year you’re fishing, wind is always going to be your worst enemy,” said Parrott. “I can’t tell you how many times we’ve put together a winning pattern (in practice), and then tournament day rolls around and the wind starts blowing hard.”
“I love to shoot docks, but most of the time during a tournament, I’ll be tight-lining,” he said. “When there’s storms rolling through, and the wind is blowing pretty hard, you still have to fish slow, so the best thing to do to slow the boat down is put a chain out.”
Rather than anchor or troll against the wind, Parrott has found that a 10-foot length of logging chain attached to a 20-foot length of ½-inch rope makes an excellent drag to pull behind the boat while he fishes with the wind from the front.
“If the wind is blowing hard enough, I’ll put two chains out, one off each side of the motor and use 3/8-inch logging chain in 10-foot lengths,” he said. “That’ll get you slowed down where you can control the boat, and having a chain on each corner keeps the boat from wanting to fish-tail in the wind.”
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