On Dec 30, 1:03 am, Mike wrote:

Something else which may be of interest in this regard. On one of my
pontoon boats I made a "drop keel", which I lowered behind the boat.
It looked like a rudder, but was fixed. It did improve tracking the
boat, and it allowed some direction changing casts without twisting
the boat much at all, but it was a mess on, and something else to
transport, so I eventually gave up using it.

One other thing you can try, if it is possible where you fish, and is
not dangerous, is to use two anchors. Lower one anchor and pay out
rope until you are some way away from it, then lower the other anchor,
and pull up the first anchor rope until you are equidistant to both
anchors. You have to fix the ropes to either side of the boat somehow,
( I just looped mine around the rowlocks. This is a mess on, but it
gives you a relatively stable casting platform. Of course it is also a
mess on changing position. Also best not to use hook anchors for this,
it can be dangerous if they hook up solid on something. I used two
buckets filled with cement mostly.

TL
MC