I am thinking about picking up a drift sock for my September trip where I'll be on Brule for a couple of days. i will be in a Wenonah Tuff Weave, 42 lb boat with 30 lbs of ballast in bow and stern.

Anybody a fan of these? Would I tie them off at bow or stern?

They are a great help, and for me, eliminate the need for an anchor 90% of the time. In a tandem, we always tie to stern so we can fish forward, or if drifting and fishing vertical, we can see where we are going. It would work either way, that is just our preference.

I do not feel comfortable tying to the side of a canoe, but do it all the time in my Lund. I haven't found a really good and safe way to use one on a solo, as tying to the side is dangerous, and you cannot reach the ends from the center in order to retrieve. I have rigged a sliding system for my solo, but if anything gets caught and you were headed out into dangerous water, you could be in a world of hurt, so I abandoned the idea even though it worked OK.

A 24 inch sock will slow you to a crawl in all but a gale. MinnKota has the smallest, lightest, most packable I have found. Weighs about 12 ounces with rope and a rear attached retrieval rope added to the rear loop of the sock.

So, tying off at bow with the stern, stowing the sock and rope behind the solo seat, and “launching “ the sock over the stern sounds a bit sketch?

Definitely bring one.
I tie a piece of para cord to the main "puller-inner" line and to something near me. That way, I can just start pulling on that rope without trying to turn around, lean back, etc. To deploy, just toss it in over the side and let it sort itself out.
So, short answer, YES.

Also, there is one on the bottom of Wench lake, only one portage in from Brule!

lundojam: "Also, there is one on the bottom of Wench lake, only one portage in from Brule! "

That was the very first canoe portage I ever did and it was littered with blowdown. Did not see your drift sock.

We bring one every year. We tie ours to the bow and drift backwards. That way when we've covered the area we want, just pull in the drift sock and you're already facing the direction you need to. Paddle straight back over the area and deploy the drift sock again. Drift back over area and keep repeating without having to spin the canoe around every time. I've also found this is a lot easier on my wrist with the rod and line angled forward towards the front of the boat.

I say yes, you should bring one. If you're fishing, you need to bring a drift sock with you.

End of debate.

I’m a huge fan, but watch your spare rods when deploying it.

Short story, but you probably already get it.

I have one and have brought it on several BW trips. I used it only about once to twice. They are best on windy days where you want more time to fish a shore line. It also depends a bit on what you are fishing for and are comfortable using one.

What size does everyone use?

MinnKota MK27. 22" diameter, 34" deep, weighs like 12 ounces, and packs about the size of a Nalgene bottle. Will slow you to a crawl if attached to bow or stern.

I would definitely recommend a drift sock and a canoe anchor always on hand.

Definitely yes. You don’t need a large sock, smaller the better- like the 22” mentioned earlier.