Three years swinging a dredge before I figured out the swing speed trick

Was running the cutter head at full throttle for ages until a old-timer on the bank yelled at me that slow and steady clears more mud per hour. Now I'm getting through 40% more material on the same fuel at the Clark Fork site. Anyone else waste years running hot before they learned to slow down?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylanh971mo ago

Huh, glad it worked out for you I guess. But a 40% boost on the Clark Fork? That river's got some weird current patterns, might just be your specific spot. Not sure it's that big of a deal for everyone else.

shah.ben1mo agoTop Commenter

You mentioned the weird current patterns on the Clark Fork, and that's actually a big part of why I think this matters more than people realize. The river has these deep holes and sudden dropoffs that mess with normal flow, so a 40% boost in one spot could mean the difference between a decent eddy and a total washout. If you fish that section regularly, you'd notice how those currents stack differently after a rain or snowmelt, and that boost might be the only stretch that stays fishable while everything else gets blown out.