Boats on the water will naturally drift around, respective to local conditions.
Anglers fishing from a boat will need to account for drift speed to properly present their bait or lure.
For the veteran land-based angler, the best comparison they have for drift speed is the retrieve speed of their reel.
The following chart converts a boat's drift speed in miles per hour to inches per second.
Line retrieve / line per crank is typically given in inches although you probably don't happen to reel at one crank per second, so adjust accordingly.
| Miles per Hour |
Inches per Second |
| 0.3 |
5.28 |
| 0.4 |
7.04 |
| 0.5 |
8.8 |
| 0.6 |
10.56 |
| 0.7 |
12.32 |
| 0.8 |
14.08 |
| 0.9 |
15.84 |
| 1 |
17.6 |
| 1.25 |
22 |
| 1.5 |
26.4 |
| 1.75 |
30.8 |
| 2 |
35.2 |
| 2.5 |
44 |
| 3 |
52.8 |
If you don't happen to know the recovery rate of your reel here are some examples for cross reference:
| Pflueger President Size 20 |
20.7" Per Turn |
| Pflueger President Size 40 |
30.2" Per Turn |
| PENN Spinfisher VI Size 2500 |
33" Per Turn |
| PENN Spinfisher VI Size 9500 |
40" Per Turn |
| Shimano Stradic FL Size 1000 |
30" Per Turn |
| Shimano Stradic FL Size 5000 |
40" Per Turn |
| Daiwa BG Size 1500 |
28.3" Per Turn |
| Daiwa BG Size 8000 |
53.3" Per Turn |