eriewalleye
02-11-2008, 09:08 AM
anyone here use a transom type trolling motor to troll on bigger lakes with a 16-17' boat? if so what is your set up and would you do anything different.
thanks
Rich Ziert - KlassAct
02-11-2008, 10:18 AM
"anyone here use a transom type trolling motor to troll on bigger lakes with a 16-17' boat? if so what is your set up and would you do anything different."
You may want to take this to the Boats and Motors page for better response. However, There's a lot of "stuff" that doesn't meet the eye in your question(s).
A transom type trolling motor can be an electric motor, and/or it can be a gas motor. Moving the boat forward or backwards? Each application can have some differences/affects as well as how long your trolling runs, or your picking apart structure will be. Bigger lakes to me mean 5,000+. surface acres. What does the term "Bigger Lakes" mean to you? A small boat to me is 12-14 feet. I'm not trying to split hairs here nor am I trying to goad anybody into a reaction strike. Everything said makes a diff.
The samll boat - my definition - can get by with one gas motor to do all the jobs. A 15-30 horse on a 12- 14 foot boat will throttle down to front and/or back troll with great efficency. Big water is the problem here. Big water is not safe in a small boat. That don't mean it won't work. It means if you are intrepid enough big water won't make a diff to you.
An electric motor on a 17 foot boat has to be large enough to push larger waves'swells of big water well enough to run all day without problem. To me, this is a high end cost proposition, and one I can't have absolute confidence in. To be "out there" and have that equipment fail, ruins the day - don't cha know ? Therefore we go over to something else.
To cover all the bases, the perfect situatioon for my style fishing on big water, subject to high winds, high waves/rollers, is to have both a front mounted electric, and a smaller kicker gas motor on the transum next to the big motor. Use the electric motor when conditions are more or less calm, and use the kicker motor when conditions are more than calm. When "things" get really rough, you may want to use the big motor to do all the jobs listed above.
Assuming you mean transom electric - I have.
It's not safe to backtroll if there are any waves so you can only troll downwind and cross/downwind. Forward trolling in anything bouncy is not going to happen.
Electrics that are mounted to the main motor are gaining popularity though a lot of the people using them also have kickers and may frequently use them with bowmounts. I think part of the reason the engine mounted jobs are becoming popular is rapid deployment. If you have enough thrust & battery(s) for the size of the boat it will work fine.
IMO. a bowmount powerdrive (long foot control cord) would be better. Bow-mount auto-pilot way better. A bow mount auto pilot with a kicker the bee knees but a transom electric will work.
My kicker is also my on the water AAA.
Good Luck