Trolling with a fish and ski...

[TJEli]

Morning guys,

I recently picked up a Ranger 397XT. It would be pretty difficult to mount a kicker on because it has the Ranger VS engine setback. I know I can't troll slow enough with the big motor. (merc 200 EFI) It does have a 24V Motor Guide on the bow. Has anyone had success running thier bow troller for propulsion and using the big motor as a rudder? Any other suggestions?

Thanks for the help,

-Eli

[bvs]

I have a kicker and still do what you propose all the time, except I haven't found using the big motor for steering to be very usefull while trolling. I still leave the big motor in the water as a rudder to keep the boat going straight and use the bowmount for the propulsion and steering. Try it. It works great.

You can also buy a 'happy troller' plate that swings down in behind your big prop and slows the boat down. A drift sock (sort of a parachute in the water) tied to your bow eye would work as well.

[beeman]

Thats my secrect steathy mode works great pulling pop gear for trout.

[TJEli]

I would like to be able to steer from the helm and I don't really care for electric steer trollers. I wonder how it will work. Wish the water wasn't hard up here or I would go try it!

-Eli

[beeman]

Minnkota powerdrive v2 55 thrust 12volt. Seems to work fine on my 17 foot rigs. With the remotes you can steer anywhere in boat. I preffer electric steering. I also have a long shaft nissan 5hp i dont even take it along. Electric you can set the speed perfect for pulling walleye rigs on bottom say 9 feet in area i fish just perfect. I have not tried 24volt I love 12volt so why stop. Maybe you could sell your motor on ebay then pickup electric steering model with remotes?

[Pezman38]

I would like to be able to steer from the helm and I don't really care for electric steer trollers. I wonder how it will work. Wish the water wasn't hard up here or I would go try it!

-Eli

I agree with BVS. If you want to steer from the console then a trolling plate would work great for you. I have used one on past boats and it does a good job slowing the boat down.

BVS's idea to use a drift sock is also a great idea. How slow can you go currently? If you are close to 2-3mph then you shouldn't need a huge drift sock to get you down to 1+ mph. Prolly a 30-40ish drift sock will work.

[K Gonefishin]

For slow trolling you can install and run a Engine Mount electric motor that Minn Kota makes that installs on your captivation plate and steer from the helm, or sell your motor guide up front and buy a Terrova with Auto Pilot. Trolling with that EFI probably isn't the greatest idea but if you wanted to I would say get 2 bags one for each side probably 2- 30 inch bags..makes steering alot easier and you won't fight side drift as bad it equals out the troll much better than one if you leave the help to fight a fish and or net, set lines etc. Just another couple options. If you want trolling bags get Amish Outfitter Buggy Bags best and toughest bags on the market they are indestructable and made for trolling not wimpy drift socks.

[TJEli]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It will troll at 3.1 with the 200 now but I would rather not troll with that big 2 stroke EFI. I will give some things a try in the spring.

BTW... I have a Minn Kota E-mount on my other boat. I really dont want to put one of those on the new boat. They do work good though.

-Eli

[duckbutter]

If all else fails, troll backwards. When we first bought our cottage all I had was a toon with a 75 Johnson on it that would only slow going forwards to about 2 1/2 or 3 mph. Started trolling backwards and was down to 1 mph or close.

[beeman]

Its was onsale couple days ago, amazon kindly gave me the discount price worked out sweet. This model does not have autopilot, im selling the cresty and figured id save a few bucks.

http://www.amazon.com/Minn-Kota-Powerdrive-Bow-Mount-Trolling/dp/B000MQPA1Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1260596621&sr=8-1