Quinte Fishing

I am looking for some help on which motor would be the best way to go to achieve 1-2 mph. I have a 16 ft older fiberglass runabout made by McCulloch with a 30 hp motor, going to increase to a 50 hp. The transom on the boat has a small opening for the motor and 16"sq. of fiberglass on both sides. I have been looking at installing a bracket for a 9.9 or electric transom mount trolling mount. Other options would be a bow mount on the back or a engine mount trolling motor.
Has any one tried the engine mount trolling motor?
Is trolling speed important in the spring and summer like it is in the fall?
Open to any suggestions or thoughts.
Thanks John

Trolling speed is always important, all the time.

As far as a kicker there are several factors to consider, and several pros and cons to your options. I would look at the key features of each option you are looking at do the pros and cons and make a decision based on what is best for you.

If you troll cranks and spinners most often then I personally would go with a gas motor. The big advantages in my opinion would be that you don't have to charge batteries all the time, and if you had to rely on a motor to get you back in the case your main engine dies you won't run out of power half way back to the launch etc.

Depending on the size and wieght of your boat you may find an 8 hp or even 6 hp would be suffiencient for your boat. A 9.9 hp would be fine, but you may be able to save a little $ by going smaller.

Scott

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Bay of Quinte Charters offers a 26' Charter Boat operating out of Picton Harbour with a fully enclosed cabin.
Picton Harbour Inn offers 31 rooms, docking, and a restaurant on the sheltered waters of Picton Harbour.
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I run a 50 horse evenrude on a 16 foot older deep V star craft boat . and I mounted a trolling plate to the 50 horse.......... works great....... I can usually get it below 1 mph and troll over 2 when i want to even though its a 50 horse I can troll for 6 hours on a gallon of gas . also when the trolling plate is in the up possition it helps get the boat up on plane when i kick it in the butt to shoot across the lake . the trolling plate costs about 60 bucks as apposed to 5 hundred for a kicker motor.... just my two cents worth . grizz

I'm thinking you should try some drift socks first, I'm sure with the right set up you can get your speed down.

Personally, I like the electric but like Scott said you have to charge the batteries which can be a pain if your gone for weekend and can't charge the batteries. With my Minkota Terrova (101lbs. bowmount) I can troll anywhere from 0 to 3.0 mph, it also has an autopilot. The batteries will typically last me 8-12 hrs. depending on the conditions and speed your trying to maintain (with a 21 ft. Triton). I have heard only good things about the engine mount trolling motors but have yet to try one for myself.

As for the gas kicker, I only use mine @ certain times of the year for very specific applications. The best one being getting back to the launch when you have a failure 30 miles away

Hey John

I have used an electric transom trolling motor in the past (on a 14' alum) and they work great. You get more run-time from a transom mount than a motor mounted on the bow.

As for battery life, you can hook up a solar trickle charger on sunny, or partially cloudy, days and increase your battery life by about 1/4 - 1/3.

The nice thing about electric is that it is quiet and you don't have to sniff fumes all day.

Hope this helps.

Shaner

Thanks for the responses
When trolling with an electric do I still need to use planer boards?

doesn't matter planer boards are more to spread out your offerings to cover more water thant anything.

dave

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A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work

Back in my pauper days when money was scarce, all we ever used were plastic shopping bags. Tie one/two or three on depending on the drift. The bags would last all day and get you down as slow as you want to go.