Quinte Fishing

was out for about 4 hours trying out the new boat, trolling worm harnesses in the bays just north of the Ferry in 12 to 14 ft off weed lines. Had trouble keeping the small perch and silver bass off the lines, stealing worms and such. Managed only one 16 incher, fishing 3:30 -7:30 p.m. Same areas 2 weeks ago produced 18 quality walleye in the 1-3 pound range over two days but guess they're gone or off the bite.

On another note, my 40 hp Etec won't go under 3.7 kph so had to use the electric trolling motor to get down to walleye trolling speed. other than drilling some holes and attaching a bulky trolling plate, any suggestions on getting my speed down, cheap and easy?

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lets go fishin!

Buy a drift sock, or drill a few holes in a 5 gallon bucket and troll it.

Buckets work. Kicker motor. I have an old drift sock if it's any use to you.


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Do you not like using the electric?? I have the same problem with my 40 horse and use my electric all the time. Works great for me.

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There's something wrong with that rod.
It has a bend in it!!!

I have a 40 Honda with the same problem. I use my trolling motor on calm days going with the wind. I don't like using over 50% because the battery won't last all day.

The deep diving lures and the planer boards need a little more speed than I get out of the trolling motor so I use a drift bag and the 40.

The trick is how you rig the bag.

First of all, I use a bag rather than buckets because it's easier to handle and the bag rolls up for storage.

You need a cleat close to the bow of the boat. I but a loop in the bag rope and loop it through and over the cleat.

The bag sits in the water just on the surface as close to the bow as you can and still catch water. I tie a rope on the tail of the bag and tie it to the stern cleat. I put the bag on the starboard side so it's not in my way when I'm trolling.

Because the bag is close to the bow it will steer pretty good and not pull you off course too bad. I can adjust my speed by trolling with or against the wind and using the throttle if necessary.

When I want to pull the bag up for another pass I just grab the trail rope, pick it up to drain the bag, a little shake to get the water off and flip it into the boat. I don't have to get out of my seat to do it.

I have a soft nylon bag and a bag that's firmer. I like the firmer bag way better. Much easier to flip in and out of the water.

The firm bag was from Bass Pro about 20 years ago and is still like new.

The trick is sizing the bag for the boat. I have a 30 inch bag on a 16 ft boat with a 40 hp and it's perfect for me. From 3.9 kph to about 2.9 - 2.6 with the wind and around 2.1 - 1.9 kph into the wind. If you want slower you can go to the next size bag which is a 36". You may find that pulls you off course a bit more. My soft bag is bigger and is harder to steer.

You may have to play with the rigging a little to get it right, but once you do I'm sure you'll like it.

Hope this helps.

New to bay and last year had a tough time catching anything, added bow mount trolling motor and have appreciated every penny spent, only use electric for tolling bouncers and catch rate has gone through the roof, caught more keeper 17"+ in first week than all of last year, I have also notice that when in a group of boats using gas kicker if I move away or they leave the area catch rate goes up, not sure how this will play out this fall with planer boards and crank baits but in tight to weed edge 10' to 14' FOW 1 1/2oz bouncer .8 to 1.1mph with home tied spinner rig has been deadly, my recommendation would be go into stealth mode for as long as your batteries allow and save for a bigger capacity battery.
You can get poor real quick feeding the perch and white bass try gulp, minnows or leech, the out of production Uncle Josh Pork Worm is great if you can find them! a 3" section on a double hook rig will last all day, best outing with one bait was 6 keepers 2 drum and a pike plus the usual hoards of perch and small eyes, bait was mangled almost colourless but caught a 21" eye to finish of the day.
Pro Tackle had some Green Pumpkin left a few weeks ago, never had any luck with that colour, looks like a piece of ribbon grass to me, a couple of days in Red Food dye turn them reddish brown and they work great. The artificial worms are perfect for kids, novice or older anglers, you spend less time baiting their hooks, their lures are in the water longer and you get to fish as well.

If you have a power drive, or Terrova type trolling motor, turn the unit around so its pushing the boat backwards, on very low, and troll with the main engine. The bowmount will slow you to any speed you want. I do this all the time. Sometimes, even just putting the bowmount in the water will slow you down some if you turn it sideways to the direction your going. I hate dragging stuff to slow me down. The bowmount works amazing. It also keeps your bow down, and from blowing around when its windy. It only needs to be on very, very low to make a big difference.

S.

lots of great tips, tks very much to all. Especially like Sinker's suggestion using the bow mount pointed towards me. In low I figure the battery would last quite some time. Was on Charleston today so dropped in at Kelsey's Marine and had my idle lowered, shaving off 1 km, but 2.7 is still a bit too fast. will try a few of the ideas here and see what I like best.

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lets go fishin!

If you have a good battery (and charger) and the electric motor is big enough for the boat you should be able to troll all day unless it's really windy. I did it for years in my 16 foooter. My first trolling motor was 12 volt, but I had 2 batteries. Second battery for backup in case the first one died and also if I wanted to fish 2 days in a row I didn't have to wait for the 1st to recharge. It was a bit of pain swapping batteries around, but it worked. Last year I upgraded to a 24 volt motor and the next size up and it is absolutely perfect for me but it wasn't cheap.
What size boat and electric do you have??

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There's something wrong with that rod.
It has a bend in it!!!

Got a 16 ft Lund Rebel with a 40 lb thrust Minnkota. Seemed a bit small to me but seller noted that given it's bow mounted you don't need the same power as transom mounted and it did pull the boat at approx 2.5 to 3 kph at top speed with little wind on that particular day. don't think I had a full charge on the battery so will give it a good test next time I go out to see how many hours I can get out of it.

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lets go fishin!

If you are going to use your kicker, the drift sock is the cheapest by far.

For your minn kota, it might be under powered. an 80# thrust would pull your boat no problem but costs $. Another solution is to get a second battery and run it in parallel for your 40#. This gives you twice the battery power on 12v:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8hchc394d306ecw/BATTER-4.gif?dl=0

Check if your minn kota has "Digital Maximizer" on it as well. This keeps the power consumption down on the motor when your running it hard. I only use my 80# when trolling unless there is a head wind over 15km/hr. I troll 1.8 max for cranks and 1.4 max for spinners, you don't need anymore than that. I tested these values are just enough to get the lures down and spinning/shaking, so you don't need to be excessive on your speed with the electric.

When your out trolling, pop your motor cover off while it's in gear, Then just back the idle screw off on your throttle lever. It will slow right down to speed or down just till it stays running. Works great! Good luck!

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LUCK HAS NOTHIN TO DO WITH IT!!!!!!

Lots of great info here. With the drift sock, if you get 2 smaller ones and put them off tthe bow on each side the steering will be much easier and rig them as Roblin suggested.

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Dan Elliot - A bad day on Quinte is better than a good day at work !!!
http://www.quintefishing.com

If you are just trying to slow down a little bit try to troll with the trolling motor in the water and turned sideways. I found it slows me down a bit and when going into the wind simply straighten the trolling motor to lower the drag and get speed to match with wind trolling.

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Leave a Great Legacy Behind
Practice Fishing C.P.R.
Catch Picture and Release

I was curious about the idea of using the bow mounted trolling motor to push back against forward motion of the outboard to slow the boat down.

I sent an e-mail to the Minn Kota Tech Department for their thoughts.

Here's the reply,

"In theory, it would work. However, we do not recommend that you have your trolling motor in while running the outboard. The kick of the outboard will out do the trolling motor, which in result will over work the trolling motor."

Another thing I should have mentioned about the drift bag is if your drifting on a windy day, leave your motor down and throw the drift bag off the bow with a longer rope and you drift square to the wind.