Northwest Fishing Reports

So i have a 15 ft trihull seaswirl with a 55 hp evinrude on it. I have a 12 hp 2 stroke i bought at a yard sale a few years ago and was wondering if that would be to big as a kicker for that setup. I'm looking to mainly troll the sound and columbia with it. Also I fish lakes quite a bit is that to big for there? I have a bow mount electrick motor I'm not sure what size anymore. Ill have to check but if Im trolling for trout or kokanee I dont want to constantly be controlling the foot pedal to re adjust its just easier doing it by hand when they are available. My second question is Where is good place to get back to back seats for cheap? I'm not picky as long as there are no tears in the seats. I need 2 of them. If anyone has some let me know what you want for them and I might just get them from you.

I don't know about the seats, but years ago I used to have a 16' Runabout with a 75 horse Evinrude. I used a 7 1/2 horse kicker for trolling and it had plenty of power. Even enough power to right the boats heading if a gust of wind got me twisted up. BTW, the boat was an old marine plywood boat and it was heavy. It was made by Higgins. The same folks out of Louisiana that made the landing craft used in WWII.

So you think a 12 HP is to much for a kicker on that boat then? I've decided that I will make my own seats.

Mikeel1987 wrote:So you think a 12 HP is to much for a kicker on that boat then?

We've got an 8hp kicker on our 20 footer and it's plenty. I can troll all day and, if necessary, run it WOT for 5 - 6mph. A smaller kicker (8 or 9hp) might be better, but you've got the 12hp and I'm sure it will do the job.

If it proves to be to much.........a couple buckets thrown over as troll bags will work just fine.

I think your 12 horse will work just fine. A big plus for that much H/P is if your main motor goes belly up on you, there's still enough umph in the kicker to get you back to the launch in a timely fashion.

The 12 HP is probably fine. I had a 15 hp on Evinrude on my boat before I switched it out for an 8hp recently and the 15 trolled down just fine for trout and kokanee fishing. My boat is an 17' aluminum, it only weighs 1,100 pounds. I have seen back to back seats on cragslist a couple of different times lately. If it were me I would just get 2 seats up front and leave the rest of the boat wide open for a nice big fishing platform and room to move around!

I would be most concerned about the weight of the 12hp motor. You can have a prop shop re-pitch your prop if it trolls too fast.

On a heavy fiberglass trihull I don't think the weight should be much of an issue.

Ya didn't even think about having the prop redone if its too fast. good idea thanks. and ya the weight shouldnt matter especially since it's a 2 stroke so pretty light i can pick it up with one hand.