Northwest Fishing Reports

I have a 200 hp Mercury Verado and would like to put a trolling plate on it. Any suggestions? I want to make sure that I put one one that will be effective with this big of a motor.

Thanks!

Invest in a kicker just my thoughts as running large HP motors at reduced speeds for long periods other then the Suzuki 140 is asking a load up from what I have seen and a waste of gas as well

No room for a kicker. I have a Crestliner Sportfish with an SST transom that has a ski tow bar mounted to the transom. It bolts in on each side of the motor, right where a kicker would be mounted. Otherwise, you're exactly right, the kicker would be the right way to go.

Most will laugh the best fix and fast is short line 2= 5 gallon buckets EACH SIDE so both sides have the same pressure and length and your in just make sure when you hook a hog the bucket that will provide the drag and reduce the speed are in your tub and fast. LOL :cyclopsan

A trolling plate will absolutely kill your ability to control your boat when even the slightest breeze shows up. You should be able to mount an electric like the following:

Minn Kota engine mounted trolling motors

If your not going to be doing any power trolling this may be the way to go for you.

As Swede also pointed out, drift socks do work. I have a couple that I use when fishing in very windy conditions and when I really need to go slow to get the bug eyes to bite.

I have the Cabela's version of the trolling plate with hydrofoil, and I can assure you that the above advice is correct.

If I have wind, the control with the plate down is gone. Oh, and it also cracks every few years, and the shear pin is always failing, and .................................

I seldom troll anyway, but when I do, my front mount 24V electric is my go too. If that is not enough, then the bucket trick does indeed work well.

Since you have other mitigating factors against kickers, Ill try to help out.

On my boat, I have the old style Happy Troller. By far the best trolling plate out there because it is DEAD simple and cheap. Take the plate and cut a notch BETWEEN the up and down notches. This will give you a slightly higher trolling speed, but on windy days it allows you to have enough thrust to steer and turn. With my 50hp 4 stroke I troll around 1.5-2 mph on the middle notch, and less than 1 with it all the way down. Given that you are using such a large motor, the trolling plate might actually still have good control at full down, but thats something you will need to test.

Expect to lose 1-2 mph of top speed due to drag, and gain a bit of a rooster tail. Just one of the side effects of a giant piece of sheet metal hanging on the cavitation plate.

If you are carrying electrics for bassing, the trim tab or outboard mounted motors are a good setup, but a day of salmon or trout trolling can be a bit of a pain for that, lots of extra ballast in the form of batteries to keep up.

I do think that a custom kicker bracket could be fabricated around your tow setup if you were interested.

E

Thanks all for the replies. I'll definately take all into consideration!

Couldn't you go with a "top-mount" kicker plate,..I guess that would be the gunwhale,..I had Glastron Trihull with the same problem,..no where to mount a kicker plate,..so I thought a top mount would work,..not sure,..just a thought!

BB