Northwest Fishing Reports

I have a 16' Lund Pro Sport powered by a Yamaha 4stroke 50hp. It trolls fine for blackmouth at 2.5mph. What would be the best option for trolling for trout at 1.25 mph? What size elec or kicker would be best?

I would go with a 50lb thrust electric.

My buddy has a 3 HP 2002 yam and it is superb for his 12'er. troll 3 or 4 hours on the little tank on the engine. He paid 400 bucks for it and no not stolen lol...I wouldn't waste money on electric and then batteries too no point IMO when gas gets it done for almost the same price.

I like the quiet and stealthy electric for trolling on lakes.. A 40lb thrust electric would push a 16ft Lund just fine and for hours I think..

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Standard procedure to put the charger on the battery EVERY time you get home, it'll be second nature soon, keep doing it.

Yes get a 2 bank charger and mount it to the boat and hooked to the batteries all the time, then just plug in the cord and leave it. Get the proper charger so it can monitor the batteries all the time and keep them charged, even all winter of not being used.

gfakkema wrote:I just went out and bought a 55# thrust, variable speed minn kota not too long ago for my 16' smokercraft. I was hoping it would be awesome, but I'm not too stoked with it after a few weeks of use. The motor works great for pushing the boat at anywhere from .1-3 mph. The problem comes with the battery situation. I have 2, 27 series deep cycle batteries (not connected in parallel, just individually). It just becomes a pain to have to charge the batteries all the time. I could connect them in parallel, mount an onboard 2 cell charger and this would make it easier, but I have to charge the batteries after almost every day on the water (6-8 hours of use). If I get home and forget to charge, then I'm not going out the next day. After dealing with it for a few weeks, I've decided that a gas motor would be much easier. Electrics are good for being stealth, but after buying the motor ($300), batteries ($100 x 2), charger ($100), and maybe even an isolator, I just feel like it's the same price as a used kicker (not to mention it's always ready to go...no charging etc). Plus, the kicker can get you home if the main goes down without worrying about battery charge, wind etc. So...to sum up, get a kicker if you got the money and the space.

Exactly the reason why I wouldn't get an electric trolling motor, but each to his own.

I like an electric for smaller waters, especially since many of the waters I fish have a ban on using gas motors. A 55# Kota with a good group 27 will muscle a 16' aluminum boat around all day , on the lake or river , easily making 3mph if needed. This is twice as fast as I generally troll on freshwater, so it works for me. That 55 will go for about 3 hours at top speed on my main motor's cranking battery, if needed.... so there's my "emergency" power. This is assuming that my deep cycle is totally discharged , which is almost impossible to do in one outing.

Yes, you have to buy a good charger and use it after every outing, but set it up for a quick connect and it's easy-peasy. I have a Deltran smart charger that will charge and condition a Group 27 from dead to 100% in about 6-8 hours , and it connects in seconds.

On my big water boat, whole nuther story. Four stroke gas all the way. Downsides include occasional carb cleanings and much more overall mechanical tinkering/expense than an electric..... but you can't get the kind of power and control you need for a bigger boat from electric power unless you want to drop a LOT of cash. Electric kickers have no place on the big water, at least around here, although opinions may vary on that.

Two stroke gas is pretty much out of the question for me nowadays, since I don't like to screw around trying to find ethanol free fuel and haul it around in jugs , ugh.

One point for a 9.9 gas is that it will ALWAYS get you home fairly quickly if the main motor somehow conks out , but again, it's all about what your particular boat is gonna be doing , and in particular , where.

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The batteries are a pain (and a heavy pain at that) but nothing beats the peace and quite of an electric in my opinion, also need one to fish no gas motor lakes. Since you fish salt I'd probably go with the gas though for your situation. I have a 50lb thrust electric on my 12' livingston, it pushes it around ok, in a strong current/tide/wind on salt I don't think it'd be worth squat though. I'm planning to buy a 3.5hp backup for when I start going out on salt b/c I have so little faith the electric could handle it but for trolling fresh water the electric can't be beat in my opinion.

I'll second the "peace and quiet" of an electric , having fished for many years with small gas kickers prior to the advent of these relatively inexpensive, fairly powerful electrics. It's nice to hear the birdies singing, the fish rising .... and NOT listen to a motor chugging away. I don't miss lugging that 9.9 horse two stroke outboard around , not to mention the gas can, either.

Bottomline : Every boat it set up to do different things in different places, and depending on that , gas OR electric can wind up being the best choice for a given circumstance.

Batteries are a fact of many hobbies or sports. You use them and buy lots of them or you use them and take care of them. There's no reason on earth to expect any less than a minimum of five years operation out of a big lead acid battery. The key is, never run them flat and always keep them charged. They like to kept at the top of their game so as soon as you're done charge 'em back up, don't let them sit. Charge 'em up and keep a float on 'em and they'll give you years of service. The best part of taking proper care of them is they're always ready to go when you are, no need to remember to put them on the charger because you already did!

I have a bow mounted 55lb Terrova with iPilot on a 16.5' deep-v boat. My main gas motor goes too fast for trout imo. ~2.7-3.0 MPH.

Anyways, I have a single group 27 AGM battery. I can troll for at least 4 hours basicly non-stop at speed setting 6-7.5 on my remote. This will usually allow me to run at 1.1-1.5 MPH depending on wind or how fast I need it to go. At max speed(10), I get 2.5MPH. I haven't been able to run the battery completely dead, but it was damn close when I was trolling for a little over 5 hours.


It's quiet and lightweight. And because it's bow-mounted, it pulls the boat much better than pushing from the transom.

And complaining about batteries. I have to remove my batteries after every outing because I store my boat outside. I have to bring in 100lbs of battery inside to recharge. You get use to it.

i have both an electric motor and a gas kicker on my sled, and i use the electric 90% of the time. For two reasons; number one its quiet and doesnt vibrate, and #2 its cheaper. The gas kicker does come ine handy when your fighting river currents or your main decides it doesnt wanna do its thing.

I have a Minnkota riptide 55# and i love it. i can run for 6 hours (interstate pro-29m)on speed 4 which puts my boat about 2mph. i also have a small group 27 deep cycle i throw in just in case. after just a few times out though i have gotten into the rythm of unconnecting the boat and plugging in the onboard charger.

Another option is just buying a drift sock or two and throwing those out when you hit the lake.

I've tested home depot buckets in the place of a wind sock. Two buckets will get me down to a decent troll but it's asking for trouble with tangled lines etc. I haven't tried a drift sock.

FishingFool wrote:I have a bow mounted 55lb Terrova with iPilot on a 16.5' deep-v boat. My main gas motor goes too fast for trout imo. ~2.7-3.0 MPH.

Anyways, I have a single group 27 AGM battery. I can troll for at least 4 hours basicly non-stop at speed setting 6-7.5 on my remote. This will usually allow me to run at 1.1-1.5 MPH depending on wind or how fast I need it to go. At max speed(10), I get 2.5MPH. I haven't been able to run the battery completely dead, but it was damn close when I was trolling for a little over 5 hours.


It's quiet and lightweight. And because it's bow-mounted, it pulls the boat much better than pushing from the transom.

And complaining about batteries. I have to remove my batteries after every outing because I store my boat outside. I have to bring in 100lbs of battery inside to recharge. You get use to it.

I catch more Trout running above 2.2 by a long shot. Usually more like 3 mph. Spoon, spoon, spoon and make a turn.

bruceka49 wrote:I've tested home depot buckets in the place of a wind sock. Two buckets will get me down to a decent troll but it's asking for trouble with tangled lines etc. I haven't tried a drift sock.

get a nice drift sock and hang it off the bow of the boat with another rope attached to the back. i bet that will do the trick for you and save some money

gfakkema wrote:I do charge them every time when I get home. All I was getting at is that it's just one more thing to have to remember to do. Just one more thing to forget and potentially ruin plans to get on the water. I also don't like the fact that I need 2 batteries for a full day on the water. Not only is it more to go wrong (not that batteries really "break"), but there is also space and weight issues added. After dealing with the batteries and electric for a couple weeks, I've decided that a kicker is a much much better option. I know I want a 4 stroke, but I can't really decide on size. There isn't much room on the transom, so I feel like a 9.9 would be a little big/overkill. I like the size of the 2.5 hp motors, but I'm just not sure if it's enough motor. I think that a 6 hp would be ideal, but again, I'm a little limited on space. Anybody got any suggestions? Do you think that a 2.5 hp is big enough to push a 16' smoker?

If you do any salt water trolling for salmon that 2.5 will be too small. Even on a Lake, trolling with the bow into a stiff breeze, and boat control will be too difficult with that small of a motor. Some times it takes a big squirt of throttle. To bring the bow back into the very narrow "neutral" sweet spot. Where the bow is kept into the wind. Instead of blown to far one way or the other, to bring it back.

I have decided, that when I replace my 2 stroke kicker with a 4 stroke. That the minimum hp I will buy is one with 2 cylinders. Apparently the single cylinder 4 strokes have some vibration at idle! There are complaints from customer going from a 2 cylinder 2 stroke. To a single cylinder 4 stroke. They do not idle as smooth as a 2 cylinder. I did not say 2 cycle........2 cylinder. As in 2 spark plugs instead of one!

I am not sure but maybe in the 6 hp range is where the single cylinder models jump to two cylinders. Or it might be a 8hp. I forget, it has been several years since researching this. Seems to me I was just about to buy a 6hp Merc 4 stoke and heard from a mechanic that the model was a single cylinder, and the customer complaints associated with the rough idle. Backed out immediately, I can not stand a vibrating motor! Causes things to rattle, that normally would not. Causes your rod tips to vibrate crazy when trolling. Is annoying as can be. How do you tell if it needs service if it already runs rough under normal operation?

IMHO since your 50hp does fine with the blackmouth at 2.5 mph you really only need a motor that goes from .5-2.5 mph. If it were me I'd get an electric motor for fresh water trolling and use my main for the salt.

The other side to the coin would be how well do you trust your main, if your a little skeptical of it sometimes, or it can be fussy then I would go for the gas kicker.

Steelheadin360 wrote:

bruceka49 wrote:I've tested home depot buckets in the place of a wind sock. Two buckets will get me down to a decent troll but it's asking for trouble with tangled lines etc. I haven't tried a drift sock.

get a nice drift sock and hang it off the bow of the boat with another rope attached to the back. i bet that will do the trick for you and save some money

"another rope attached to the back" What is that rope for?