Big motors for trolling?

[musky666]

Thinking I may upsize next season to a bigger boat and motor- can the big motors troll down well enough?

I currently run a Yamaha 115 four cycle efi and It will troll for hours- all day often with no issues. Not quite slow enough for Walleye maybe, but I goose it a bit for Musky. Can those big Verado's with Smartcraft gauges do the troll?

[muskymatt]

Get a kicker, save the hours on the bigger motor and gas consumption.

[Regan Thompson]

This is something I've thought about allot myself...

 

Our Musky guide on Nipissing has a 300 Verado which is the biggest outboard you can get and he trolls with it all the time. From what I understand he rarely uses his kicker at all but I'll ask him.

 

Another long term guest that is currently staying here also has a kicker and never uses it. He has a Yamaha 150 fourstroke and it trolls great. Lew (OFC member) has the same motor so I'd ask him his thoughts on this too.

 

I have a 150 Optimax and find that it trolls "OK", but is load and gums up after hours of trolling. the fuel consumption would be allot better with a kicker obviously too. Also I can only troll as slow as about 2.5-3.0 MPH, which is ok for Musky (accept in very late fall) but no good for walleye.

 

I kicked around the idea of getting a kicker (and still may), but you're looking at about 5K installed so it comes at a cost. You also have less control with a kicker and it's harder to control the speed (although you can get an instrument to help with this). If I had a fourstroke, and not an Optimax, I probably would not even consider the kicker. If I could do it all over I'd just purchase a Verado and use the electric motor for walleye.

 

Something I can't comment on is the fuel economy of a Verado or Fourstroke at low RPM while trolling. As long as you're not burning to much fuel I'd just use the big motor.

 

If you do decide to get a kicker and it's a Merc, BassPro puts them on sale for almost half price every march. You can pick up the motor for around $1,600 and about another $900 for controls, plus installation.

[BillM]

Yami T8 High thrust to go along with that 115. Perfect combo

[doubleheader]

It all depends on the speed you want to run. I have a 1900 Pro-v and my 200 Verado will troll down to around 2.3-2.5 mph. I also have a 9.9 Big foot kicker which will troll under .8 mph. The only benefit of trolling the Verado is it is quieter than the kicker.

[KraTToR]

You can drop the speed a bit by back trolling. Even with a SC/DC setup.

 

Personally, I like the idea of a 4s kicker as its better on the big motor in the long run. With that being said, 5k for a trolling motor is a bit hard to swallow..

[Old Ironmaker]

Just this spring I put a kicker on in order to get speeds below 2.2 for trolling harnesses. It also makes me feel safer when I know I have a back up in the Great Lake shipping lanes.

Edited September 15, 2014 by Old Ironmaker

[Wagoneer]

If you can get your big 4 stroke slow enough to troll then you can troll with it all day long if you're okay with wasting the fuel.

 

If you have big 2 stroke you don't want to idle it for hours and hours. There's a reason why 2 strokes don't like to idle. And there's the even more obvious fuel consumption issue with a big 2 stroke.

 

We never use my dad's evinrude 150 to troll, we always flick on the evinrude 8hp 4 stroke. On a 21ft boat it's pretty much infinitely adjustable for speed up to 6mph and it's quiet enough to run it all day long without being bothersome.

[Gerry]

In my opinion and experience, a 4 stroke kicker is a must if you want to troll at speeds of below 2.5mph. The simple revolution of a big prop with advance the boat too fast for walleye fishing.

 

The statement about loss of control with a kicker is hogwash. I have never encountered this problem. Loss of control will come with dragging drift socks with the big motor....tried it and never doing that again.

 

It's true that the big 2 strokes don't like to run at idle speeds for long periods. In fact the manufacturers actually do recommend that you refrain from doing so.

 

Get a 9.9 4-stroke kicker and you'll be happy. The $5,000 price tag is out to lunch, should be more like $3,500 or less.

[LesCulpJr]

We run Etecs and suzuki's. Etecs can be programmed or have a switch installed to take the idle down to 500 RPM from the factory 750 I know mercs have this function too but I am less familiar with it. Most Etec tiller models come standard with this option. These functions were made for trolling applications so yes you can use your big motor to troll but it still presents some issues with speed and like was already mentioned is due to your size of prop. So unless you are going to carry one prop for trolling and another for ripping down the lake you are kind of limited to the aftermarket aids that are out there to slow down your boat to a trolling speed for fish like walleye.

 

Etec's programming actually tricks the big motor into thinking its a small one until about 1800 rpm.

I have never had a problem trolling with one big or small.

 

That said I use my electric and a couple big batteries for most trolling I do for 3 reasons. Speed, Environment and Money. You can still buy a large size electric and a couple big batteries for less than a small outboard and if taken care of get much usage out of them with out a drop of gas or oil and other than charging the batteries - no maintenance. Depends on your application I guess.

 

A 9.9 hp 4 stroke "new" runs about 2400 before taxes. They can be very hard to come by used for the simple reason that everyone is looking for one!

You can buy accessories or make your own linkage to tie it into your main motor for steering at a fraction of the cost. I don't think you'll notice any difference in boat control unless you buy a kicker too small for your boat.

 

Suzuki is coming out with a 9.9 EFI next season which I am anxiously awaiting:)

 

Les