Trolling with MinnKota down

[captpierre]

Hey Guys.  I see guys trolling with their  gas engines on and have at the same time their MinnKotas down. Presumably off. Is there any harm done to the electric spinning down there for maybe long periods of time. I must admit it would be convenient. Can stop and make a few casts using the electric without hauling it out and in. 

Happy Thanksgiving All. 

[AKRISONER]

Not going to hurt anything unless you are really moving. You don’t want to bend the shaft of the trolling motor. This is one reason I love my Garmin force. To stow and deploy you just pull the cord. Dual shocks make it nearly effortless

[Headhunter]

They are using the trolling motor to steer the boat. Gas engine provide thrust, electric motor to steer remotely.

HH

[captpierre]

6 minutes ago, Headhunter said:

They are using the trolling motor to steer the boat. Gas engine provide thrust, electric motor to steer remotely.

HH

What’s the benefit over steering with the big engine? No kicker on most boats I see. 

[Headhunter]

3 minutes ago, captpierre said:

What’s the benefit over steering with the big engine? No kicker on most boats I see

It gets the boat driver out of the drivers seat and in a position where they can remotely control direction.  Also gives them a finder reading in front of the boat as opposed to the back of the boat where they have already been.

It's a convenience factor...

HH

[porkpie]

I have hundreds and hundreds of hours of troll time on my ipilot.  No detriment to the motor itself that I can see.  I did burn out an ipilot head unit, but fortunately I had stockpiled an extra complete with remote when Canadian tire was clearing them out a few years back.  Using heading lock to troll is the only way to go.  It leaves you hands free to set lines, catch fish, do whatever.  If you want to adjust course you can do so at the touch of a button.  There’s no better way!

[Terry]

I troll all the time with my 9.9 and use my garmin force electric to steer. With it I can set a course with the remote or I can follow a track that I made before on my garmin fishfinder, I can spend hours without having to steer the boat even while fighting a fish

it is truly an autopilot 

 

[Sinker]

Yep, like the others have said, its about using the ipilot features as auto pilot to troll. I use mine 100% of the time if I'm trolling. Set the course and speed, and I'm totally hands free while the main just purrs along. I also have the digital troll control on my main engine, and that's sweet too. 

 

S. 

 

[captpierre]

So when you’re  trolling with iPilot is the electric pulling as well as the main or are you using it as a rudder only?  I don’t have iPilot on my 2007 Powerdrive V2. Sounds like a great feature. Neither do I have the anchor feature. Might have to spend the $3k to upgrade. That works out to a few dollars a fish 🤪. But just to repeat my original concern. If I troll with my Powerdrive down and off while trolling with the main, is the spinning prop going to do any damage? I only want to do this so I don’t have to take it out and in between spots.   Cheers. 

[Terry]

You have to have it going fast enough to steer,  speed  2  works on my garmin electric  which is super slow

[porkpie]

Yep, you will need some power to steer.  You can still use the bowmount without ipilot.  Just bring your pedal back to the console.  They give you plenty of cable!

[Sinker]

23 hours ago, captpierre said:

So when you’re  trolling with iPilot is the electric pulling as well as the main or are you using it as a rudder only?  I don’t have iPilot on my 2007 Powerdrive V2. Sounds like a great feature. Neither do I have the anchor feature. Might have to spend the $3k to upgrade. That works out to a few dollars a fish 🤪. But just to repeat my original concern. If I troll with my Powerdrive down and off while trolling with the main, is the spinning prop going to do any damage? I only want to do this so I don’t have to take it out and in between spots.   Cheers. 

I set my speed on the ipilot, and set my course so it steers itself, but my main engine is doing the work to push the boat. I set my minnkota power on 4 usually. The minnkota will kick in if the main is going too slow to help keep my speed steady....like going into waves or wind etc. 

S. 

[kickingfrog]

I've also found that the drag with the bow mount trolling motor down gives me more speed options between the drift socks and wind/current. Sometimes that third of a kilometre difference matters to the fish or that action of the lure. 

[akaShag]

This is adding to my education, folks, and THANKS!!!  I wanted to buy a new boat for 2022, but they are hard to find in the hulls I want. 

Doug

[Steve]

don't forget you can use it in reverse when you want to get your speed under 1.5mph and your main engine isn't loving trolling down that low (especially when it is very cold). 

[Spiel]

Controls crabbing as well, a plus with multiple line spreads on the Great Lakes where two rods styles per person can be deployed with multiple presentation options available.