Motor?

[gabej]

Hi all,

My dad gave me his 15 foot aluminum boat this week with a 25 horse motor. I am a crazed bass fisherman and know that I need a bow-mount trolling motor to keep the boat in the fish. I live in The Dalles and was wondering how much thrust do I need to move up and down current on the Columbia? Basspro has a 55lb. motor for 199. I don't have a lot of extra cash. Will that do, or do I need more motor?

Thanks,
Gabe

[luckyr]

I have a 19 foot aluminum boat and a 55 will not push me upstream in the main stem Columbia on a out going tide. It works okay when fishing for walleye in the upper reachs. My guess it will push your boat upstream in the lower river slightly. Should work okay around The Dallas.

[Chad S.]

Well I wrote a big long response, but it deleted! Here is the just of it....The motor you're looking at is a transom mount, not a bow mount. Basspro has a 65lb minn kota for $399. You won't beet that deel anywhere! If your'e worried about "enough motor", well that is more than enough! I have a 40lb minn kota on my 16.5' lund, and it does the job, but I haven't taken that boat in the river. Stay with a minn kota! Any other questions p.m me!

[boblag]

I have a 14' jon boat and a 40 lb. works fine. It meets its match if I try to travel upstream through heavy current, but then I'm not using it for the purpose I bought it for, and can just as easily use the big motor. I have yet to encounter a situation where I wanted a bigger trolling motor. In other words, I don't think a bass fisherman needs to be fighting heavy current with the trolling motor very often in order to fish (but maybe to travel). If you do need to do it to fish, it would be easier to drop an anchor or tie off to something. And your battery wouldn't be dead in a couple of hours.

[Mongo74]

If the 55lb is a bowmount it will be fine. A transom mount with the head reversed is OK on the bow but a pain to keep repositioning.

[Hunt'nFish]

There are a couple MK 55PD bowmounts used on the IFish classifieds page. I like the units w/ autopilot for both bass & walleye. I run 55's on both my boats, 18ft Crestliner and 17ft jetsled.

You learn real quick to go with the current..or at least slowly go down w/ it in order to preserve batteries. In most back water area's, current is not an issue anyway.

I also am a big believer in using a mushroom anchor, roller and quick release cleat of some sort to fish current breaks w/o using the motor to hold position. I can fish all day by using a little common sense on battery management.

Here's a pic of how my Sled is setup w/ anchor & bowmount.
Hunt'nFish

http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n122/Mike_in_Oregon/DSCN3467crop.jpg?t=1203981328 (javascript:void(0);)

A couple more pics: http://s111.photobucket.com/albums/n122/Mike_in_Oregon/Projects/Bowmount%20Bracket/