Trolling Plates

Anybody have any experience with trolling plates? Just seems like $2200 for a kicker motor is a lot of money for a weekend fisherman like myself…

I don’t have experience with the plates but I do have plenty of experience with a drift sock. I prefer the idea of throwing a sock off the bow over adding hardware to my main outboard. The beauty of the drift sock is that you choose when you do and don’t want to use it, vs a plate that’s always on.

I had the Trol-A-Matic on my YarCraft last year and it worked wonders. It’s spring loaded, so when in slow speeds, it’s down and as soon as you take off, it flips up. It didn’t affect my top end speed at all, but really slowed me down for trolling . I purchased mine through Lyback’s Marine on Mille Lacs. Here’s a link for them: http://www.tandlproducts.com/products.html

Hello

I have one installed on my 115 2 cycle Evinrude and it has worked out very well. The only problem is that I still go through a ton of gas and oil if a full day is spent trolling. It has allowed me to troll effectively, but I am still left with the desire for a 4 stroke kicker. Hope this helps.

Ryan

I’m in the same boat and I just purchased a trolling plate from Cabela’s ($145). I have not had a chance to try it yet, but will in the next week or two. Curious on the reponses as well. I was quoted $3300 for a Merc 4 stroke for my boat. I couldn’t justify it either, but if the trolling plate doesn’t work I may be forced to. One down side to the plate is that you have to drill holes in the cavitation plate and I’m not a big fan of that. Also the rope is somewhat annoying to deal with. Just kinda dangles there in the water at all times. Cheaper plates you need shear pins and that is why I went with the more expensive plate. It has a spring that prevents breakage. Also the plate is kinda clunky and sticks out as far as looks and you have to be careful backing it into the garage and you need to have it in the up position to trailer due to wind resistence. But it is cheaper.

I have an “Easy Troller” plate that I purchased from Cabelas. It was fairly easy to install myself on my 115hp Johnson. Although I wasn’t crazy about drilling holes in the cavitation plate it was a necessary evil as I simply could not afford a kicker and needed a way to slow down.

I have been very pleased with this plate as it has allowed me to get down to and maintain trolling speeds as slow as 1.25mph. In fact I have heard others suggest that it works well to add a set of slots that allow the plate to be positioned at a 45 degree angle so that less throttle is needed. This is something I may do in the future but for now am happy with its performance. This is my second season using the plate.

The negatives as I have experienced them is that the plate does not deploy and lock as easily as I would like. Anymore I shut off the motor, tilt it up, position the plate and then start trolling. Pretty much the reverse of that to bring it back up.

All in all, I think they are a great product. I think a kicker would be better but the plate is way more economical. I have found the plate to be less hassle than a drift sock – hate having to deal with a wet drift sock at the end of the day if I don’t have to.

Just my 2 cents

$2200 is cheap insurance if you are stranded with a main power plant failure on any sizeable lake when the wind comes up.

Or the cheapest option to slow a troll — and it works just as well as anything else – a few feet of rope and a few buckets thrown overboard. Basically free.

This last winter I happen to read some very good endorsements for the EasyTroller Trolling Plate on another website. Then after reading the exceptional reviews at Cabela’s website I decided to get one. Although I actually bought it through Amazon as they had a better price.

My boat is a 16.5′ (90” beam) Lund Explorer tiller with a 70hp Suzuki 4 stroke. When I wanted to slow down for various presentations I used to toss out a couple buckets, but that has it’s own set of problems. So far, the Easy Troller has performed just great. It goes down with a pull on a rope while in neutral, and up when you give the big motor some gas while in forward gear. It has a spring loaded bottom half plate so if you accidentally give the motor full power, no harm is done. I also have good steering control going both forward and backward as the plate does not cover the big engine’s lower quarter of the prop.

It was recommended to add extra notches so it would also deploy at a 45 degree angle. That setting works great for pulling crank baits at 1.5 – 2.5 mph. With the plate in it’s full down position the boat slows to less than 1 mph at idle. That will be just right for pulling 3-way floaters/stick baits when going upstream on the river.

I am very pleased with this setup as I don’t have to struggle with buckets, socks, or a kicker. I am able to sit in the comfort of my main boat seat and just enjoy a day of fishing.

Dave Gulczinski

I tried a drift sock of the bow, found it hard to control direction, tried two smaller of the side cleats, but it slowed me down too much. Listened to Mike’s advice below, and could only be happier if I had a kicker. I just use a couple of light plastic hanging baskets, as I didn’t see the need to slow down too much. I’d try it before you spend any money. I also had a trolling plate on my old boat and didn’t like it because it was cumbersome to go from the up/down position (and I sheared a lot of pins forgetting to pull it back up

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$2200 is cheap insurance if you are stranded with a main power plant failure on any sizeable lake when the wind comes up.

Or the cheapest option to slow a troll — and it works just as well as anything else – a few feet of rope and a few buckets thrown overboard. Basically free.

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