Trolling plates…Any one ever use one

Hey i was thinking about buying a trolling plate for my outboard to slow it down as the slowest I can get right now is about 2.6 mph. Any one ever use one and do they work? Thanks. Mike

I have the same problem. I am curious to find out how they work. I currently use a drift sock attached to the front of the boat. I have moderate success with it but it is a litle digfficult to handle.

I had a Happy Troller on my former boat (16′ with a 70 hp). It definitely slowed my down, but it also adversely affected boat control. I didn’t have a gps back then, so I can’t give exact numbers.

If you can’t get a kicker, I would stick with dragging a drift sock or two.

3 gallon paint bucket sure works great too!

I have a friend that has one on his 02 Lund.It’s a pain in the butt to engage/disengage.Maybe there are some models that are better than others.
Ryan Hale

I had one on my 50 merc 4 stroke (I sold the boat this spring). Anyway… It was a toll-A-matic. I thought it worked great on this size motor. Without it I could get down to about 1.3 m.p.h. on a flat calm day. With the trolling plate, I fot down to about .4 mp.h. However, on those days I would use the electric. Where it worked great was on those days that were a little too rough for the electric. I could backtroll perfectly. It was a spring loaded plate that bolted onto the motor. It would flip up when you went fast and go back down when you slowed down. I like it in the fact that it does not have any cables or anything that you have to pull in order to fip it up etc… The only drawback to the whole thing was that when I had it on, I lost about 2-3 mp.h. on the top end speed. However, I did think it was worth it. I hope this helps answer your question. Please let me know if you would like more info.

ERB, Nice to see your post. I love my new/your old boat. The fishing hasn’t been very good lately, seems like about every time things start to staighten out we get blasted with rain and cold again. Regarding that trolling plate, where you get it? Tut

Drift sock off the bow, I agree with the control… When I dont care to do that I raise the motor a bit (lessens control though) and will drop the trolling motor for extra drag… that gets me down to about 1 mph… after that I just use the electric.