Trolling speeds….

Hey guys boat shopping again and just curious on average how slow you can troll down to think about getting a 75 or 90 hp 4 stroke but just curious what they can troll down to in speed and also what can a 75 hp 2 stroke troll down to as well?..thanks for the help guys

Erik,

It all depends on what you’re trolling. If you’re mostly trolling cranks in the warm water, a 70 – 90 4 stroke or direct injection 2 stroke will probably be fine. However, if you want to troll harnesses, you will need to go slower than motors in that size range will allow. A typical 70HP 4 stroke can idle down to less than 2 MPH.

Typical crawler harness speeds are around or less than 1MPH. On lakes, you can often use your bow mount to troll harnesses (unless it’s rough out). Here on the Mississippi I have trolled cranks with a 200 Optimax and caught some nice fish. I don’t recommend doing that as your primary method of trolling.

For cranks, I think you’ll be fine. For harnesses, fly rigs, or three way rigs I think you’d need to use a kicker or a powerful bow mount.

Erik, I have a 90 hp E-tec on a 1675 Explorer. when I need to slow troll I drop 2 small drift socks off the bow and that brings me down to a reasonable speed.

I have a 60hp Evinrude on a 16′ Alumacraft Dominator. On calm water it will idle down to 1.8 mph on my gps

My last boat was set up with a 60h johnson tiller,the speed was always decent for pullin cranks but a little 2 fast for harnesses 3 ways etc. Opted for a spring loaded trolling plate and it worked great,you could get your rig down to a crawl,yeah,it did create some turbulance but it was’nt much of an issue.I am surprised I dont see more guys running these plates as they’re not too costly and when it is not being used acts as a shark fin giving my hole shot an extra boost .Naturally a guy wants to run his electric if possible but for those days when speed is a factor this gives you an extra option .Anyone else use the plates out there? What do think about the pro’s and cons?

I have a 1600 Explorer with a 75hp 4 stroke Yammy. I can troll down to about 1.7 mph. I can’t/don’t troll harnesses with my big motor. I use my trolling motors. most of the time I use my Power Drive most of the time on the bow so I can sit in the back and steer. I also have a transom mount too. Guess you’ll have to make the call yourself with how much you are going to troll and what you are going to troll.

Jeff,

glad you mentioned trolling plates. I have a 90HP E-TEC and the best I can do on the GPS is 2.2 MPH.

My question is what type of trolling plate do you have. Doing a few searches I found Cabela’s has a plastic spring loaded, others have metal spring loaded plates, and one outfit offers a manuel plate that you lift at full throttle, but also lifts slighty automatically to go from spot to spot.

I am considering the latter because I figure the spring loaded with slow down my take off.

However, any feedback from you or others on this board would be appreciated.

Mine was full metal and spring loaded,a nylon cord was attached,sorry ,do not remember the name brand . I know they make plates out of thicker guage metals for larger rigs so I would check the specs on the plate before buying one.

I just purchased a 1650 Explorer late last fall with a 50 Hp Honda and was considering a trolling plate as well. I’ve heard mixed reports. One concern I have is how much they screw up reverse. Before I thought of that concern, I was really leaning towards the spring-loaded versions. I liked that they would be forgiving if you forgot to raise it up prior to goosing the throttle (and then shearing the pin on the contraption). But, with the spring loaded ones, there’s no way to lock them up (as I understand it), so backing up has to be darn-near impossible.

Thoughts/feedback?

FYI – that 50 hp Honda will allow me to troll down to 2mph. Acceptable for cranks, but just barely – especially early season.

The plate I ran DID lock in the down position, pulling the cord prior to fast acceleration released it. Many times I gunned it forgetting it was down but no damage done as you immediatley know by the lack of thrust-reverse was never a problem considering the thrust is traveling away from the plate, the plate did make the rig act a little like a knuckle ball when steering in reverse but not to bad. Hope that made sense

which plate do you use it sounds like the trollomatic and if so do you have problems in reverse since it is already down.