i-Pilot not smart enough.

Just installed a Terrova and it looks like I have to send it back. It refuses to let me “back troll” going down river. I’m trying to float down river at .05 mph. The current is 2 mph. I program a heading down river and the current overruns my .05mph I have it set at and the I pilot just shuts down and doesn’t try to slow me down.

I would think that they would have thought of this but according to their tech department it will not navigate if there is no forward resistance. They had no answers for me.

Does this sound right to everyone before I send the motor back?

Thanks in advance!

Yes this is correct. To accomplish what you are talking about I point my trolling motor upstream and then adjust the speed until I am slipping down stream at the speed I want to be.

This is how I fish about 90% of the time when river bass fishing.

Sounds like it is working as designed and consistent with my experience.
is it bow mount? is the boat oriented so the bow is upstream or downstream?
You could try setting the target heading upstream and set the motor speed so that it maintains .5 mph less than the current as opposed to setting the target mph.

Yes, you’ll have to point the bow and TM upstream to accomplish what you want.

Question- if you’re trying to keep bow pointed down river, and move downriver slowly, what are you trying to accomplish? Wouldn’t it be more difficult in every single way to fish like this? This could be done if you had a TM on the transom instead.

Just FYI, if you return it and switch to motorguide, or anything else, you’ll find the same results.

You’ll have to manually adjust the speed to work the river like that. Change the auto pilot settings to the legacy mode too. The advanced auto pilot will freak out when the current or wind pushes you sideways.

Thanks Ryan,

My problem with doing this is that I have a pontoon boat and it is wind sensitive so my ‘back slip” turns into a side slip and then the motor needs adjusted for direction and speed at that point and it turns into a motor adjusting affair and there is no time for fishing. I will give it a shot today anyway. thanks!

EyeKatcher,

I asked them about that eyekatcher and would be willing to do that but it WILL NOT let you set a manual speed while under “auto pilot” or any other smart navigational function. if I give it a navigational heading upriver it must physically go upriver even if it is at .01 MPH but it still has to go up river which is not what I need to do to present the bait to catfish in the correct direction.

Also Eyekatcher i’ve tried orienting the boat up river with the motor pointed down river. Also bow downriver with motor pointed downriver also with the same results. I wouldn’t care on boat orientation at all I can adjust my fishing for that but I just needed it to go down river at .05 and the current is 3mph and it refuses.

KPE,

I’m trying to float cutbait down river past catfish. I need to go downriver slow because the bait scent needs to flow away from the bait into the area where the fish are then the bait will follow the smell and be presented to them when they are ready for it. If I go up river it flys past them when they’ve smelled nothing.

Dave,

it won’t let me set the autopilot with a manual power setting. I sure wish it would. I did put it legacy for a bit yesterday with no good results. I’m going out today and trying to troll upriver for a bit. I have a good south wind to help me.
thanks!

Jeff,

You don’t have to go downriver with cutbait, you can go forward slowly with cutbait. I do it all the time. You don’t cover as much ground but it is still effective. Remember guys in lakes/reservoirs are pulling cut bait up to and in excess of 1mph at times, the cats will find it.

Jeff McCue wrote:

Dave,

it won’t let me set the autopilot with a manual power setting. I sure wish it would. I did put it legacy for a bit yesterday with no good results. I’m going out today and trying to troll upriver for a bit. I have a good south wind to help me.
thanks!

You should be able to manually set the speed while using autopilot. You may be confusing it with cruise control. Cruise control would keep you from setting the speed manually.

double post

I think you are hitting the cruise control button. Just bump up your speed with the + and start the motor

Also with cruise control I have found it easier to manually get up to the speed that you want to cruise at and then press cruise control. If you start out going 0mph and try and use the cruise control to get to say 1.5mph it can be sluggish.

I agree with the recent others who think you’re confusing cruise control with manually adjusting the speed with the +/- buttons.

If it’s a new Terrova, another option could possibly use the spot lock and then using the jog feature to bump your boat 5′ downstream, and then right/left if need be if the boat swings. To move 5′ downstream the motor shouldn’t push you downstream, but rather have the current move you there instead. But that could be a bit of a pain to always having to push the button.

I have done the jog feature when fan casting a piece of structure during windy days. Works pretty well for that, but maybe not ideal for dragging cut bait.

dhpricco wrote:

If you start out going 0mph and try and use the cruise control to get to say 1.5mph it can be sluggish.

My Terrova is a 2015, not a new one, and it’s painfully slow to adjust.

Jeff McCue wrote:

EyeKatcher,

I asked them about that eyekatcher and would be willing to do that but it WILL NOT let you set a manual speed while under “auto pilot” or any other smart navigational function. if I give it a navigational heading upriver it must physically go upriver even if it is at .01 MPH but it still has to go up river which is not what I need to do to present the bait to catfish in the correct direction.

Also Eyekatcher i’ve tried orienting the boat up river with the motor pointed down river. Also bow downriver with motor pointed downriver also with the same results. I wouldn’t care on boat orientation at all I can adjust my fishing for that but I just needed it to go down river at .05 and the current is 3mph and it refuses.

2014 Terrova here and I bump
Blues on the Missouri going backwards and it on auto pilot . Motors on 7-8 power and currents 4-5 mph slows me to about 1-1.5 and backwards I go .

Thank everyone for all the help. I did listen and try some things. Turns out I may a few issues with the new unit. Due to everyone’s posts here insisting there is a way. (And I believe and appreciate all the input) I went out and tried again and it would do no heading with manual control. It would only let me set a speed up river on auto pilot or faster than the current down river.

This unit will not pair with any phone I found out today.

I did rehook it to the blue tooth remote and this time it actually beeped. I took it out on the water and have been able to use the “NORTH” setting then run the motor manually. to get the “slip” down stream. It actually keeps the bow to the north like it is suppose to and I can readjust the heading to steer downriver. So at this point I can sure live with it.

I was a little disappointed at the inaccurate tech advice I received from Minn Kota saying it would not allow me to do this.

And I believe you guys are right to some degree. I am confusing cruise control with the ability to manually adjust.

thanks for all your help. Great people on here with very useful information. If I had to pay for this I couldn’t afford it!!! thanks again!

Good to hear that you’ve found a way.

I’m a little confused by what you call “no heading with manual controls” and auto pilot, but then say that the North setting works.

If by “north” setting, I assume you are referencing the “N” button on the remote which is auto pilot.

Is your motor a regular iPilot, or iPilot LINK?

Blank,

It’s an iPilot. Yes sorry for misidentifying “N” for north. I watched a youtube video and he called it that. I should not have called it that. It is the “Autopilot” Before I relinked the remote “Auto-Pilot” would not engage. It would just do a manual heading that I would direct setting and not adjust at all. So infact is was not working. I resynced the remote and now the red auto-pilot light on the motor comes on and it adjusts letting me set the speed manually which is working. We spend all day sliding backwards down the river at .05 MPH and it adjusted the heading once I set it. It did perfect. I’m impressed and thankful for the help here.