I put a trolling motor on my pontoon over the weekend. Today I went trolling for my first time, I decided that I need some help.
I was using pop gear with a worm about 16 inches behind. Does that work?
And, what speed do you usually troll at?
I was at Causey for about 4 hours and caught one fish.
Thanks for the help.
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WOW DUDE! That's some hardcore trolling from a toon! I assume you paid the state for having a trolling motor on your toon, right? [mad] Greedy b&^$#(*, anyways, when I had my motor on my toon I did better on smaller gear. Like a spoon in front 18" or so of line and jig tipped with a crawler . The fish don't seem to scatter too far with a small craft like that. I refuse to pay the state to register my toon so my experience is little, few times at the berry about 8 years ago. Don't underestimate jigging vertical from a toon, once I figured that out I took the motor off. I've since got a bass addiction and instead of trolling I "crawl the bottom". I'm rambling, good luck!
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Thanks for the advice. I had a heck of a time getting my toon to track right, now I realize that pulling a large pop gear was creating a lot of drag.
I got the toon in order to fish the Green, but that is now a once a year thing so I put a motor on it for more local usage. Yes I did register it, $22 bucks.
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The price has gone up, I think it was $18 when I was threatened with a ticket. I would turn my motor on and use my flippers to keep it straight, track to the right-point my left foot down a little to keep it straight, etc. etc.
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Off topic but .... I don't think electrics should count. [crazy]
I have gotten a ticket for not registering a canoe with a electric. So when I tried to get ie registered, they almost laughed in my face. What a pain in the kester.
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Actually it has been the law for years. Put any kind of motor on, you had to license it and still do. Really not that big of chunk of $ and not that big of a hastle once you have done it.
A motor is great specially when the weather changes.
I have been motoring my pontoon for many years not to mention even a float tube with the aid of the powerflote.
I will say that they do track much better pulling you ( not pushing)
so again I recommend putting them behind you and turning the head of the motor so that it is facing the same direction as the prop.
This puts all you forward controls to where they are pulling you, but you can still go forward by putting it in the 3 reverse settings. Keep in mind it will require more juice to push you and it is very hard to track right.
People complain that it is hard to reach the motor with it behind you, what is so hard about reaching back, turning it on and leave it.
Steer with your feet.
As far as pop gear, it has been a long time since I have used it, but I would say go with a smaller set-up like maybe 1 to 3 blades. One should be just fine for trolling unless you are fighting the wind. But, the higher the number you chose, the less time you have on a battery.
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I mounted my trolling motor on the front of my toon. I built a removeable motor mount that goes between the foot pegs. It works excellent and it is so much easier than having to turn around to run or mess with the motor. It only works right if you have a motor set up like a bow mount with the tiller tacing you and the actual prop facing forward. It pulls you instead of pushes you.
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I've trolled with my toon for several years now. I too get the thing pointed in the right direction, and then use my feet to steer. I've had good luck with a dipsy diver, as this will get you down 20-40 feet without much trouble. You can also used leaded line to get your lures down deeper, which is usually where the fish hang out in the warmer months.
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