WB 6/3/2024

[Paddler]

Your boat sounds similar to mine, I have a Wooldridge Super Sport Offshore. The guy I bought it from had it built to guide in saltwater off the Kenei in Alaska. I like that I can keep fishing when other people have to get off the lake when the wind picks up. The semi hard top cabin also makes a big difference keeping us comfortable in all weather conditions.

Yours is a bit bigger than mine, but same idea.  Wooldridge makes a nice boat.  If I put a bow mount on mine I could bottom bounce pretty easily.  But that would mean extra batteries, etc, and I prefer trolling.  I fish the same way for wepers and walleye as I do for tuna offshore.

Do you fish saltwater?

No I wish I could afford to tow it over to the coast, I pretty much fish Northern Utah and South East Idaho in my boat. My boat is 2009 20’ it didn’t have a trolling motor on the bow when I bought it and the kicker motor had almost no hours when I bought it in 2018 the last guy trolled with the main motor for salmon in Alaska and Lakers at Flaming Gorge. I added the trolling motor and 2 additional down riggers, I have 4 now to mainly target Kokanee, with no wind my kicker pushes my boat at 1.5mph at idle and I steer and make speed adjustments with the electric motor. Yup your right about batteries I have 3 31 series AGM in the bow for the trolling motor and 2 in the back for starting and accessories.

My boat is 20' with a splashwell, so I'm guessing yours is 2.5-3' longer.  Too bad you can't tow to the coast, it's heaven.  I get ~11MPG towing to the coast, and La Push is ~1040 miles one way.  Gets expensive.  A tuna run is ~130-145 miles round trip, and fully loaded I get 4.5MPG.  Plus, gas is more expensive in Forks, currently $4.69/gallon.

I may not go this year if kokanee fishing is good.  I have plenty of white fish in the freezer, walleye, rockfish, etc, and am booked on a three-day long range trip for yellowfin and bluefin out of San Diego in October.  All I need is salmon.

I run one battery, which works fine as trolling maintains the charge.

Do you have an autopilot?

No Auto pilot for me, I know several guys that do, but I drive my boat and do all kinds of radical turns with my trolling motor, which I think gets me more fish that a preset S turn patterns.

I have cable steering, so my AP is a very simple rotary model, the Simrad AP14R.  It has a "Dodge" function which is programmable up to 40*.  I simply push the "Dodge" button, then the left or right arrow.  Works great.  

The AP really pays off for longer runs and when you're working lines, landing fish, dealing with fish, tackle, etc.  

As I said above, it's very difficult to explain to those who haven't fished with one how much they increase one's efficiency.  A buddy up in Washington recently updated his electronics, and took my advice to get an autopilot.  He extremely impressed and wonders now why he's never had one before.