Trolling Motor Talk & Thoughts

D.W. Verts · March 12, 2022, 01:51:29 PM

Wow. The trolling motor of today. You younger guys have it made. It is really amazing, and now, for an older guy, a little confusing.

I was Minn Kota when Minn Kota was considered a "Wal Mart" trolling motor. But I hated Motorguides. I hated the brackets. I hated they way they killed batteries. I hated the circuit boards that kept going out in them. And they were pretty noisy. Not like the old Mercury Thrusters mind you (WOW) but noisy nonetheless. And this with me owning only one of the tin can POS's, ever. Minn Kota came out with their "Battleship Bracket" that pretty much ended bracket issues (you bet, we used to have them). Their cable system was so much easier to use and stronger. They came out with the lifetime warrantied graphite shaft. And the single most important and revolutionary item of all, and something you younger guys take for granted and will NEVER understand the viability of, the "Pulse Modulation System". You've probably never even heard that term, not if you're much under forty years of age. Sigh.

But I sold a ton of the MG's on bass boats for years, and I saw the problems. And since my first Minn Kota from when I was fifteen years old to the one I put on my first bass boat (after six months of using a Motorguide) all the way to the present and never having a single mechanical failure, that's THOUSANDS of hours put on them, well, I had planned on a Minn Kota, and more specifically the modern, space-age, spot lock powered Ultrex (how's that for an alien sounding name?) Planned being the key word here.

Then while looking at a new bass boat a couple weeks ago, a Phoenix, I talked to the owner of the dealership, Howard McCallister. Howard is a legend on Table Rock lake and fished the B.A.S.S. circuit for years and everything else in between. I really respect his opinion, and he has a Lowrance GHOST on the front of his boat (the only Phoenix they had to show me). We talked trolling motors for a while, and he assured me that the Ghost is "the best trolling motor there is- period". Cool.

But wait.

A few days later I'm at Lake of the Ozarks at the Toyota series championship, and I stop in to look at Bass Cats at a dealership there. All of their boats (all Caymus, no Cats in stock, are we seeing a theme here?) were rigged with Minn Kotas, and the salesman I talked to shrugged his shoulders and frowned when I asked about the Lowrance motors. Hmmm.

The I went down to the lake to see a Blazer boat because the closest dealer is five hours away. I looked at four of them- three were rigged with Minn Kotas and one with a Ghost. One of the Minn Kota guys I talked to told me why he didn't have a Ghost any more (he had tried one) and his reasoning made sense to me, and it was something that Howard would not come up against the way he fishes. Interesting.

I also saw a few of the butt-ugly Garmins on boats at the weigh-in, but didn't talk to anyone about them except I hear how great they are. Of course. You see, my melon can only absorb so much at a time, and where everything was crystal clear when I started looking at boats (and trolling motors) now it was getting muddy. Like, Flippin' water muddy.

I'm not going into specifics as to the whys and what fore's of everyone's opinions. They are all pretty valid, and seeing how folks fish different ways I can understand. The bottom line did come down to one variable, and I'm pretty sure that I based my decision on what trolling motor I'm going to get based on that one thing. I'll see if anyone even reads this before I go into any detail.

Oh yeah- by myself, ALL by myself, after using an Ultrex I had already formed a few opinions that I haven't seen anywhere else. I think they're important, but I'm pretty silly, so it probably doesn't matter much. My opinions that is. Peace.

Dale

oldjim · March 12, 2022, 04:40:45 PM

interesting read, would like to get a new trolling motor, but my MK still runs ok and cannot see spending over a $1000 for a new trolling motor.
oldjim

topdsm0138 · March 12, 2022, 05:03:58 PM

I've always had great luck with the regular, run of the mill Minn Kotas,so I now have one on the new boat. I'm not one for having the "newest and greatest", but rather stick with tried n true that works.

I've tried Motorguides over the years, but have had as many issues wih them as I have Mercury motors.

Mind you, all these have always been tiller style. I can't speak for the foot controlled models.

But if I had the funds, I would love one of those MK I-pilots. Those look sweet.

Sent from undisclosed location -Tiller Mafia

Oldfart9999 · March 14, 2022, 06:24:32 AM

If you have the high tech sonar units then it would probably be best to have the Troller that goes with the units you have, MK for Hummingbird, Garmin for Garmin Lowrance for Lowrance so they hook together. If I had a politicians money I'd go with Minn Kota and Hummingbird but that's me.
Rodney
PM Yes Matilda, your trolling motor can talk to your sonar, GPS, unit and vice verses.

coldfront · March 14, 2022, 08:04:49 AM

Quote from: Oldfart9999 on March 14, 2022, 06:24:32 AM
If you have the high tech sonar units then it would probably be best to have the Troller that goes with the units you have, MK for Hummingbird, Garmin for Garmin Lowrance for Lowrance so they hook together. If I had a politicians money I'd go with Minn Kota and Hummingbird but that's me.
Rodney
PM Yes Matilda, your trolling motor can talk to your sonar, GPS, unit and vice verses.

solid advice. used it myself this last go-round.
one other consideration Dale: the MK Ulterra. gives you the ability to auto-deploy the TM. helpful when launching along. something to consider...

apenland01 · March 14, 2022, 09:13:18 AM

I had considered the Ulterra, but it wouldn't mount up well on my old Ranger. I got the Ultrex because I got it 4 years ago, before these other versions came out.

It's the first time I'd had spot lock and cruise control, which is awesome technology. Since I fish by myself, the remote control is also an essential item for me as well. When I fell overboard a couple of years ago in cold water while using cruise control, I was able to stop the boat and back it up, so I could get on the ladder.

I don't particularly care to match my electronics to my trolling motor, as the only real usable feature I see is following contour lines or previous tracks. My .02 cents...

Oldfart9999 · March 15, 2022, 06:19:55 AM

Apenland, you should have "record a track".
Rodney

Princeton_Man · March 15, 2022, 06:39:29 AM

Quote from: apenland01 on March 14, 2022, 09:13:18 AM
I had considered the Ulterra, but it wouldn't mount up well on my old Ranger. I got the Ultrex because I got it 4 years ago, before these other versions came out.

It's the first time I'd had spot lock and cruise control, which is awesome technology. Since I fish by myself, the remote control is also an essential item for me as well. When I fell overboard a couple of years ago in cold water while using cruise control, I was able to stop the boat and back it up, so I could get on the ladder.

I don't particularly care to match my electronics to my trolling motor, as the only real usable feature I see is following contour lines or previous tracks. My .02 cents...

I too bought Ultrex about a year before any of the others were available and no regrets whatsoever. Even if the others had been available, I wouldn't have taken the risk without some decent history and reviews. While I run Garmins, I added a used bird up front, solely for the Ultrex. While I do use it once in a while to move between waypoints, I mostly use it for 2D sonar. I use the remote quite a bit also.

FD · March 15, 2022, 07:01:26 AM

Having run the gamit of trolling motors for years, there is only one brand for me.

MK all the way. I have an Ulterra that I have broken several times. I just replaced it with an Ultrex. To be fair I put more hours on a TM than most. A lot more! Like 10 times more.

On average my TM in in the water 30-35 hours a week plowing through the thickest crap you have ever seen trying to get to the fish where no one else will dare. The weed less wedge prop has no problem with topped out hydrilla, heavy spatter dock, or Kissimmee grass. On slow days I use it weed eater style to blaze new boat trails that only I know about to be used on another day. Did I mention I'm hard on equipment..🤣

Plus with my Humminbirds and Talons I have the "one boat" network set up and can control everything from anywhere.

Yep, MK all the way.

topdsm0138 · March 15, 2022, 09:55:43 AM

Quote from: FD on March 15, 2022, 07:01:26 AM
Having run the gamit of trolling motors for years, there is only one brand for me.

MK all the way. I have an Ulterra that I have broken several times. I just replaced it with an Ultrex. To be fair I put more hours on a TM than most. A lot more! Like 10 times more.

On average my TM in in the water 30-35 hours a week plowing through the thickest crap you have ever seen trying to get to the fish where no one else will dare. The weed less wedge prop has no problem with topped out hydrilla, heavy spatter dock, or Kissimmee grass. On slow days I use it weed eater style to blaze new boat trails that only I know about to be used on another day. Did I mention I'm hard on equipment..

Plus with my Humminbirds and Talons I have the "one boat" network set up and can control everything from anywhere.

Yep, MK all the way.

For once I agree with you. I have the most basic model of fishfinder that hummingbird makes. Even it has the ability to connect one transducer to more than one fish finder. That makes it real nice for a budget-minded anglers like myself. So say if I finally get around to building the front deck of my boat, then get a chance to upgrade to a bow mounted foot controlled trolling motor, I now have the option I'm putting a second hummingbird up front and connecting it to the transducer in the rear. This still allows me a fishfinder in the back for when I'm cruising around. That is a win for me and didn't break the bank.

Sent from undisclosed location -Tiller Mafia

mygreenihc · April 06, 2022, 08:39:17 PM

Dale, Minn Kota's are good trolling Motors and the Ultrex is the cream of the Minn Kota crop. I ran a Fortrex for a couple years, but really needed Spotlock. I had Lowrance Units so I went with the Ghost. I have not used it but a couple trips, but so far I am very impressed. One of several reason why I chose the Ghost was the ability to run on 24 or 36 volts. A bad battery in a tournament and you are done. With the Garmin and the Ghost, you take the bad battery out of the mix and keep going. The brushless motors are much quieter and more efficient, but they will take some getting used to. They are very different than what you currently run. Also, the Ghost is expensive...

Oldfart9999 · April 07, 2022, 07:00:21 AM

Dale, I for one would like to know what TM you're thinking about and why. I'm an MK fan, I have an original Terrova with spot lock and am quite happy with it. After running across the MLF folks near nthe Thousand Islands and chatting with their equipment guy, I wanted to drool all over the Nitro setup, he told me the Ghost was having some issues, sure they are fixed now, the Garmin TM was good and the MK was the Gold Standard.
Rodney