Minn Kota & Walleye

[blaque]

Does anyone ever troll the open waters of lake erie with an electric motor. Ill do it on smaller bodies of water with no problem......was curious if anyone else out there is stuck with an I/O that obviously isnt made to troll, and no money or desire to mount a kicker. lol.  Ive got a Minn Kota 65lb thrust powerdrive with a 60" shaft (24 volt system). The boat is an 18 ft. fiberglass typical open bow fish and ski. Just curious if it will troll fast enough in a chop......or like i said, if its an option to open water troll for walleyes with an electric on Erie. Would like to get into runnin dipsies and gettin down to them when they go a little deeper and you cant flat line them in the shallows like you can in the spring. Just thought id bring up the conversation. THanks

[flockshot]

i find that on erie we do better with the electric then the main motor..i think the speed is perfect..but you only get a few hours  (2ish) so i dunno..we normally start electric and then if we have to go to gas..unless we have a small outboard the gas motor seems a hair to fast for walleyes.

[slipbob]

That's precisely why I bought a "backtrolling" boat which is a tiller model.  Get some splashguards and lookout walleyes when the slowtroll comes your way   People don't backtroll anymore like they used to but it's still very, very effective for following edges and contours at extremely slow speeds and you don't have to deal with using the electrics but it helps to have a 4 stroke so you're not choking on fumes.   

[Lindz]

That's precisely why I bought a "backtrolling" boat which is a tiller model.  Get some splashguards and lookout walleyes when the slowtroll comes your way   People don't backtroll anymore like they used to but it's still very, very effective for following edges and contours at extremely slow speeds and you don't have to deal with using the electrics but it helps to have a 4 stroke so you're not choking on fumes.   

That four banger ought to run a bit quieter for you too.

[grumpymoe]

good point SB on backtrolling....however, dont underestimate the big eyes when it comes to speed....I use both the electric and the big motor for trolling....idled down the gas is a steady 2.7mph on the gps....thats not slow for eyes....Grump

[Pikeguy]

You're right Grump.

Quite often we take walleye on speeds as high as 2.6-2.8 on the GPS.

But, generally, we run in the 1.6-2.2 range and 75% of the time hover between 1.8-2.0 mph on the GPS.

Mac

We consistently catch nice eyes between 3 & 3.5 mph on the gps here. I'm not sure we can even get much slower than 2.5. lol 

[slipbob]

good point SB on backtrolling....however, dont underestimate the big eyes when it comes to speed....I use both the electric and the big motor for trolling....idled down the gas is a steady 2.7mph on the gps....thats not slow for eyes....Grump

For sure.  Try trolling some cranks or harnesses fast and if that doesn't work, SLOW it way down and vertical jig breaks while backtrolling, pull some live bait rigs or pull harnesses just fast enough to wobble the blade a bit.  Gotta be ready for what they want and sometimes it's so slow you don't even know you're moving and other times it's fast.  When it comes to walleyes I've got enough ideas to try to keep me busy all day on the lake. 

Backtrolling on Erie could prove very dangerous Slip.
Not always, but much of the time you're out there in 2+ waves.
And quite often they are over 4'.

A small kicker is the way to go out on the great lakes for trolling because of the wind and waves.
Electric will work, but it will chew up the batteries in short order as others have said.

Good luck.
Mac

For sure Mac.  I'm not fishing lakes anywhere near that size but some pretty big ones.  With the right splashguards and the right kind of transom you can backtroll in some pretty good size waves but when you start getting soaked it's time to move FORWARD.    If this boat doesn't come soon I'm gonna go 

[blaque]

THanks boys, Ill obviously try it first hand anyway, just wanted some opinions on what i should expect. I think shell go o.k. on a small chop in the evening