# what bow mount trolling motor?



## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

When I bought my Duck boat from mudbuddy, I had them put a trolling motor mount up front for a future electric motor. Now, after catching Kokanee with my buddy a few times, iv become a little more motivated to get a trolling motor.

Id rather have a gas powered trolling motor but, I dont want to take my big motor off and I dont have anywhere in the back to mount one.

I'm looking into electric trolling motors so I can bow fish and bass fish in the spring and I would like to be able to take it to strawberry or fishlake and just troll around.

What are my options?? I'm looking for size suggestions. 
my trolling motor bracket on my boat is wired for a 12v system for sure I believe, Not sure if its wired for a 24v (maybe it is? i dont know) I'd have to investigate a little further. 

I'm sure a 55lb thrust would do for bass fishing and such, but, could I troll with it? 
yeah, I know bigger is better but, I'm not spending $1500 on an electric motor!

$500-$800 is more doable

I was thinking of a 55lb thrust and get 3-4 extra batteries and then I thought about getting the 70lb thrust and just running 1 set of batteries 

I'd like to get a 70lb thrust with a remote but, I'm not sure if I need that much.

I need advise from all of you that have more experience with electric bow mount motors 

My boat is an 18x51 Excel and weighs close to 600lbs and my motor weighs around 350lbs, so im somewhere around 1000lbs of boat/motor empty 

Suggestions?


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I don't know about trolling motors, but that photo was a great day!

I had a 55 lb thrust minn kota for my 16' boat. It had 5 speeds and trolled nice and slow, and got me off the water quick when needed.


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

GF,


I think you are asking the wrong folks. My recommendation would be to contact the trolling motor company and talk with one of their technicians about what you will need. Be sure to mention that you are looking to obtain a minimum 2 mph trolling speed which will work very well on trout & kokanee.



I don't know for sure, but would guess that whatever brand of mounting plate you have installed will only work with that brand of electric motor. I'd be surprised if a Minn Kota plate would work with a MotorGuide trolling motor. Trolling speed will be a function of boat weight and motor thrust. Less weight/more thrust will result in higher speeds. How long you can effectively troll will be dependent on the battery size (amp hours). More amp hours means longer trolling times and larger group size batteries means higher amp hour ratings - usually.


In my old Tracker boat with a 12 volt trolling motor, I hooked up two 12-volt batteries in parallel to increase my trolling time span. A single battery was lasting 4 hours max. Adding the second battery in parallel added at least 2 more hours - I never tried fishing more than 6 hours total.


Also, two 6-volt cart batteries hooked up in series will work just as well, if not better, as two 12-volt batteries in parallel. Six volt batteries have huge amp hour ratings compared to 12-volt batteries.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

dubob said:


> GF,
> 
> 
> I think you are asking the wrong folks. My recommendation would be to contact the trolling motor company and talk with one of their technicians about what you will need. Be sure to mention that you are looking to obtain a minimum 2 mph trolling speed which will work very well on trout & kokanee.
> ...


Great insight. 
The mount that mudbuddy puts on their boat is just a platform with a wire plug socket do you can mount any trolling motor bracket to it and have it all wired up so you can plug into it right where you have it..

I ran a 55lb C2 Minn Kota transom mount on my last boat (14x48) and it trolled great, I have a couple deep cycle batteries that I ran with it..

I'm just wondering if a 55lb bow mount would work for this boat. They say a bow mount pulls a boat better than a transom mount can push one.


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## RemingtonCountry (Feb 17, 2016)

I have a War Eagle 16x48, and I run a 67 lb thrust Motorguide trolling motor. It handles my rig from moving around slow to trolling for Wipers at Willard Bay. I found it on KSL for $150 bucks, best thing i've ever purchased for that price!


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

RemingtonCountry said:


> I have a War Eagle 16x48, and I run a 67 lb thrust Motorguide trolling motor. It handles my rig from moving around slow to trolling for Wipers at Willard Bay. I found it on KSL for $150 bucks, best thing i've ever purchased for that price!


How fast can you troll with it? do you think a 55lb would troll my 18x51 boat 2mph? or not enough


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## biyoxos470 (10 mo ago)

I personally like the Minn Kota Ultrex Transom-Mount Trolling Motor . It’s 25-pound thrust and adjustable from 2-10 mph. Mount it horizontally or vertically. I’ve had mine for about 3 years and it’s been great. It’s fairly flexible, so you can install it just about anywhere. It’s really easy to use. There’s a button to engage the motor, and then you can control the speed by moving a switch. It’s very easy to mount.

Here is a blog link which helped me in finding a good bow mount trolling motor.


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