Pulling Cranks - what motor?

I have a Motorguide Tour that I have used, but generally I have two medium size drift socks that I tie to the two front cleats and idle my 140hp 4-stroke Suzuki. It keeps me in that 1.5-1.8 mph range depending upon the wind. If I have a tail wind I'll drop the trolling motor over to create more drag. This is the same idea as the buckets, but the drift socks I store in my anchor compartment when not in use. I normally troll 4 rods with line counter bait casters anywhere from 55-110 feet back using rod holders. The 10 foot rods are straight out from the boat and have the longest amount of line out. When you catch a fish they have a tendency to come to the surface and fall right behind the boat. The shorter 8 foot rods are angled back and I normally run these about 20 feet in from the longer rods to help prevent them from getting tangled. Right now I use exclusively the Bandit 300s.

You already have plenty of good advise on motors, so let me offer an idea for racks. Grizzly Jig has some bolt on rod holders that are non adjustable, but work perfect for pulling cranks. I few feet of lightweight square tubing and a mig welder and you can make a set of racks on the cheap that work great. I made a set for my uncle and have another friend that made his own out of these and they are very happy with them. They have some clamp on models also, but I have no experience with them. Good luck!

https://grizzlyjig.com/p-108-bolt-on-rod-holder.aspx

Your getting good advice, you can get a good gps from garmin that will tell your land speed, or borrow one and use it to set your speed then check your tac, I trolled long time with big motor using the tac to know what the fish wanted.

I think I may take my garmin GPS off the dash of the truck and put it in the boat... it'll tell me what my speed is, just not sure how low it goes. If that doesn't work, I did download an app for it on my phone. Picked up about 10 divers, so we'll be off to the races this afternoon. Hopefully I don't snag any waverunners.

I have a trolling plate on my OB to keep my speed down. Line counter reels are a must for me. I got tired of counting revolutions of the spool to determine length. Great electronics is a must and once you get going it is as if you are playing a video game and can countdown the bites. Bandit 300 is my go too bait but flickers work well also. Bandit print out is a must along with a multitude of options in bait colors. I run my long rods off the sides and a shorter rod set inside those. Never slow down just ski the fish to the boat.

80 lb terrova on a 20 ft sea ark and I can troll all day and have plenty of battery. Going this weekend with my wife and parents prolly keep it down to 6-8 rods of so with them. If I have a couple people that can all run the boat and take care of fish and rods I can run 10-12 rods and pull and push baits.

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Originally Posted by rlsiv

Boy, that'd be great Speck, but for now I need both Kidneys, so can't sell one to get this!

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Just go see uncle Chris. It was his idea. Get the Cash though, his kidneys are junk.

I saw that you said you are in springfield, you may already know this but academy sells a brand of fishing equipment called H20 Express, i picked up 2 of their crankbaits that resembled bandits on sale for $1.99 (both caught fish) they also have a braided line 10 bucks for 150 yds of 20lb. (I couldnt tell a difference bewteen it and power pro)

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Originally Posted by Speck

All I have to say is MINN KOTA TERROVA IPILOT!!!!!!

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Amen!

I have a Basscat with a 150ProXS and I installed a Cabelas "Troll and Go" plate and it gets my speed down to 1.1mph...even less if I'm going into the wind...i was told by others it's the best one out there and really heavy duty. It's under $300...a little pricey but if you like to troll alot with your big motor it's the way to go. IMO:twocents