Side Pulling

As you may be aware, Walt & I truly enjoy drifting for crappie. However, with the breezes and winds being less than cooperative at times, we've invested in transom mount trolling motor to try on both side gunnels of our boats. We have a pretty good idea of how we are going to mount the motor....

We're looking at a starboard side mount with us fishing off the port side. The motor "pulling" us along. I'm just curious if any of you, who have tried this method of crappie fishing, might have some tips or pointers for us to consider for when the ice leaves our waters. Thanks muchly!

What kind of boat?

Transom mount motors are too short for a lot of V-bottoms.

I used a transom TM near the front of my 14' Alumacraft V bottom for a couple months. It did work, I caught a lot fish trolling with it in the summer, but the motor did not fold up all the way horizontal because of the angle on the gunnels and was in the way when not in use. It would only be underwater if I was sitting in the front of the boat, barely long enough.

I took it off and installed a front casting deck with a true foot control TM a few months ago. I put the old trolling motor on the transom if I do any long line trolling.

If you have casting decks, you may consider a hand control bow mount trolling motor with a quick change mount on both boats. A bow mount is much easier to deal with when not using it, and they have a longer shaft.

If your mount is very far back on the gunnels, I'd be concerned about the boat just wanting to go in circles (paddling on one side of a canoe).

PM oldbigun....he side pulls all the time and he designed a bracket especially for that The Edge Multifunction Trolling Motor Bracket

Maybe Oldbigun can post the info, I'd be interested my self in a bracket for my 16' Crestline side console. Pop

Pop, grizzly jig used to sell that special bracket that let you fold trolling motor up and sideways out of the way. Noticed in latest catalog I didn't see it. You might call them and see if they might have one or know how to get one.

The first application for side pulling will be with a 12' Aluminum modified V-hull. The gunnels are not that far from the water and the 40# thrust motor we have has a 36" shaft, so I do not think that will be a problem.....but we'll check it out this week sometime (still waiting for winter to abate!).

Walt's boat is a 16' Tracker Panfish which has low gunnels, so that will not be a problem either. Being as we are on limited budget these days, we are going to fabricate a "false" transom to hang the motor over the side of each boat. We'll make it moveable to start with, as each boat will require a different position, based on the hull design characteristics. Once we establish the correct position, we can make the mount more permanent. This boat will be our primary side puller.

2 " C" clamps and a 12 inch piece of 2x6 would work

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Originally Posted by Crestliner08

The first application for side pulling will be with a 12' Aluminum modified V-hull. The gunnels are not that far from the water and the 40# thrust motor we have has a 36" shaft, so I do not think that will be a problem.....but we'll check it out this week sometime (still waiting for winter to abate!).

Walt's boat is a 16' Tracker Panfish which has low gunnels, so that will not be a problem either. Being as we are on limited budget these days, we are going to fabricate a "false" transom to hang the motor over the side of each boat. We'll make it moveable to start with, as each boat will require a different position, based on the hull design characteristics. Once we establish the correct position, we can make the mount more permanent. This boat will be our primary side puller.

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When I posted earlier I had assumed that by side pulling you meant mounting the trolling motor near the front of the boat and trolling. After some reading I'm seeing that side pulling is a completely different technique, and you actually want to pull the boat long-ways across the water. For that application, I think it would work perfectly.

On the side of the boat I doubt that the motor will be too short.

A mount that swivels so you can just rotate the motor parallel with the gunnels when not in use would be slick, so that it's not sticking out inside the boat and in the way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by "G"

PM oldbigun....he side pulls all the time and he designed a bracket especially for that The Edge Multifunction Trolling Motor Bracket

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I tried to send a private message to "oldbigun" and the error message I got was: "oldbigun has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space."

Do you have a link to his site or where such a device can be purchased? Thanks!

Give Brad Whitehead a call at 256-483-0834 he can get you what you need and he does a lot of side pulling on Pickwick.