I ordered a new boat and it will have a gps anchoring tm ( think spotlock).
Never had that luxury before. Any tips you've learned along the way that you would share?
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I ordered a new boat and it will have a gps anchoring tm ( think spotlock).
Never had that luxury before. Any tips you've learned along the way that you would share?
Sent from my SM-S711U using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
Be at a standstill, or close to it when you hit spot lock. If you are traveling forward when you hit it, the motor will then have to return to the spot where you hit lock.
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Also, if you point yourself into the wind then hit lock, you'll save yourself a ton of headaches and spooked fish
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What brand TM is it ? What brand fish finders will you run?
Lowrance interfaces with motorguide and lowrance , Humminbird with humminbird and garmin with garmin.
once you have waypoints entered on your fish finder, you can go to that point with your fish finder, Just get close and tell the FF to navigate to the point,
the trolling motor will take you there and keep you in position,
it is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
How much you use it depends on your fishing style, more than 90% of my fishing is over brushpiles,
So I use mine all the time
Your mileage may vay
MO
Motorguide tm and garmin and lowrance electronics
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Set it correctly. Set the scale to the boat if available ( I have experience with Minkota) overhead objects can block the signal and cause it to surge ahead trying to find its position. Being a dock shooter I get close to things that can block its view of the satellites. All that said it is an awesome piece of gear. I can sit in the back of the boat and pull planer boards. I can fish the side of the dock that the wind is blowing into by setting the spot lock and shooting the dock off the back of the boat. Couldn't do that with a foot control
I like the bird/MK combos that are linked and become and auto pilot to your next chosen spot. I have an Ipilot but not a linked version. I’m thinking hard on upgrading to the system I described, I love my Ipilot and it’s spotlock.
I really like my bluettooth ipilot terrova a lot.
I have the same one. Fishing wouldn't be the same without itQuote:
Originally Posted by Les Young
all great advice items . put the puck close to it as well
and the be near stopped is critical too
always face the wind
set it to fit your boat on weight and speed
and remember this .....
they tend to keep you in the zipcode , NOT exactly always right where you anchor down
AND a strong breeze helps , on calm days they roam a bit too much ....
beats tossing out an anchor out by 20 miles for sure
congrats ....:cheers2
now when you break off and have to retie you will still be on spot not half way across the lake, carry a spare battery for the remote. Good equipment
No mention of this in the manual. What do you mean regarding this?Quote:
Originally Posted by DockShootinJack
I'm going to break down and get a me spot lock trolling motor next winter. Right now I have a handheld tiller trolling motor and I can certainly see the advantage of having spot lock. Right now a throw a bouy when I find a group of fish on Livescope.
Minn Kotas have a scale to set according to size of boat. On my old Ulterra I had it set at lowest scale as my boat was small and setting it on max scale it would use way too much force when trying to maintain Spot Lock causing boat to correct and over correct always over shooting and then trying to come back. Not having boat scale set correctly made for a frustrating day. I have a new Quest Ulterra. I owned the 2 previous versions of this motor. To say it is light years ahead of the model it replaced is an understatement. No roaming on Spot Lock with this motor. It keeps you within 3 feet of where you lock it. No more iPilot-iPilot Link…..this motor has advanced GPS functions on all models. No more puck mounted on the boat…it is all built in. Jog…Drift Mode…..Advanced Tracking…..Go-To features. Has a lot of functions I may never use. All the Quest versions are brushless and extremely quiet. They have beefed up the mechanics on the Quest motors big time. My old Ulterra weighed in at 80 pounds….the Quest Ulterra comes in at 110 pounds. Ninety pounds of thrust using 24 volts. If I add a 3rd battery to take it to 36 volts get 115 pounds of thrust. I’ve had this motor out 5 times now and am delighted with it. It is what Spot Lock should have been all along.
Regards
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this part is critical unless you like the ole whoops I took a swim because the dang thing went bananas on me when I leaned left it went right at 20 mph .....:RoflQuote:
Originally Posted by silverside
From Minn Kota setup manual:Quote:
Originally Posted by silverside
Scroll through the Content Area using either your finger or the Screen Navigation button to find the System System button. Once in the System Menu, scroll through to find the Boat Scale Boat Scale option and select it. The Boat Scale options appear. Select one of the five Boat Scales, either +2, +1, 0, -1, or -2..
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Also to note: Do not push the rabbit button standing up in the bow.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ketchn
Ditto.... i will add never try to use it under a bridge....you gonna try it anyway....just be ready for a weird ride... if spooking the fish matters....learn how to start down stream or down wind and to the outside of where you wanna sit...and walk it in a little at the time... or "jog it in" which is the strong suit of positional trolling motors. Fishing just got funner the first time you cut it on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ketchn
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Here are the things I've learned. Most have been mentioned.
the spotlock is accurate to roughly 5 feet. Which means your boat can and will "wander" in a 10 foot circle with the spotlock point at the center.
Spotlock works best with some wind. The lighter the wind the more the boat will "wander" within circle mentioned above
Get the GPS puck as close to the TM as you can and then make sure you set the "offset" in the TM settings.
Make sure you follow the calibration instructions and calibrate the GPS
If ANYTHING touches the pedal while in SL mode it will disengage the spot lock (this gets really annoying)
Learn to use the "jog" feature to ease up on a spot. If i find a fish on livescope then I usually hit spot lock about 10-20 feet away and let the boat settle down. Then I use the jog forward feature to move up 5 feet at a time until I have the boat where I want it. This has saved me from blowing fish out more times than I can count. You can jog in all 4 directions to get your best boat position.
all that said, spotlock is an absolute game changer. No more drifting off of your spot while you put a fish in the LiveWell or retie your line. No more working the trolling motor while you try to drop a bait on a finicky crappie.
The best thing I like about my Ulterra, I fish solo mostly. I use mine when I launch. You always have to remember to turn it on before you launch. And I always test its function before I slide off the trailer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by soonerdg
Just for info. All of what you say is true...for the old legacy models. The new Quest series does away with all that. Spot lock keeps you within 3 feet.....no more puck...it is built into the head. The Quest series is light years better than the older versions.
Regards
I had a Motorguide Xi5 on my last boat, that worked with the Lowrance fish finder. I mostly used the remote to control the trolling motor. The spotlock for the motor worked well, the GPS was built into the head of the motor. I actually think the Motorguide kept me pretty close to where I set it. I seem to do more drifitng around with my Garmin force now.Quote:
Originally Posted by silverside
To be able to control the Xi5 with the fishfinder I had to set up a NEMA 2000 network between the trolling motor and fishfinder. I don't know if that is still true with the newer graphs or not.
I have all Garmin on this boat. I assume I could control the Force trolling motor with the Garmin Fishfinder, I haven't tried I just use the remote. I keep the foot pedal in the boat in case I need it but I've never used it.
Everything said is true. Remember to watch the stern of the boat when locked near structure such as a dock or bridge- the front may stay locked but the boat can spin!