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I have a 23 foot aft cabin. No trolling motor. How would you set it up for fishing?
Would you purchase trolling motor? Drift bags? Trolling plate?
Should I just set up umbrella rigs and fish that way?
I am mainly talking about striper fishing at Lake C.
Your input is greatly appreciated.
Since no one else has replyied I will tell you what I use. I have a 21 foot hardtop Trophy with an I/O outdrive. I use a MinnKota 12v 55lb thrust with auto pilot and the wireless control. The 18ft cord for the reg control wasnt really long enough. The boat is heavy and the 55lb thrust seems to get the job done. You may have to go to a 24v motor to get the longer 64 inch shaft depending on your boat. I keep 2 batteries for use although I only wear 1 out in a day if its a little windy. The boat is used mostly for stripers on Cumberland and at Norris in Tenn. We also use it to Walleye fish on Erie but dont troll there. To overcome the cold weather with the I/O I installed a easy to winterize closed cooling system since the boat wont fit in my heated garage. If you have any other ?? I can help you with let me know. :)
get one of those dolphin fins that you can flip down behind the propeller so you can actually troll at slow speeds.
It will depend some on how you want to troll. You want to pull planers, downrig, flat line troll, all of the above? Variable speed trolling motor for pulling planers. You'll want one with autopilot so you can control from the cabin. You should be able to set up rod holders around the back of the boat for the rods. Downrigging/flat line trolling, you might find a small (5 hp) kicker motor to be more useful than running the big motor. You'll probably have to double check the hp to make sure that will move the boat along. Whatever size you get, go with a 4 stroke. Less gas, less noise. Pair of electric downriggers (I've used Cannon Mag 10's) with a swivel base and three rod holders on each. This will allow you to stack 3 rods on each rigger. Add a depth finder in the cabin and you be set.
Andrew
It really depends on how you are trying to troll down there for the stripers. some guys don't use down riggeres and it really depends on what time of year you are going to be fishing. most of the spring and right now a lot of guys catching them, are still pulling boards, along with multiple down lines and normally a cork way off the back. the best way to do that is to get a wireless trolling motor, i beleive mentioned above, so you can control it from your wrist and stay in the back waiting for one of your rods to double down and touch the water. the depthfinder is also key. although different times of year some people don't even troll. they will just pull over a school drop a few lines down 40-50 feet or so and wait for drag to start squeelin. i would probably set her up with at least 8-12 rod holders all positioned the way you feel you will be fishing, a few off the back and some to go off each side, giving you options anyways.