How fast are you trolling?

[birdstrike]

I'm having a few problems keeping my trolling speed in check. Number one: I'm, using a 30 hp outboard on a 16 ft johnboat so I idle far too fast to troll. Number 2: My GPS will not give me a speed readout if I'm going any slower than say 3mph. I would like to troll in the 1.5 -2.0 mph (walleye). Fish finder won't kick in that slow either.

Questions:
How do you get your boat to slooow down, tried going backwards and it was miserable experience. Is there some type of spoiler that can be attached to the outboard to block trust for trolling?

Are the new GSP units capable of reading speed at these slow speeds?

Thanks all!

Steve

[WIZARD]

Birdstrike,

My old 76 Garmin GPS will go down to about 0.6 mph. I also do alot of trolling, and depending on the time of year, this can be as slow as .75 mph up to 3.0 mph. Prior to hanging a 9.9 kicker motor on the back, I would use a 60" Drift Sock when running the big motor and that would get me down to about 1.5 mph and then use the bow mount electric for anything slower. I have a used Happy Troller trolling plate from my old boat that worked great and would sell it if you are interested.

Wiz

[birdstrike]

Wiz,

I am interested in you troller, shoot me an e-mail ( [email protected] )I'm in Louisville. You know my GPS should indicate slower speeds, I probably monkeyed with the setting and have it set wrone. I'll play with it. Thanks, Steve

[Rowdy]

I had the same problem,I bought a hydro-troll at cabelas. I have to run a above idle to get 2 mph! And my lowrance hand held goes below 1 mph.Im running a 90 hp on a 16 ft bommer. Make sure you get some shear pins. sometime we forget to release it!

Donnie aka
Rowdy

[apb]

Several trolling plates out there that can be used on the motor to slow you down. I have a Happy Troller on my 40hp and can drop as low as .5 mph if needed. I have a hand held GPS. No problem reading down to .1 mph.

Andrew

[MASBASS]

The newer GPS units will display the speed to 0.1 mph, or at least my Garmin does. As far as the easiest way I know to slow your boat down and cheapest a friend of mine did to slow his boat down. He took a 5 gallon bucket cut a 5" diameter hole in it attached it to a rope and ties it off to the boat. This slowed him down to the speed he wanted. After he tried that and it worked for what he wanted he purchased a drift sock and uses it now.