Bow mounted trolling motor

Is it practical to use a bow mounted trolling motor as a auto pilot for controlling the boat while you fight and land a fish? I'm thinking one would have to stop the regular motor and flip on the bow motor. Any thoughts? Lund

I have a 16.5 footer with a 50hp. 4 stroke. I have a 70# Thrust IPilot. I troll on Lake M. I put the 50 Hp. Merc. in foreward @ idle and use the I-Pilot to make up the difference. It works great. I watch the depth raider and tweak the speed with the ipilot remote. Turns are easy as you can just bump the direction with the remote. It's like having a cheaufer in the boat. You can fight fish without having to steer. The bigger the boat the harder it is to do this. On a small boat it's a great alternative to a kicker which you have to steer. In other words I use the IPilot to pull the boat.

I am an newbie to salmon fishing having only done it twice last year around the harbors in Racine and Milwaukee. What I have done a little more of is troll on Winnebago and Green Bay for walleye. I use my ipilot a lot to steer the boat. I get the speed where I want it using my t8 and lock in the steering for straight ahead then use the remote for the ipilot to steer or tweak the speed as needed. What is also cool is you can record a track so that you can run it from either direction. I have 4 kids the boy is oldest and he is better than most adults in the boat, my 3 girls are getting up to speed but at times we have a snafu here and there and its awful nice to be able to have the ipilot keep me pointed where I want to go and not have to worry about lines crossing etc.. Just make sure you keep some awareness of where you are going, it doesn't watch the depths for you or know if there is something in the way.

Thanks smokercraft 427. The I pilot is a lot more than I want to spend. A very advanced auto pilot it is! If and when my currant auto pilot crashes, I will have to think about an i pilot. Lund

The little bit of time I got to see one in action last season I thought it was amazing. I know a couple guys who use it for big water fishing just to steer like said. It its not running hard to push/pull the boat just to readjust to keep a degree heading. If you got the cash you will not be dissapointed.

The ability to do exactly what you described with the i-pilot is worth the cost of installing one if you troll a lot. All the other features of the i-pilot is just icing on the cake. Most of the time I'm out with just one other guy in my boat. The i-pilot allows me to set lines, net fish, eat a sandwich, straighten up the boat....all while my buddies watch the rods! Steering is the i-pilots job You can also adjust your speed by the tenths of mph via remote control.....it's awesome.

While Salmon fishing, the boat I use has a 115 HP engine that I troll with. With three people in the boat there's no problem with one person each to reel, net and steer. However, with two people keeping the boat straight while netting can be tough. I was thinking about switching from my 115 HP to the Minkota auto pilot to keep the boat going straight while netting. Maybe more trouble than it's worth but I may try it on one trip.

I'm not sure I completely understand your question. But I'll give you an example of what I do a lot now days in an effort to help. I use my kicker motor and i-pilot in conjunction with each other and it works great! while trolling for walleye and for salmon. I never have to stop the kicker to land fish. The i-pilot steers the boat completely. And on calm days while salmon fishing or most days walleye trolling the i-pilot will even propel the boat. It will automatically adjust speed and direction. On windy days I give it a bit of help with the kicker and reduce the speed of the i-pilot with the intentions of just utilizing it to steer. PM with more questions.

It is depending on the thrust and power consumption of your trolling motor. I use mine to set up depending on the capability of the person driving. Then I turn it on again at prime time to keep the boat straight and in the same depth of water. I have the ability to turn the kicker down to idle to help push the boat, but allow the bow mount pull at the same time to keep it on track. As soon as the boat goes faster than the bow mount, it starts spinning in circles and causes more problems that anything. Hope this helps.