Next Level Boat Control: Trolling Motors Propel Anglers to Success
How trolling motor innovation has changed the way anglers fish
By Jason Halfen | As seen in Fishing Tackle Retailer Magazine
An angler’s ability to position and control his or her boat often separates a good day on the water from a great one. Superior boat control fills livewells, while inferior boat control sends disappointed anglers back to the docks, frequently empty-handed.
Once the outboard motor is turned off, we enter the realm of precision boat control provided exclusively by Minn Kota bow-mount motors, each designed and engineered to dominate the water and the competition.
The right trolling motor for any boat
Whether you chase bass in expansive southern reservoirs, walleyes in northland lakes, or redfish and speckled trout on the flats, catfish on farm ponds, striped bass on the current beaten rips and jetties, Minn Kota offers the perfect trolling motor for you and your boat.
The Minn Kota Ultrex™ has become the standard against which all trolling motors are judged in professional bass fishing. In 2018, over 90% of the Bassmaster Classic field fished with an Ultrex on the bow of their boat – including the winner. The Ultrex is a motor that offers the best of both worlds: smooth, fluid control of a cable drive motor, assisted by Power Steering for instant responsiveness.
The Minn Kota Ulterra® is the industry’s only trolling motor that features power stow, deploy and trim, allowing the angler to start fishing or change spots with the push of a button. A favorite of anglers fishing big water where “walleye chop” is a way of life, Ulterra eliminates the need for an angler to move to the bow and manually raise or lower their motor – they can do that from anywhere in the boat with wireless convenience from remotes, foot pedal, and even connection with select Humminbird® fish finders.
In addition to power stow and deploy, it also offers the power trim feature, making it easy and convenient to raise and lower the motor’s head and prop while it’s still in the water, maintaining control over the boat’s position, course and speed. All of this occurs with the same push-button convenience and intelligent design that defines the Ulterra.
More than just a trolling motor: transducers and fish finder integration
Providing as much as 112 pounds of thrust in configurations ranging from 12 to 36 volts, the Minn Kota bow mount trolling motors are indispensable boat control tools for almost any size or style watercraft. They’re also powerful and convenient sonar platforms, providing a quick and easy way for anglers to collect valuable fish finding information from beneath the bow of their boat, and to share that sonar data across their One-Boat Network™.
A long-term staple in many angler’s toolboxes, many Minn Kota bow mount trolling motors are equipped with US2 dual beam sonar transducers that are compatible, through an adapter cable, with a wide range of fish finders. Dual beam sonar provides anglers with a traditional sonar view into the underwater world, localized in the area beneath their bow. Anglers can select the narrow beam for best depth penetration and enhanced target separation, or the wide beam to cast a broader sonar net, locating fish that may be nearby, but not directly beneath their bow.
“One of the things I love to do is fish deep, offshore structure, relying on my electronics to help me find and target individual fish,”
Says seven-time Bassmaster Angler of the Year and four-time Bassmaster Classic Champion, Kevin VanDam. And with the US2 transducer on his Minn Kota Ultrex, VanDam can deploy a drop shot rig vertically from the bow, and monitor not only his bait but also any fish interacting with it, as they move in and out of his dual beam sonar cone.
“When I’m drop-shotting and see a fish on my Humminbird up at the bow, I know that fish is right beneath me, and that I’m about to catch it!”
Built-In MEGA Down Imaging trolling motors
Responding to the need for more detailed information than traditional sonar can provide, Minn Kota recently unveiled bow-mount trolling motors with Built-In MEGA Down Imaging® transducers, compatible with all Humminbird SOLIX and select Humminbird HELIX fish finders. Humminbird’s Down Imaging technology takes the guesswork out of sonar interpretation, providing picture-like images of structure and fish within the water column and on the bottom.
The available MEGA Imaging frequency elevates Down Imaging to unmatched levels of detail, resolution, and clarity. The Built-In MEGA Down Imaging transducer is housed entirely within the indestructible lower unit of the motor, and all of the wiring runs entirely within the motor’s shaft for a clean, uncluttered look that is fully protected from the elements.
Justin Lucas, the 2018 Bassmaster Angler of the Year, says that,
“with a MEGA Down Imaging transducer built into my Minn Kota Ultrex, I get the clearest Down Imaging picture ever on the front of my boat, so I can see exactly what’s beneath me. It has paid huge dividends as I can easily see individual fish holding tight to cover – fish I might miss with only 2D sonar.”
Built-In MEGA DI transducers are available now on select Ulterra, Ultrex, Terrova, and Fortrex motors.
Better boat control for better fishing
Minn Kota bow-mount trolling motors elevate boat control to the next level through available i-Pilot® and i-Pilot Link™ GPS systems. By incorporating global positioning data and Humminbird digital cartography, i-Pilot and i-Pilot Link can manage your boat control for you with push-button simplicity and GPS accuracy.
One of the most powerful features available for both i-Pilot and i-Pilot Link systems is Spot-Lock, which uses GPS signals to lock your boat onto your fishing spot with more accuracy than anything else on the water. In fact, Spot-Lock has revolutionized boat control for professional and recreational anglers alike.
Kevin VanDam says,
“Few things have impacted fishing like Spot-Lock. We’ve seen a new level of boat control on the pro tour, and the guys using Ultrex have a distinct advantage. It makes managing your boat while fishing, rigging and even culling so easy that it has literally changed the way people – fish for the better!”
Professional bass fisherman, Brandon Palaniuk agrees.
“A lot of times, fish will get grouped up on a single piece of cover, where you need to make the exact same cast from the same position. Spot-Lock allows me to do that. I hit one button when I get the first bite, which lets me go back and make the same cast again to get the bite.”
Current i-Pilot and i-Pilot link systems also offer the Jog Feature, which “jogs” the boat in precise, 5-foot increments from the Spot-Lock position, in any of four directions: left, right, forward or backward. Working in tandem, the combination of Spot-Lock and Jog makes precision boat positioning – and reposition – effortless.
Trolling motors beyond bass and walleye boats
Bow-mount trolling motors are a staple for bass, walleye, and inshore saltwater boats, but since the introduction of longer shaft and higher output thrust motors, coastal anglers with larger boats have begun to take notice. From striped bass territory in the Northeast to grouper and cobia territory in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic. Offering 72" shafts and 112lbs of thrust has allowed boats up to 25' and 5,300lbs the ability to implement the same type of boat control that freshwater anglers have enjoyed for years.
The Riptide Ulterra's ability to Auto Stow, Deploy and Power Trim has allowed owners of large boats with inaccessible decks to be able to stow and deploy with ease.
The early adopters in saltwater environments have reaped the benefits of Spot-Lock and other GPS capabilities to control their vessels in heavy current, wind, and chop. As Spot-Lock has almost eliminated the use of an anchor for freshwater anglers, saltwater anglers may benefit even more. Larger anchors thrown near underwater structure, jetties, and in heavy current can not only be a difficult task, but it can also be dangerous.
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