I usually fish for Hybrids and Stripers most of the year but take six or eight weeks out in the Spring to fish for crappie (since that is our eating preference). Last year, I equipped my hunting boat with a trolling motor and depth finder.
A couple of months ago, I purchased a Jackson kayak and have been learning to use it. Earlier photos have been posted. Now I realize that you serious yakkers do not use a trolling motor (as evidenced by a local kayak tournament will nit allow a motor).
My plan was to use the motor to get me to the fishing area where I would switch to paddling. I researched a lot about putting electric motors on a kayak and ended up purchasing a motor from Electric Kayak Company ...
The cylinder you see allows me to raise and lower the motor remotely. The system works very well and also works great for spider-rigging (photos are on earlier post). I ended up buying more that I needed, and if you need additional information, please email me for details.
Then I started "pulling" jigs and everything worked except fighting the fish is awkward if you have additional rods out.
I already had a 55 lb. thrust Motorguide xi5 (with Pinpoint) from the aluminum boat last year. When the mounting bracket was designed for the kayak, provision was made to allow either an xi5 or MK Power Drive 2 with Ipilot.
The xi5 was mounted in the rear ...
The motor pushes the kayak forward with ease and the Motorguide remote was easy to steer forward with. The only problem is the "neat" features on trolling motor (directional control, speed control, etc.) only work with the trolling motor mounted on the front.
I the got the idea to troll backwards so that I was facing the back of the kayak, after all I face the stern most of the time when trolling in a boat. It worked like a dream!
These are still shots taken from the GoPro video (two different fish) ...
The only problem I encountered was win gusts. I think lowering a small anchor in the front so that it is just below the surface will remedy that problem.
I will try to get better camera angles on the next trip!
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk