Electric Trolling Motors on Large Fishing Boats

By Lenny Rudow

Bow-mounted electric trolling motors have proved their value on all sorts of fishing boats in the 20’ (6.1 m) range, but today, they’re going onto ever-larger boats. The newest version of the Minn Kota Riptide Terrova, for example, sports an 87” (220.98 cm) shaft length — yes, 87” (220.98 cm). That’s long (and strong) enough to handle boats up into the 30’ (9.14 m), 10,000-lb. (4,535.92 kg) range. Rhodan makes a model with an even longer shaft, hitting 96” (243.84 cm). These stilt-like stealthy powerplants can sit high up off the water on tall bows, yet still deploy low enough to hold a firm bite on the water even in seas of several feet.

Added Value

Any angler who’s fished on a boat equipped with one of these motors can attest to their angling value. True, although they’re called electric trolling motors almost no one actually uses them for trolling — this name is a misnomer — and on today’s boats a bow-mount electric is instead generally used to quietly maneuver and creep along slowly through areas where fish can get spooky, like in the shallows.

Another way anglers use them is for “virtual anchoring” with GPS. Most high-end electric motors have functions that let a user press a button to hold the boat in place as the motor and its onboard GPS do all the work to keep the boat more or less frozen in position, while anglers cast to their heart’s content. The boat hovers in place silently without having to fight with an anchor and chain or risk making a ton of noise while deploying it. Plus, at the press of a button a captain can “jog” his position left, right, forward, or aft by 10’ (3.05 m) or 20’ (6.1 m) and then freeze in place again to start casting into untapped waters.

Enhanced Utility

Wait a sec—if these are for fishing the shallows, why put them on bigger boats in the first place? Again, virtual station-keeping proves its merits in big-water situations. If you’re fishing over a wreck you can forget about the whole anchoring hassle. And on top of that, you can bounce your way along a reef or wreck in 10-foot increments and hit it far more efficiently if you have an electric on the bow, working the boat across the feature bit by bit as opposed to haphazardly yanking the anchor and then resetting it without pinpoint positioning ability.

Are there downsides to these systems? Of course. Cost is a factor, naturally, but the biggest downside for most people is weight, because adding three 12-volt batteries increases boat weight. Plus, it will need to be plugged in after every trip to recharge the batteries. (We note, however, that the use of modern LiFePO4 batteries can significantly mitigate weight issues).

On top of that, many larger boat weren’t designed to have an electric trolling motor mounted on the bow in the first place. This means that some customized installation is often in order, which naturally adds more cost. You may need to bolt on a substantial mounting plate, which can make docking a bit more difficult since it protrudes out well beyond the rubrail. In some other cases cutting or modifying bowrails, adding backing plates under the deck, and crafting other sorts of custom mounts may be necessary.

The good news is that once you have an electric trolling motor mounted up there, you can rest assured that in reasonable conditions it will greatly enhance your fishing abilities. We’ve seen them on boats as large as 34’ (10.36 m), where a 120-pound (54.43 kg) thrust 36-volt motor could hold the boat in place for hours at a time in winds of 15 knots.

If you have a larger center console and haven’t believed adding an electric trolling motor to be an option up until now, you may want to re-think things. The current uber-long shafts on the market can handle the tallest bows and so many shops have done semi-custom mounting jobs at this point that finding one with the know-how to make it work isn’t difficult. One thing is for sure: get an electric trolling motor mounted up front, and you’ll soon be catching more fish.