Slowing the main/kicker

So I have this new smaller boat and it has a honda9.9 for its main motor and it certainly is too fast by itself to troll for kokes, I was wondering if a drift sock centered off the stern would get me down to speed or would I be looking at getting into trouble with 1 or 2 small socks off the end of the boat. I mainly fish Merwin in SWWA and 4 hour of rowing each time gets a bit tiring. I will eventually upgrade to an electric bow mount some day but not today.

What about some kind of trolling plate that will assist you in slowing down when needed, butt allow you to lift it up/ thrust it out of the way when not needed?

I would much prefer a trolling plate to a drift sock or 5 gallon bucket solution but all three of those options can work.

A trolling plate would be the best. I have a larger boat and when it is windy I use two trolling socks off of the front corners to help slow and control the boat. It enables me to speed up the trolling motor which gives me more control. I some times even put my anchor over the front for additional drag when the wind is realy bad, with the three of then in the water I can maintain course and speed.

Birds Nest said:

So I have this new smaller boat and it has a honda9.9 for its main motor and it certainly is too fast by itself to troll for kokes, I was wondering if a drift sock centered off the stern would get me down to speed or would I be looking at getting into trouble with 1 or 2 small socks off the end of the boat. I mainly fish Merwin in SWWA and 4 hour of rowing each time gets a bit tiring. I will eventually upgrade to an electric bow mount some day but not today.

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how big is the boat? I push a 14ft alum with a 9.9 and it trolls down at 1.2 1.5 mph all day. Is your low speed adjusted properly, ?? should idle down..

RalphL said:

how big is the boat? I push a 14ft alum with a 9.9 and it trolls down at 1.2 1.5 mph all day. Is your low speed adjusted properly, ?? should idle down..

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That's ^ what i was thinking. I've got a 15' alum and depending on which motor is mounted troll with either a 6hp 4 stroke Tohatsu or or 6hp 2 stroke Yamaha. I've used the main motor (25hp 4 stroke Yamaha) many times and caught alot of kokes over the years trolling in the 1.4 to 1.6 mph range....boat is on the heavy side with alot of gear though.

I have a buddy that had a Honda that had problems with getting it to idle down to those speeds of 1.3 to 1.6 area. It was a 6 horse

I also owned a Honda kicker 71/2 horse could never get it to do a low speed idle (good motor), you could change the pitch on the prop that would solve your problem ,but it would also hurt your high end performance

Buckets cheaper.

Thanks everyone, I have not had any luck finding a trolling plate that is rated for under 20hp when it comes down to it, if anyone has had a trolling plate with less than a 20HP motor please let me know.

I also looked for trolling plates that small, wound up with drift socks off the bow.Better than buckets. Bob R

this might be worth looking into...says it's for motors up to 25hp.
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/davis-lil-fella-trolling-plate.aspx?a=493667

I used a trollmatic for about 3 years. One day up at the Gorge it broke on me. As long as I was going forward all was good. The minute I went into reverse it sounded like something was grinding with my outdrive. First thoughts were lower end went out but when I raised the outdrive I could see a spring dangling at my troll plate. The heavy plastic/composite material had cracked releasing the spring. When in reverse the spring would swing back into the prop, damaging the prop. The trollmatic works good but I was unable to see the cracked areas. The other spring showed sign of stress related cracks as well. New prop installed since it was going to cost me the same to have the original repaired.

I used to use a drift sock to troll with, and I learned a couple of things.

I had the drift sock attached at the transom, and had difficulty turning with it either attached to one corner or both corners.

I found a sail boat hardware rolling block. Similar to "RONSTAN Series 25 Lightweight Blocks" listed on West Marine. Sailing blocks can be expensive, but you can find cheap ones that will do if you search. The above listed blocks are 12 to 17 dollars.

I attached a rope to either side of the transom, long enough not to interfere with the motor / prop. Worked very well. The drift sock would sink straight down below the transom when in neutral, and was never in the way for me.

I don't fish this way anymore, as there are some obvious disadvantages to having the drift sock in the way fighting a fish etc. But if your gonna use a drift sock off of the stern, you have to allow it to roll along a rope, so it can pull even pressure on both sides of the transom. The same thing will happen with 2 drift socks, or buckets off of the stern, as the outside bucket pulls hard trying to straighten you out.

I have never pulled them from the front, and that might be the best / cheap solution. From the other posts it sounds like they don't interfere with steering.

long run for a propped down 9hp Honda back from the dam end of the lake.

leave your stock prop on it and go with a couple medium size trolling drag socks tied off the bow on short ropes so that the back end is a couple feet short of reaching your seating position in the rear. tie a dump line on the back of the drogue and use it to dump out the water when you want to pull the sock
Fisherman's Marine has them on sale this time of year. couple 18" diameters should do the trick. get the ones with a lead weight on the front lip or tie on your own.

with kokes long lined shallow spring fishing, they stay to the rear of the boat and aren't as crazy as fish later in the season. probably won't even have to pull the drogues most fish.

use them all the time in the Columbia anchored up for spring and fall salmon, steelhead, sturgeon to keep the boat straight with slow currents and down anchor.

that 9.9 Honda may not be set up right on the carb. have it checked
most come out of the factory set up too rich for breakin. after it's broken in, have a mech. lean out the mixture screw, will have to take off the blocking cap.
then set the idle stop down to the point it almost dies in forward trolling in the water, bring it up 100 rpm and lock down

had an 8 hp 2 cyl 4 stroke Honda 20 years ago, would idle down too slow even for kokes on a 14ft deep light alum. best running kicker outboard I ever owned.
super quiet. only maintenance was water pump impeller, wash, wax, oil, filter and lube change. never even had to change the plug in 10 years.

I agree with smokin' kokes, we use two off the bow, doesn't interfere with steering and haven't had any fish get into the bags when fighting, advantage is the socks keep you from drifting very far while fighting the fish with the motor off.Will be hitting American when some of you guys pull in more then one or two.But the fish caught have sure looked nice!Lake Quinalt for opening day! bob r

I also think you have your low speed adjustment screw set too high. I can troll my 15 ft. Gregor with a 25hp 2-stroke at 1.2-1.4 mph all day. The 9.9 hp 4-stroke on my Jetcraft was doing the same thing until I cleaned out the carburetor. I disassembled it, soaked it in cleaner and put it back on. All was fixed.

Slowing down

Trolling in reverse might get you down to speed (more resistance against the transom than the bow) and would make it easier to drag a sock if necessary. Better boat control into the wind as well.

I have a 17.5 ft tracker with a 115 Optimax which i troll with regularly. (yes u can troll with a two stroke) lol... Not really enough room for a kicker on the transom. My original prop is a 13.25 inch 19 pitch. I called Overtons and they gave me the option of using a 13.5 inch 17 pitch. I would lose about 5 mph on top end which is no problem since that motor has plenty of top end. It dropped my average trolling speed from 2.5 mph to 2 mph. which is exactly what I'd hoped for. and the fuel efficiency of the optimax is hard to beat.