I fish in saltwater over on the Intra Coastal in Florida. I fish out of a small boat, more like an over sized canoe. It is called a Gheenoe (Talked about here). I have a Minn Kota Trolling Motor (45lb thrust) attached to the bow (front of the boat) to maneuver me around quietly to sneak up on fish. If your not familiar with what a trolling motor is, it is an electric motor powered by a deep cycle 12 volt battery with a shaft attached to a plastic prop that quietly pulls your boat around without having to start your main motor and scare fish. You can’t go as fast as your main motor but you don’t need to because your fishing when your using your trolling motor.

You control a trolling motor with the twist of a handle that adjusts the speed of forward or reverse. I don’t know if it is an industry standard but the white trolling motors made by Minn Kota are made for saltwater and the black ones are made for freshwater. The saltwater ones are more expensive but they will last a long time in saltwater because they are made with high quality parts so they don’t rust. The electronics are all sealed in plastic so it keeps the saltwater out. The shafts on Minn Kota are composite which makes them flexible so if you are trolling around and bump into something the shaft won’t break or permanently bend like it would if it was made of metal.

The trolling motor I use is the only one I can speak of but it is a great motor. It is super quiet. I can get so close to fish I can literally touch fish with the tip of my rod. I use a 45 lb thrust motor on my Gheenoe and it pulls me without a problem. I deal with strong currents and wind here over on the coast of Florida and I have no problem with the wind or current over powering the motor. If you go on Minn Kota Trolling Motors website they have a calculator that you can use to find the right pound of thrust you need for the weight of your boat. They have some cool options for different motors such as a hands free trolling motor and even one that tracks a customized GPS track. It’s pretty cool.

The only down side of the trolling motor which has nothing to do with the company, it is just a drawback with any trolling motor, it’s shallow water depth. I can troll around just fine up until about a foot of water. Once the water starts getting shallower then a foot or so, the propeller starts hitting the bottom. Usually it isn’t a problem but it gets shallow sometimes during low tide here in Florida and it will hit so you have to raise it up. That’s when the push pole comes into play. It also takes some getting use to at first when your are fighting a fish and maneuvering the trolling motor at the same time. You have to time it right. When the fish is taking drag, mess with the motor otherwise reel the slack out of the line.

The trolling motor is a great tool to use out on the water. I could get a few (about 3 days) days of heavy use on mine out of one battery charge and that’s just a Walmart deep cycle battery. Nothing special. I use about 25% of the battery in a day. A day of fishing for me is about 6 to 7 hours of trolling. If you are looking at a trolling motor make sure you get the right one for the water you will be in. The saltwater ones are more expensive but there is a reason for that. You might spend more initially but it will save you down the road. Like anything take care of your equipment and it will take care of you. Thanks for reading and I hope this helped.