Marin wrote:
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Tatlayoko wrote:
I want to troll for salmon in BC waters and have found that, even at idle, the boat is moving too fast for effective trolling.
Depends on what kind of salmon you're trolling for.* Silvers will often go for lures trolled pretty fast near the surface.* In fact something I've always wanted to try is the "fly" fishing that folks used to--- and perhaps still do--- do for silvers up around Campbell River and the south end of Quadra Island.* Big feathered fly trolled fairly quickly right on the surface.
But for kings you need to go deep and slow.* It would be interesting to know how the commercial salmon trollers do it since all they have are their main propulsion engines.* I don't know if they have reduction gearboxes that let them ooze through the water at a couple of knots or what.* We've trolled for halibut off the west coast of Vancouver Island in our 17' Arima, and once we doing this in company with a commercial troller that was fishing for salmon.* We were using our 6hp trolling motor, the 40' or so troller was using it's main propulsion engine, and we were both going about the same speed--- two or three knots.*
Of course we only had two lines and two downrigggers down where he had four or six main lines hanging off his outriggers with Lord knows how many lures trailing back from each one of them, so he had a lot more drag to deal with.
For a 32 foot boat like yours I would think a trolling outboard would be the best bet if there was an intelligent way to mount it and get the lower end out of the water when you weren't using it.* You probalby wouldn't have to steer it--- you could use the boat's rudder for that. And you could proably just set the power to where you wanted it--- no need for a remote throttle.* On our Arima the trolling motor is tied to the main outboard for steering with an EZ Steer. The throttle I just reach down and set at the motor.
But you can size an outboard to push your boat at trolling speeds with the outboard running in whatever it's comfort range is and you can do this all day with no worries about loading up your boat's diesel.* Particularly if your boat's main engine is turbocharged.
Trolling valves can work but I hear people like Carey*say they don't let them go slow enough to troll for kings.* Drogues or buckets-on-a-rope would be*a pain in the a*s I think.
If your boat has a swimstep that will make it pretty easy to mount an outboard on it.* There are probably off-the-shelf mounts designed specfically for this.* The mount will determine whether you need a longshaft motor or can get away with*a standard short shaft.* Our Arima requires a longshaft and I wouldn't be surprised if mounting an outboard on your boat will, too.
I don't know what size of outboard is ideal for your size and weight of boat but it won't be cheap if you get a good one (Honda, Yamaha).* On the other hand if you size it right it could move your boat along at a decent pace if you had to use it in a get-home situation.* Don't forget the kinds of currents you can be bucking up there, so don't undersize the motor just to save a bit of money.
-- Edited by Marin on Monday 10th of January 2011 07:47:46 PMYes, there are brackets that will get your kicker up out of the water. A company in Bellingham by the name Pooderbuilt makes a good one, and I know there are many more. There is also a remote control system (I forget the name) that allows you to steer from a position well away from the outboard. Ask at any chandlery in the NW.
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