Trolling motor a necessity for shallow water capable vessel to make fishing a little easier

While browsing an online fishing group recently I came across the question, “I just got a new boat. Should I get a trolling motor or Power Pole first?”

Both are highly common and awesome additions to any shallow water capable boat, with the purpose of making fishing a bit easier. I thought about it and responded, “A trolling motor is a necessity, a Power Pole is a luxury.”

The new technology found in Sarasota-based Rhodan and competitor Minn Kota’s line of trolling motors involves GPS locking to keep you stationary on a spot. This allows you easily in calm weather to sit, or adjust, where you are fishing in deeper water with the trolling motor doing all the work. Quickly deploy, set and forget.

Having seen it in use now on quite a few trips, this has absolutely changed the game when fishing offshore.

Last Sunday I ventured offshore with Geoff Szymanski aboard his newly acquired, beautiful 24-foot Canyon Bay. It had it all from a 350-HP Mercury Verado on the stern to a 24-volt Rhodan trolling motor hanging off the bow.

With only shrimp to target hogfish and the fun by catch you get when fishing for them, we didn’t spend any time getting bait before heading west. It was the day after the full moon, so expectations were a bit tempered with what may be a slow bite as we headed into the Gulf of Mexico at 40 mph.

In 50 feet, a few grunts bent the rods, but it wasn’t what we were after.

In 58 feet, a few really nice sized male hogfish came over the sides, but the bite seemed to stop as soon as it started.

In 63 feet, the Rhodan trolling motor’s features really proved their worth. We “anchored” over a ledge by deploying and spot locking on bottom I found in December and had yet to really fish. Thanks to my GoPro scouting, I knew the spot had hogfish, mangrove snapper and yellowtail snapper. It is a very long ledge with plenty of hard bottom, probably running about 500 yards, if not more.

After one hogfish it slowed and we dropped back 30 feet. Then another after 5 minutes before we dropped back again. We kept slowly working around the ledge, something we would not be able to do on a bottom anchor without a ton of work. This allowed us to pick a few hogfish, snapper and grouper. The fish weren’t actively moving much around the ledge, but they would eat a bait that found it’s way in front of them.

The hard pulling hogfish made fine table fare as usual, and fell victim to half shrimp on a 2/0 hook with about 18 inches of leader with 2-ounce swivel weight. By the end of the day, we had 11 hogs, most of which were caught while moving around spots away from our original locations.

I would not be surprised in the near future if bigger offshore fishing boats find a way to incorporate the technology of GPS trolling motors to help them when fishing deep. The confidence it provides and time it saves while helping catch fish is second to none.

This story was originally published February 18, 2017 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Trolling motor a necessity for shallow water capable vessel to make fishing a little easier."