Have you been considering purchasing a trolling motor to make for more effective fishing trips?
You’ve likely heard of a trolling motor before, but you may not know what it does and whether or not it helps to troll for fish.
A trolling motor is a small, quiet electric motor that will make your boat harder to notice as you troll your boat through the water. This will naturally make trolling more effective and is worth picking up if you enjoy angling with this method. We’ve got more below to help you decide if a trolling motor is a good choice for your fishing needs.
What Is a Trolling Motor?
While a trolling motor may seem similar to a boat engine, the two tools have very different purposes. A boat engine is typically quite loud and powerful and serves as the primary form of propulsion. On the other hand, a trolling motor is extremely quiet and will move a boat through the water at a much slower pace.
When a boat has both a boat engine and a trolling motor, the trolling motor will be taken out of the water to reduce the amount of drag applied to the boat.
Both motors are used to move a boat around in the water, but their intended purposes are very different. A boat engine is designed to transport you across distances, while a trolling motor serves to help fishing lines move through the water to help attract fish.
What Is Trolling?
If you aren’t familiar with trolling, it differs from your traditional casting method of catching fish. Casting involves putting your lure out in the water and staying stationary to attract a fish. Trolling is different because it requires you to actively move your lure while it is cast in the water.
The movement of your lure is particularly attractive to certain species of fish. Salmon is the most popular fish to cast through trolling. Casting is the most traditionally accepted method of catching fish, but it is not always the most effective! You’ll have an easier time casting when you already know where the fish are biting, but trolling is more efficient when you don’t know where they are.
How This Improves Fishing Capabilities
The biggest benefit of using a trolling motor is that it is almost silent. This is important because making too much noise will disturb fish and cause them to scatter, making catching them very difficult. With a trolling motor, you can use your regular engine to move you near a good fishing spot. You can then turn it off and switch to the trolling motor to get you closer and in a better position without spooking the fish!
When you are actively trolling for fish, you’ll need to have a way of constantly moving through the water without making noise. Paddling is one way of doing this, but it is demanding on your body and can be difficult to handle a fishing rod at the same time.
With a trolling motor, you can hold onto your fishing rod while keeping your boat and lure moving at the same time. This movement is key to catching fish that are attracted to the sight of a moving lure.
Will You Notice a Difference?
Fishing with a trolling motor will certainly help you catch fish, but how you use it is what will make the difference. Simply having a trolling motor will do you no good if you don’t use it properly. The art of trolling requires you to find an appropriate speed to move at. You lure will be quickly passing by fish you want to catch, but it needs to be at a speed that gives them enough time to strike. This depends on what fish you are trying to catch, as some are faster than others.
You also need to have a lure that works well with the style of the trolling motor you have. Some lures are only effective at higher speeds, but this is not conducive to slowly trolling along.
One final thing to consider is how you steer the trolling motor. If you only go straight, it won’t be as effective as changing the direction of your boat. Doing this will create more movement for your lure, which makes it tougher for fish to ignore!
Closing Thoughts
Trolling motors are great tools for moving your craft through the water, but they are not to be confused with boat engines. The biggest difference is that trolling motors are far quieter and have less power. They are designed to propel your boat through the water without disturbing the fish you are trying to catch.
Use of a trolling motor is a great way to catch more fish while trolling, but this only works if you have a good trolling technique. Make sure to go at a slow speed while constantly changing directions to simulate more natural movements.
With the combination of good technique and a trolling motor, you can catch more fish than you would without one, making it an important tool for any trolling angler.
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