Trolling plates

[crappie-hunter]

I'm thinking of investing in the "happy troller", but I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with using troller plates. Are they worth it? 

I have a 35hp johnson on a 12 ft v bottom. Trolling with that motor moves me around the lake at 3.5-4mph, and I would like to slow it down. 

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Sam]

I'm in the same situation.  Ideal trolling speed for me (by GPS) is about 1.9 mph for most walleye crankbaits and Rattletraps or Roostertails for white bass, and my main motor won't quite get down to that speed.

I've thought quite a bit about investing in a trolling plate like Happy Troller, but I've always backed off.  If I'm not mistaken, mounting it would involve drilling holes in the lower end of my fairly-new 50 hp Suzuki 4-stroke outboard, and I just can't bring myself to do that.  I think one of these days I may "Ozark Engineer" a similar homemade device that fastens with straps instead around the lower end, which shouldn't be too difficult.

Anyway, most of the trolling I do is "slow-trolling" jigs for crappie.  The ideal speed for that is .9 mph and my trolling motor does that easily on a speed setting of "2" or "3" out of 5, depending on the wind.

[MOPanfisher]

Can't remember what make my buddy had, was spring loaded and would swing up with the increased output when you throttle up.  Was plastic I think.  Worked fairly well until one day in truman when backing up and hit a stump and broke it off.  I haven't been able to bring myself to buy one either.  I have enough trouble keeping transducers alive fishing truman.

[crappie-hunter]

I'm in the same boat, I can get the slower speed with my trolling motor but my batteries don't hold up for a full day of fishing.

[inshore]

there are lots of different plates out there. happy troller,easy troller and trollamatic. the first two are metal. happy troller requires you put plate up and down with a cord. easy troller will kick up on its own. trollamatic is nylon and stays down all the time unless you are running  then it will kick up. there are pros & cons for all. trollamatic you don't want to hit anything because it will break. happy troller the cord can be a pain and if you forget to put it up and take off it will bend and can be a mess. the easy troller is more expensive but don't back into anything that also includes the other two. as with all the plates with them down until you get used to them reverse can be a pain. all that being said I just bought a trollamatic but haven't put on boat yet. purchased it because taking off boat is pretty easy $30 to $50 bucks cheaper and did not want to spend a ton then find out a pulled bucket or a trolling bag was better. friend has a happy troller and is very happy with it but forgot to raise and did bend it but managed to pretty well repair it.if you need a real low speed plan on using your trolling motor and I'm talking less than 1.0 mpg. good luck with the one you chose.

[jbeenemd]

Or you can Ozark a 5 gallon bucket into a "drift bag".

[unclefish]

I don't like the fact that i have to drill holes in my motor to mount a trolling plate.I have a 16.5 alumicraft V hull with a 75hp 4stroke.I took a piece of nylon rope and tied it from one of my front cleat to the other.Then go under the boat and measure 14in on both sides of the keel.At those marks i tied on two 30in drift socks.And yes you can troll with them inspite of what you heard,i've been doing it for 15yr.The reason for the duel socks is for better steering.I can go from .7 mph on up.They dont get in the way when you land a fish because they are all ways under the boat.The bags i use are Lindys from bp because they are thicker.This system has worked very well for me and if i hit a real windy day i can use them to slow down my drift when i jig for walleyes.

[dan hufferd]

10 hours ago, crappie-hunter said:

I'm thinking of investing in the "happy troller", but I'm wondering if any of you have any experience with using troller plates. Are they worth it? 

I have a 35hp johnson on a 12 ft v bottom. Trolling with that motor moves me around the lake at 3.5-4mph, and I would like to slow it down. 

Any advice would be appreciated!

I bought this exact same unit for my 75 hp merc. I love it ! I could only troll at 3 mph with out it now I can get less than 1 mph.

 I would caution you on this one thing, don't forget and leave it down. I was unloading the boat in a tail wind, and forgot to flip it up, then I put it in forward and punched it. Not good ! It was and easy fix, I just flipped it up at the dock and stood/jumped on it now I am back in business.

For me it was the best was to go. I use it every time I troll.

I also use it in conjunction with my trolling motor (my trolling motor has a handheld remote) I use a bungee on the steering wheel so it won't creep then I only us the trolling motor for steering, it's awesome !

Something else to consider... My previous boat was lighter it had a 40 hp yamaha with a 45 lb 12 volt tolling motor. bought an extra reconditioned battery ($50) and wired it parallel I could troll all day and not have to listen to the motor. 

Hope this helps check out this video I made while trolling for walleye it's pretty funny it works !

   

 

 

[johnnydahook]

I have had a happy troller for five years now on my Suzuki 115 four stroke, 19 ft. center console boat, and I love it. I can troll as slow as 1.2mph. many times I have to speed the big motor up to get it to 1.9 to 2.0 mph which is my favorite speed. I generally steer my boat with my front trolling motor, Minnkota terrova and never leave the driver seat.

The only drawback with the happy troller is backing up. A little harder to control your boat with the flap down, but it is well worth that small inconvenience. Oh yeah, They act a bit like trim tabs for stabilizing your boat at higher speed also 

 

 

[mjk86]

The 5 gallon bucket deal works great.  Tie a rope between the back two cleats.  Then another between a bucket and the middle of the other rope.  Even easier is to put the boat in reverse and go backwards.