A Motor For The Drift Boat

I decided on a Minn Kota 55 lbs thrust trolling motor. It has 5 forward speeds and 3 reverse speeds. This was the strongest transom mounted motor that Cabelas had in stock. More powerful ones are made but they require 2 batteries. The battery for this already weighs 62.5 pounds.

The motor came with a battery charger. I notice it takes a full day to recharge after used. The first time I used the motor it ran for three hours at varying speeds including some time not in use and quite a bit of time on the highest speed. The second time it worked for four hours with almost constant use and mostly high speed. I then tried going longer than four hours and ended up having to row back to the dock. This gives me an idea of how long the battery will really last. I need to look for a gauge to indicate the amount of battery power left. The motor has plenty of power for trolling and moving from place to place for fishing but not for going a long distance fast.

This motor has a 36 inch shaft. They are available with a 45 inch shaft so I wondered if a 36 inch would be adequate. I called the Hyde Drift Boat shop and they stated that a 36 inch would be plenty. In fact, the motors they sell come with a 20 inch shaft.

I invited my wife Jennifer to be the first one to try out the new motor. We went to Jordanelle and motored around for a few hours. The motor worked great and Jennifer proved to be a great guide. She would keep the boat casting distance away from the shore while I fished for bass. It was a nice, sunny comfortable day and Jennifer managed to get her knees sunburned. I was using a variety of curly tailed jigs which had worked so well before for the smallmouth.

The water in the reservoir was so high that the beaches were completely covered with water. The top of Trees were sticking out of the water hundreds of yards from shore.

The fishing wasn’t easy. I could see bass follow the jig from time to time but they were reluctant to hit. Going around the last outcropping of rocks before heading back to the dock I managed to hook one, a mid-sized smallmouth - a great way to end a fun day of boating with my wife.