Auto pilot for trolling

L

Larry Patrick

New member
Fished Lake Erie last week ,caught walleyes ,perch,a 15lb catfish,and freshwater sheepshead,not the good eating sheepshead. Tried using auto pilot,but trying to stay between 1 and 2 mph,it keeps saying too slow for auto pilot. Anyone know what is lowest speed for auto pilot to run? Someone suggested drift bags ,wondering if I put 1 on each side mid cleat will I be able to use auto pilot. Wondering if anyone is using this method. After trolling for 2 days its too much in and out of gear for wife and steering. Any ideas im missing? Its a 150 Yamaha 23ft c-dory Someone mentioned a hinged flapper for outboard not sure about them never saw one?
 
If waves are significant it is hard with a boat the size of C-dorys. Every wave weighs so much more than the boat so the waves push the boat around and you don't have enough thrust to compensate. I think APs for low speed trolling on Great Lakes need a rudder position center. My experience is they do better and in calmer seas I can troll 1.5 or less. But with wind waves two feet or more it is tough. I usually troll with one engine and adjust rpm for proper desired trolling speed, but when it is rough it is better to run with both engines going dead slow. If you put a sea bag out both sides they slow you down. In rougher water the sea bags allow you to run with a higher rpm so the boat can compensate for direction changes quicker. So they can help. The bigger boats use them because they idle too fast even in calm water.

Regards, Mark
 
It depends on the auto pilot--what brand--and conditions. As Mark notes you have rough water, it is going to be difficult get a good course. The best pilot will have a rate gyro compass, and a real rudder feedback rather than virtual feedback as in the computer..

The plate basically slows the boat down, but actually makes the auto pilot work less effectively

There is another option, and that is to use the kicker (if you have one). and the Garmin TR1 Gold...auto polo for kicker.

Just bring lots of $$$$!
 
Don,t know what type of auto pilot you are using, but with our older Raymarine auto pilot we tie our 8hp kicker to the main and troll 1.5 to 2 mph all day in the strait of Juan DeFuca and unless it gets really rough or windy it works great. On ours there is a lot of settings as to how far the pilot will turn how fast it will react etc., etc. You might try looking at your manual and see if you can experiment with these settings. If the pilot isn't turning the rudder (In our case the the outboard motor) far enough or fast enough it may not work well at slow speeds. If your settings were entered by a dealer for cruising/planing speed purposes they might not be ideal for using it at slower trolling speeds. Ours also does have a rudder reference indicator. On ours there are settings as to what type of hull you have. Even though the C-Dory is a planing hull, ours is set on the displacement hull setting and it works great at 1.5 mph or 20mph.
The manual seems a little complicated at first, but once you go through the set up process a couple of times it is not too complicated.
If you do get the pilot to work for trolling, another great addition is a trollmaster remote throttle control for your kicker motor.
I have become totally spoiled with this set up for trolling. It makes fishing for Salmon very easy. The pilot computer went bad last summer and we really missed it while it was being repaired.
Good Luck!
 
Like the Doc said, you need a gyro compass. My guess if you're using a Raymarine AP that uses the GPS for maintaining the heading. That means you have to maintain a fast enough speed over ground (SOG) for the computer to make its calculations.

I have the Garmin GHC 10 AP that uses a gyro compass for heading. There is no minimum speed. It will try to maintain the heading even if you're stopped; which means remembering to disengage it when taking the kicker out of gear to fight a fish. :wink:
 
Thanks,I believe its a ray marine,next time on boat will check. I was thinking if drift bags slowed you down you would be pushing throttle up more rpms and it would work. If its actual speed im glad I didn't waste money,will look in to a kicker for trolling. Maybee a dingy outboard would work,then it would have a dual purpose? Doesn't seem like you need much H.P for 1 mile an hour? Any sugesstions on size or brand of outboard for this purpose? Would a Suzuki 2.5 be adequet,then I need to figure how to mount it what bracket ect, and remove for dingy use. Unless I should just get a bigger kicker and leave it mounted as a secondary motor to get in .
 
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