Some of you may have seen a few of my posts earlier regarding boat size, style, etc. I apologize for all the questions but this place seems to be the best resource to get all of my questions answered. You guys are always very helpful. Anyway, I'll be fishing Tawakoni and am just about to buy a boat. It's used but "naked". The previous owner took all trolling motors and electronics. At first, I was disappointed. However, after a little research on the trolling motors, I think it'll be cool to be able to get exactly what I want. I am buying a 17' aluminum deep v boat that I'll be using primarily for sand bass/hybrids/stripers but occasionally for bass and crappie. Please give me recommendations on trolling motors and electronics. I've done some research and the Minn Kota Terrova (w/ I pilot) appears to be the trolling motor for me. I hear I need 80 lbs/24 volt, not the 55 that most new boats come with. Does this sound right? How long a shaft do you recommend? As far as electronics, I'm way behind the curve here. I'm still impressed with a depth finder. That said, I know that there are some amazing new graphs that do so much more. I'm a little "tech-mentally challenged" so keep that in mind before recommending something I'll never be able to operate. I think that the one thing I do know is that I want a screen on the bow with me and the trolling motor as well as one next to the steering wheel. Other than that, I have no opinions. Please give me your advice as well as an idea what this stuff costs (I've researched trolling motor costs so I have an idea what to expect on those, but no clue where to begin on the fish finder stuff). As always, thanks for your input. If not for you guys, I'd be in trouble.

Matt

You might ask previos owner what length troll motor shaft he had on there and if it was long enough in the wind, it varies greatly from boat to boat. Also many of the new trolling motors will link to fish finder/graphs but only certain brands to each other so be sure to check that out also.

I would definitely get one of the newer motors with Ipilot or the MG Xi5 for the spot lock since you will be going after scholling fish primarily. For sure 80 lbs plus!

Hey Skippy, you may have bought our house but if your going to sandbass and hybrid fish i recommend the best trolling motor you can buy and the best electronics

ipilot for sure, and i would get side imaging. First thing you need to do is learn the lake there are tons of stumps out there that will sink that brand new boat if your not carefull.

Hire a guide and get as much info as you can it does help

Biggest thing to be honest.


Dont go waste 10k on trolling motor and electronics until you know how to fish the lake without them

Cause if you dont you find yourself driving all over the lake and staring at your screen and catching 0 fish

Trust me

What ever you buy contact David at Shut Up And Fish. He is on the forum and can beat anyone's price for electronics and trolling motors. What lake would you consider your home lake?

17' aluminum boat? I'd say a 24v MinnKota power drive 70 would be fine. Anything bigger would be 36v and youd have to add another battery. As far as graphs, Humminbirds probably have the easiest learning curve (my opinion only). There are tons of good used 898/998/1198(9)'s posted on the for sale forums daily. I wouldn't hesitate to by a used trolling motor or graph as you could save mucho dollars. I bought my riptideST (whiteterrova) powerdrive trolling motor from a member here for half what it cost new and its still kicking. I bought my T-top on my boat from a member here as well and saved like 2grand from new. They both came from guides on that lake (Twakoni).

If you're going to be fishing Tawakoni out of a 17ft. Aluminum boat you won't be fishing much on windy days so keep that in mind when you start buying electronics and trolling motors. Don't know if you've priced a I-pilot or any of the better graphs but you can drop a bundle real quick. I'm using a lowrance Elite7 TI w- a Navionics chip and a Minnekota Maxxum 65lb trolling motor on a Skeeter ZX190 and both are working great with or without the wind. You get out on the lake with a steady 15mph south wind on Tawakoni and you'll be hunting for a cove on the south shore real quick in a 17ft. boat. JMO but one through experience.

Skippy,

I just took an 998 SI and 859 DI off my boat and put on Helix 10's. I'm going to be selling both the 998 and 859 if you are interested, PM me. I haven't posted them for sale anywhere yet, but intend to. Both are in great working condition and should meet your needs for electronics.

I am using a 80# 60" trolling motor on my 17' bass tracker and it has worked great for the last 4 years. Gone out in some stiff winds and the motor has held I great, plenty of power. If you are thinking about a Minn Kota with I pilot wait for the new edition to come out this fall. The anchor feature is supported to be a lot better with the incorporation of the heading sensor GPS puck.

I used a 17' aluminum deep v boat for about 10 years with no complaints. It handled great in the wind. It is important to learn how to handle any boat properly. A boating safety course would be a great benefit for a novice boater or experienced boater in my opinion.

If your budget allows, I suggest a system where the trolling motor is connected to the graph, such as Ipilot-Link and Humminbird, and at a minimum should get an Ipilot or Xi5 trolling motor. Letting the trolling motor do all the work will give you a lot more time to focus on fishing, instead of positioning the boat. The trolling motors with GPS are operated with a remote control, so now there is not that as much for a bow graph since you don't need to stand there to operate the trolling motor.

The FishTrax fish finder is a good entry-level device that doesn't cost a lot. As you get better at fishing that lake, it'll become even more useful. Pretty easy to use.

http://www.hawkeyeelectronics.com sells them.

I've used about every trolling motor and graph on the market and Just switched from Minnkota to Motor guides Xi5. Before you buy a motor get a demo on the motor, The Terrova is impressive but the Xi5 makes it look silly. The new Minnkota will not be out for 5-6 months and is supposed to cost about $2,200. compared to Xi5's $1,400. I use Lowrance electronics and the motor will link with it but that's a feature you reall don't need. I haven't even connected mine. If you would like a demo, call me and I will take you out for a bit.

I have a Lowrance HDS 12 Gen 3 at the console and an HDS 9 Gen 3 on the bow. The units communicate with each other and share the same way points so if you mark fish with a waypoint at the console you can see the same waypoint on the bow. Both units also come with structurescan built in...but you have to buy the LSS2 transducer for the transom and HDI transducer for the bow/trolling motor. The HDI transducer will only give you down imaging...no side imaging. For side imaging use the console HDS with the LSS2. I also have a MG Xi5 with a "gateway" device. Not only do you get ipilot features such as spot/anchor lock, but the gateway allows you to touch the fish on the screen and the trolling motor will take you to them and then anchor you over them. For shaft length, measure the length from the bow to the water line. You want the shaft to go low enough that on windy days the trolling motor does not come out of the water when the bow raises and lowers from wave action.

Here is the gateway in action:

Gateway

Skippy: I went through the same process as you recently and here's what I did.

Switched from MinnKota to Motorguide's Xi5 after fishing with a friend for months who had one and knew how to use it. I could not believe my eyes regarding how well it held to the structure. When fishing for crappie - the structure is the key to catching lots of them. So, I contacted David at shut-up-and-fish and got a great price for the new Xi5 - with the PinpointGPS feature, and internal 2D sonar transducer, and with the Motorguide quick-release aluminum base. I went with the 45 inch shaft as I did not want to use up more space on my deck with the longer shafts. 45 inch is long enough for me to have a foot or more of water above the propeller when the motor is deployed. I did switch from 12V to 24 volt and went with the 80lb thrust (old motor was MK 55#). I already had Lowrance on my boat, but did have to upgrade one unit as it was a Gen1 unit that is NOT fully compatable with the Xi5 - if you want to network them. The Gen1 unit did display all the info regarding Anchoring - but I could not control the Xi5 from it. But - as Ernest Paty said above - you do not need to connect the Xi5 to the graphs to get the great Anchor feature to work. It does great without it and you save the cost of the MotorGuide Gateway, and the cost of the NEMA2000 backbone!

Anyway - good luck with the education/search/journey in deciding what to do!