Erie Dreamz FISHING

Electric Trolling Tips For Big Pickerel

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Using these electric trolling motor tips to catch big pickerel will give you some great memories while on the water.  Let's dive in and look at a few situations where using the electric trolling bow mount motor will make you a better troller.

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The first situation happens in shallow water.  Big pickerel will be spooked by the noise of a kicker engine running 2 or 3 feet over their heads when you're trolling skinny water.  Keep that gas motor shut off and use the bow mount electric to silently slip spinners or crank baits along a prime rocky shoreline.  Daytime is good on the stained lakes in spring. 

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But this tactic is deadly at night on your clearer classic natural lakes.

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You will also catch more fish if you use the electric to pull cranks or spinners over the tops of weeds in the summer time.  These lakes are clearer watered and heavy recreational boat traffic can really put these fish down.  Combining the use of the electric trolling motor along with planer boards will really increase your percentages for swimming baits over weed tops.

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Moving out a bit deeper and changing lakes types.  Now we are fishing a reservoir with busy contours and those pickerel are hugging the 15 foot edge.  Get the gas kicker moving you along just a few tenths shy of the speed you want to maintain.  Now, use the electric trolling motor to fine tune your speed and steer the boat.  By using a remote control like a co-pilot system you will be able to absolutely stick to any contour on the lake.  The kicker is the main power source, but the bow mount electric trolling motor will push the bow instantly giving you unparalleled steering control.

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Some anglers simply don't have money in the budget to purchase a gasoline kicker engine.  Or many anglers fish smaller pickerel lakes where large waves and wind aren't very common.  In these cases it can be very effective and peaceful to pull cranks around the lake using the bow mount electric trolling motor.  You obviously will not be in a large walleye boat so a 24 volt system will give you ample power for pulling cranks around a lake for long periods of time. 

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Steering is snap if you have a console boat.  Simply keep the main engine shut off, and steer using the main motor's skeg as a rudder.  This will avoid the sometimes constant adjustments that need to be made by trolling in a fairly straight line.  You'll also find it advantageous while using the bow mount electric motor for trolling, to keep your passes downwind.