Any follow up to Trolling with a Yamaha?

[The_Owl]

First time poster, first time lurker even.

I’m located in western NoDak and I’ve got my mind reeling on a FSH Yamaha. Reason is, I currently own a (older) Lund Pro V and a recently inherited a pontoon. The more I look at the Yamaha 210 FSH I wonder of it couldn’t fit the bill of a fishing unit 70% of the time, and 30% cruiser/ski boat.

biggest question I have is, can you troll with it? If I ever actually pulled the trigger, I’d run a 112 volt electric motor up front. At 3,000 lbs, it’s not a real light boat. Does it track well? Were other posters able to find a happy medium running the engines in no wake and using a motor up front?

I mostly fish by myself. If I do have people with, its 90% of the time ONE other guy. I think just twice last year I had three of us out at the same time.

any freshwater guys that can chime in? Typical species targeted is Walleye

thanks!

Owl

 

[dgfreeze]

I'm quite interested in what replies you get on this also. While I've got a 23', my brother has contemplated bumping up from his 19' Malibu to a 21' FSH.

 

[jsg73]

I do not have any experience trying to fish from mine but I have fished out of our dedicated fishing boats a lot.

I would expect to really hate any Yamaha jet in a stiff breeze using an electric trolling motor to fish a bank. With no lower unit in the water and no real keel I would expect it to blow around like a john boat with no motor on the back.

As far as trolling, keeping the engines in synch might also be a bit of a pain even at really low trolling speeds. However, I bet you could keep a really consistent speed with a Hydrophase ridesteady (or similar system) installed.

 

[Julian]

I've done ocean trolling in my boat, but that is faster speeds and easier to maintain.

 

[Liveto99]

You can use the no wake mode for trolling at up to 5 mph and I just bump 1 throttle up when I want to throw faster.
trolled for hours yesterday it was great. End of day used light tackle and was able to back down on fish and follow them, great boat to troll alone in.

 

[Liveto99]

Back country also we don’t draft much and no prop to mess up the bottom.

 

[biffdotorg]

Coming from walleye fishing for decades in a Lund in Central MN, I can't imagine being able to troll a Yamaha. And I have tried this in two jetboats. It usually boils down to controlled drifts and not actual trolling.

Walleye trolling is many times measured in .5mph increments. So trolling at 5mph is many times only used when pulling cranks or down riggers. But usual max troll speed for walleyes is half that. If I was pulling riggers on Sakakawea, it may work.

As far as tracking, with no outboard as a rudder, this thing will be all over. A trolling motor would be required for sure, but keeping that stern in line may be difficult. I'm sorry, I grew up 15 miles from the Lund factory. So A pro-v, even 20 years old, in just about any configuration is a better walleye boat than any jet.

My best fishing from my previous jet was up North of Winnipeg on the Red River fishing Channel Cats. It involved anchoring, but still then, the current would make that stern swing like crazy, and stern anchors were out of the question when fighting 20-30lb cats. They went where they wanted to.

Good luck, but get out on one if you get the chance. I do believe Vallely is still a yamaha dealer. Good luck this season as well, open water is getting closer!

 

[YamahaKub]

I have done some trolling with the trolling motor only between 1mph and 4.5 mph. Works well. If back of the boat swings on you for some reason, you can always add a bit of drag by dropping the buckets into reverse. Eats a bit more power but will straighten the boat out if needed. I normally dont need it. Especially if you have a nicer trolling system that takes into account the heading of the boat.

 

[wahoowah]

I've got an 80lb, 24V Minn Kota on my 210 FSH sport. Works great for a slow troll even in the gulf. No wake mode also works great, caught plenty of kings that way. I've tried HST for wahoo once or twice, but so far they've remained elusive in the FSH. Probably more of a function of me being new to the area I fish and haven't figured it out yet than anything with the boat.

 

[JTrottaNY]

Trolling in my challenger 180 was a chore, usually consisted of idling forward with a drift sock dragging behind me to keep the booat around 2mph and also helped a little bit to keep it straight but you were constantly chasing the wheel. Rod holders on the tower worked nicely as outriggers.

I just moved up to a 242 LS and trolled with it for the first time last weekend. Setup with thrust vectors, it tracked much better than the SeaDoo and the boat was easily adjustable from 1.5 - 2.5 mph without a drift sock or any other add-ons. I am still working on rod holders but did see another one setup with holders on the front grab rails. Also might try to duplicate the plate for the table holder and see if I can build some type of rod holder to use off the rear table mount.

 

[Zwick1113]

We have a 2020 FSH Sport with a Motorguide 24v/80lb on the front. We can troll .5 to 2.5 without an issue. Also we are located in Minot.

 

[Miitch]

Trolling in my challenger 180 was a chore, usually consisted of idling forward with a drift sock dragging behind me to keep the booat around 2mph and also helped a little bit to keep it straight but you were constantly chasing the wheel. Rod holders on the tower worked nicely as outriggers.

What exactly is a drift sock?.. considering trolling with my challenger 180 and by the sounds of it, anything will help. Were in a pretty calm area of the lake, basically a giant harbor. But id like to spend more time fishing and less time adjusting the boat, which i understand might be wishful thinking in an 18 footer!

 

[JTrottaNY]

What exactly is a drift sock?.. considering trolling with my challenger 180 and by the sounds of it, anything will help. Were in a pretty calm area of the lake, basically a giant harbor. But id like to spend more time fishing and less time adjusting the boat, which i understand might be wishful thinking in an 18 footer!

Many options available from sporting goods stores, ebay or amazon... basically just a cone shaped bag that creates drag to slow the boat down. the "braking" effect from the rear helps to stabilize the boat a little bit but it will still wander pretty quickly if your not manning the steering at all times. In my experience it made it possible to troll with one person driving and another monitoring the rods. Still very difficult to do alone.

Amazon.com : drift sock

 

[JTrottaNY]

Pics attached

 

[washipdog]

Many options available from sporting goods stores, ebay or amazon... basically just a cone shaped bag that creates drag to slow the boat down. the "braking" effect from the rear helps to stabilize the boat a little bit but it will still wander pretty quickly if your not manning the steering at all times. In my experience it made it possible to troll with one person driving and another monitoring the rods. Still very difficult to do alone.

Amazon.com : drift sock

AKA a sea anchor

 

[washipdog]

I fished a King fish tournament last weekend which required slow speed trolling. I was able to maintain 1 knot in FWD and 2 knots with one click of the no wake mode.

 

[Clovisite23]

I fished a King fish tournament last weekend which required slow speed trolling. I was able to maintain 1 knot in FWD and 2 knots with one click of the no wake mode.

Many options available from sporting goods stores, ebay or amazon... basically just a cone shaped bag that creates drag to slow the boat down. the "braking" effect from the rear helps to stabilize the boat a little bit but it will still wander pretty quickly if your not manning the steering at all times. In my experience it made it possible to troll with one person driving and another monitoring the rods. Still very difficult to do alone.

Amazon.com : drift sock

I just got two drift socks and put them on the front of the boat, worked wonders and most time it when straight, didn’t need my hands and the wheel

 

[Dan B]

I was trolling Lake Erie using no wake mode in my XS 190. I set it in its second setting. Approx 3 mph. We slammed those walleyes! Caught a bunch of drum also.... lol I have cobra fins on so maneuvering at slow speeds was very responsive.

 

[HangOutdoors]

@Dan B Good looking fish, I can't wait to get out do that.

 

[Julian]

Never thought of using a drift anchor on the stern while trolling....we did some trolling in Bimini but at higher big fish speeds and that was easy. At lower speeds I was playing with running with one engine at higher rpm...or both at lower. Worked fine.

As for rod holders...I have 4 on my boat....two built in the gunnels and two on the tower. (Details in the 242x link in my signature)