I love my Minn Kota V2 with iPilot. Of course, I can imagine a lot of ways to make it better, but we’ll save that for a future post. Recently, it came to me that it would be nice to record a track while running off the outboard motor, rather than the trolling motor. I searched the net for guidance from others who may have tried it, but came up empty handed. Well, worse than empty handed, because there were several who said that it couldn’t be done.
I decided to test this out for myself today, and discovered it is very possible and works well. Here is what I did:
1) Leave the trolling motor in stowed position.
2) Set the motor speed to 0, and turn the prop on. The prop won’t spin with a speed of 0.
3) Set the iPilot to record a track.
4) Fire up your outboard and go!
I recorded a track of approximately 1 mile in length running between 6 and 8 mph. My Minn Kota V2 will pull my boat at 3 mph without wind. In recording using your outboard, you can run at least twice that speed.
Playback worked just as well as recording while running off the trolling motor. What I’ve found is that it is a bit of a pain to try to fish while recording a track, because if you have to stop because you get a fish on the line, then you effectively end your recorded track.
I was pleased to discover this method of recording a track, because I can now record a track before I start fishing while running off of the outboard motor. I hope you find this post helpful, and happy fishing!