Kicker or Bow Mount?

[Mossy]

If you bought a new boat, what would strap on 1st?  Seems a lot of people are going electric for trolling in the wind.

[PolarBear]

What are ya fishin' for?  My first reation would be a kicker.

[Dhoey07]

eastside or westside?

[Mossy]

steelhead, salmon trips once in awhile but mainly trolling lakes.  Bass fished a lot in my smaller boat.

[Mossy]

eastside or westside?

east side with maybe an annual trip to the westside

[Dhoey07]

How big is the boat?  Fishing steelhead at the snake/clearwater confluence i'd go with a good electric.  Fishing roosevlet for trout i would want a kicker in case my big motor took a $h1t on me.  Jigging for walleye i'd want an electric. 

If your big motor is really reliable, get an electric!

[Mossy]

18ft hewescraft sportsman with a 75hp Honda main.  Just having a hard time wrapping my mind around how much kickers are nowadays.  Eventually I'd like to have both.

[Button Nubbs]

Transom mount electric

[Camp David]

Start electric...get good batteries and keep them up to charge. You will know when you are ready for a kicker.

[lokidog]

From my experience back east, you have a lot more control when lake or river fishing with the motor in the front.  kind of like why a train engine usually pulls not pushes.  This is especially true with a bit of breeze.  If I was just slow trolling for walleye or trout, maybe a transom mount would be fine.  It is nice to have the hands-free functionality of a bow mount motor.

On both my 21' Trophy and my 19' Alumaweld, I can troll as slow or slower with the 15 hp or 9.9 hp kickers and it is a lot more comfortable sitting in the captains chair while steering.  It is nice to have that backup motor just in case, but on a lake, I personally would not worry about it.

[jordano]

steelhead, salmon trips once in awhile but mainly trolling lakes.  Bass fished a lot in my smaller boat.

if you are going to do more lake fishing and bass type fishing a solid 60 lb thrust Minn Kota will be awesome.. I think salt water/ Columbia River fishing would be better to get like a 9.9 Yamaha kicker... just depends on what kind of fishing you are going to do more is my opinion.. I fish in Eastern Washington for Spiny Rays a LOT or for trout.. don't fish salmon a whole lot or steelhead out of the boat.. so a bow mount electric is pretty awesome for me.. I feel it is the best way to control the boat..

[Mossy]

I'm leaning more toward a kicker. I know it's spendy off the bat but it's more of a piece of mind. Got a little tired of dealing with the batteries on my last boat.

[jeepster]

transom mount longshaft 8hp+ outboard..... no question about it. dont wanna rely on some whimpy electric to get you home if your main craps out and dont have a way to charge your batteries. an electric motor is only as good as your batteries and charging system. electrics are great for 12 foot aluminum boats on some pond..... but id never rely on one. thats just my thoughts................

[lokidog]

Those Yamaha high thrust 9.9's are awesome little engines.  They used to have an 8.  Of course there is nothing saying you can't put an electric on the front when you are river or lake fishing.  If you can afford a new boat, you should be able to afford both.....   

[Fish4Fun]

I would go with a kicker, it is also a back-up power source if any thing should ever happen to the main. More than once I have seen boats on the Lower Columbia get in on a kicker because the main died. I don't think they make the T-8 Yamaha any more, I think it was replaced by the T9.9 If I remember right the T-8 and the T-9.9 were the same engine block. Yamaha would be choice # 1 then a Honda would be # 2 for a 4-Stroke Kicker. As noted you can add the front elect later if it is needed. I have the T-8 on a 21' Weldcraft Inboard Sled and it works perfect.

[Bone_Collector]

I have had both on my boat a 26ft custom built open sled. I would personally go with the kicker because you can charge your battery up enough to start the main motor! I have done it while sitting on anchor down on the Big C (not a good Idea to leave the fish finder and tr1 on while sitting on anchor!)  I have the T-8 on my boat and I use it for trolling and jigging for walleye as well as drifting for steelhead and back tolling/trolling for salmon! The Yamaha motors are about the best in my opinion!

B_C

[Fishing Fool]

Hey Mossy, I'd have to concur with Bone C0llecter, the man knows this fishing game

[magnus100]

Bow mount electric is awesome and pulling into wind is much nicer than pushing. Way better control. Buy a 24 volt if you can and you will only run the motor at about 1/2 power and your batteries will last all day. With a 12 volt you have to run at higher rate and run your battery down quicker. I have a kicker and a bow mount on my 20 foot hews and the bow mount gets all the use. I also like the fact that when trolling it is almost silent.
Hope this helps,
Mike

[MIKEXRAY]

Depends on what you will do more,  sounds like lakes on the east side so I would go with the bow mount.  I have both & use the bow mount much more simply because we lake fish the east side much more than salt water salmon. The bow mount is perfect for the bass fishing discussed. Get a little bigger / nicer one and you won't be disappointed.  Mike

[DeerHarvester]

As others have stated, it really depends on what you plan on fishing the most.  Like you, I pieced my boat together when I had the money and found good deals on CL.  I bought my Bow mount Electric first, only because it was the first good deal I found.  It worked out well for me as I was able to start bass fishing right away.  If I was going to be fishing Big water I would have bought the kicker first.   

You should be able to troll for salmon with your 75hp no problem.  The big purchase I want now is the TR-1 gold.  I have a Yamaha T-8 I may be willing to sell, PM me if interested. 

[Mossy]

Just got home with my new kicker .  Brand new out of the crate and I got a heck of a deal.  Bowmount is still on the list.

[h20hunter]

Very nice.....mine is set up the same....power tilt...push button start...........very nice indeed.

[rasbo]

I can troll with my honda down to 3/4 mph its with quiet killer mileage,

[plugger]

I have both and use them at the same time quite a bit. If i'm running cranks we use the kicker for the speed and steer with the bow mount. same bucking the wind.  Reverse with the kicker to slow down if the wind is pushing you to fast, steer with the bow mount. Just the bow mount for slow trolls in good weather.  If your just fishing open water then a kicker is fine but if you are trolling structure you need a bow mount.

[Mossy]

Very nice.....mine is set up the same....power tilt...push button start...........very nice indeed.

Actually it's all manual, like I said, I couldn't pass up the price.  Electric was my plan but I have many other things to outfit the boat with so a little savings on the kicker helps me get there a little faster.

[Bone_Collector]

Looks good! Honda makes a good motor!

B_C

[WCTaxidermy]

Very nice Mossy.  Now get that Hewes out and get some fish blood on it...John