Kicker or Bow Mount?

[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