I'm not a troller, so my answer is without a lot of knowledge...however, it
seems to me that many trollers put "trolling plates" on their motors to SLOW
the boat down. The few times that I have trolled ( Alaska, etc.) we were
running at 2 or 3 mph. Seems to me, that the drag created by ANY tab system
would be beneficial?????
--
RichG manager, Carolina Skiff Owners Group on MSN
http://groups.msn.com/CarolinaSkiffOwners
..

"MikeG" wrote in message
ews.com...
Not having seen smart tabs anywhere before I looked them up on the web.
Sounds interesting but from the renditions they have of the units
showing how they work I have to wonder how much drag they would be
causing at trolling speeds since there isn't enough pressure to raise
them.



--
MikeG
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 05:07:09 GMT, "RichG"
wrote:

I'm not a troller, so my answer is without a lot of knowledge...however, it
seems to me that many trollers put "trolling plates" on their motors to SLOW
the boat down. The few times that I have trolled ( Alaska, etc.) we were
running at 2 or 3 mph. Seems to me, that the drag created by ANY tab system
would be beneficial?????

That's an interesting question.

If you are just trolling to scare up a fish, then yes. If you are
looking for a BIG fish, then you need to get close to structure and
here in New England, that means rocks - lots of rocks.

A trolling plate can cause you control problems - in particular in
strong currents or rips - oddly, that's where the big fish lurk. All
my big stripers and bluefish have been caught within 50/60 feet of
shore in and around rocks and rips. I'd rather have the ability to
maneuver than have it restricted with a trolling plate.

It's one problem that I have with the Ranger - I can't slow it down
enough at slack tide for the really big stripers. Normally, I can
work with the tides and rips to keep the speed down, but at other
times, it's impossible.

And, I know it sounds stupid, but 1/1.5 mph can make a difference.

Later,

Tom

In article ,
says...
If you are just trolling to scare up a fish, then yes. If you are
looking for a BIG fish, then you need to get close to structure and
here in New England, that means rocks - lots of rocks.




Big big rocks!


--
MikeG
Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote ...

A trolling plate can cause you control problems - in particular in
strong currents or rips - oddly, that's where the big fish lurk. All
my big stripers and bluefish have been caught within 50/60 feet of
shore in and around rocks and rips. I'd rather have the ability to
maneuver than have it restricted with a trolling plate.

It's one problem that I have with the Ranger - I can't slow it down
enough at slack tide for the really big stripers. Normally, I can
work with the tides and rips to keep the speed down, but at other
times, it's impossible.

And, I know it sounds stupid, but 1/1.5 mph can make a difference.

I expected to notice less control after installing a trolling plate on my 15hp
kicker but it didn't happen. I troll for salmon and like the big slow roll of
plug-cut herring at 1 to 1.5 mph. Even with the lowest pitch prop it was still
too fast so I tried a spring loaded trolling plate. It did the trick without
any control issues. The spring allows it to flip up with sufficient thrust from
the prop when faster maneuvering is required. It handles fine manually and on
the auto-pilot.

-rick-

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 20:26:06 -0800, "-rick-" wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote ...

A trolling plate can cause you control problems - in particular in
strong currents or rips - oddly, that's where the big fish lurk. All
my big stripers and bluefish have been caught within 50/60 feet of
shore in and around rocks and rips. I'd rather have the ability to
maneuver than have it restricted with a trolling plate.

It's one problem that I have with the Ranger - I can't slow it down
enough at slack tide for the really big stripers. Normally, I can
work with the tides and rips to keep the speed down, but at other
times, it's impossible.

And, I know it sounds stupid, but 1/1.5 mph can make a difference.

I expected to notice less control after installing a trolling plate on my 15hp
kicker but it didn't happen. I troll for salmon and like the big slow roll of
plug-cut herring at 1 to 1.5 mph. Even with the lowest pitch prop it was still
too fast so I tried a spring loaded trolling plate. It did the trick without
any control issues. The spring allows it to flip up with sufficient thrust from
the prop when faster maneuvering is required. It handles fine manually and on
the auto-pilot.

Hey rick- long time no hear - how's the evolution thing doing? :)

The one thing I haven't tried yet is the kicker. I'm kind of adverse
to hanging a motor off the stern of the Ranger, but it may come down
to that this year. I have a 25 horse Johnson on my Princecraft that
would be perfect for this application.

We'll see.

Later,

Tom