Great Lakes Salmon trollers- twin drives

[True North]

my current boat only has a single drive. Considering upgrading in the future to a larger boat, most likely will have twin drives. When larger boats with twin drives are out trolling for salmon/steelhead, do you typically just run one motor or still run both? Is there any advantage/disadvantage to running with just one vs. both? I would think fuel, but I know speed can be critical at times, and I don't know how hard it is to operate a twin with only 1 side running???

Thanks.

 

[worzy1014]

Trolling with one drive is necessary to get down to a slow enough speed and to keep gas consumption low enough. I always troll with one motor and it works very well. While trolling in my 300, the boat doesn't use anymore fuel than my 245 does with a single 260 merc. I alternate motors every trip to keep fuel tanks and hours even. Go with the twins, they're great for added security and extra power to push through rough seas.

 

[Gary Hill]

We fish Lake Michigan with our 40DA. We always keep both engines in gear. This helps with stability during the troll. A charter boat captain friend of mine told me a long time ago that "the troll is everything". So we keep them in gear and run trolling bags on each side. You can see the starboard bag in this pic:

The trolling bag is not in the water at this point and you can see it laying on the starboard gunwale. When running one engine the stability, especially when using auto pilot, can be challenging in any conditions beyond "calm to glass". The currents out there combined with winds can sometimes make it impossible to keep the gear running correctly. Of course all boats are different and gas $$$$ trump a lot of things. I find that when we are trolling that our gas consumption is so much less than normal running that I'm pleased with it.

I hope this helps.
Gary

 

[Gunn]

That sure is a fast troll, no wonder you have to run both engines. :smt001 Beautiful boat.

When I troll for rockfish or bluefish I usually use only one engine and alternate which one I use to keep the hours the same. However only one engine has the power steering pump, so it takes a lot more effort to control when using the other engine. Going as slow as I need to (between 3 and 6 knots depending on fish), I sometimes couldn't run both even if I wanted to.

I guess it just depends on what you're after and where you are fishing.

 

[Gary Hill]

Really, 3 to 6 knots. We seldom hit 3. We probably average 2.6. Slower here on the lake I guess.

 

[Creekwood]

Its hard on my 330 to troll down low enough, even with one engine. For Great Lakes salmon you want from 2.5 mph to about 3mph. With two engines in gear I idle about 3.5 to 4. Too fast. I have heard that trolling with one off can overheat the shaft packing on the side that is spinning in neutral so I switch back and forth. I am not sure if its a big issue at idle speeds, but who knows.

If its windy its a real pain controlling the boat with one engine and vDrives/rudders. In that case, I leave both idling and bump one or the other into gear to keep it straight.

 

[1956olds]

I usually troll with one,its a job in 1-2 ft chop and wind.If i troll with the wind behind it is easier but i have to use 1-2 bags to slow me to 1.9-2.3 for walleye.

 

[Gunn]

Really, 3 to 6 knots. We seldom hit 3. We probably average 2.6. Slower here on the lake I guess.

For rockfish (stripers, striped bass) it's about a 3 knot troll. For bluefish, it's about 5.5 knots. And for Spanish Mackerel, it's about 6 knots... :smt001 That is what we troll for in Chesapeake Bay.

 

[worzy1014]

Keep in mind that he said twin drives, many of you are responding with information about your v drives or straight shafts which are different animals. On my 300 with alpha drives, I have no problem getting down to my slowest trolling speed of 1.8mph. I have a power steering pump on only one motor and don't have any issues with steering due to the fact that I have hydraulic steering with autopilot. Cable steered boats will have more trouble when running the motor without the power steering pump.

 

[nauti-me]

I always run my Amberjack on one engine while trolling. Handles just fine. I switch around from one side to another to try and keep hours and fuel levels equal. Mine has mechanical cable with power steering assist so only one side is power steering but the non power steering is stiff but still no problem at trolling speeds. This is in calm conditions of course. If the wind and waves pick up I run both and bump one in and out of gear depending on direction.
Cheers...Jake

 

[play dough]

One motor in calm conditions, two when I need a bit more control. Tabs down with two motors at idle is about 2.5mph on my sub-troll or just a touch less. On those glassy mornings, I'll run the port motor without the power assist and use the starboard motor when a little more steering activity may be needed. Either way, there's no big deal with the operation. One motor operation requires about 800 - 900 rpm to get 2.75 to 3.0mph on the sub-troll with my 17" pitch props. My Raytheon ST5000+ electro-mechanical autopilot doesn't like the one motor operation too much. It struggles a little with maintaining course. That's my only negative to running on one motor. I had the starboard ignition switch fail a month ago and motored in from 8 miles out of Ludington on the port motor. That's a challenge. Very heavy steering but was able to move along about 10mph without too much issue. That's the beauty of twin motors. There's usually a spare available when something goes wrong to get you back to port.

 

[boltman]

Twin 700 hp MANS Diesels, both shaft drives and both engaged, I have trolling valves and I can trol down to .8 MPH, We use Autopilot when we can, but the wife was having issues with it on a north wild last weekend, kept knocking her off course on a North troll, But with my 320 we had, one engine only, running twins was to fast of a troll. Love the trolling valves though on this monster, just had them installed last summer, without them, the boat trolled at 10 knots...one engine engaged....!!!

 

[Creekwood]

Twin 700 hp MANS Diesels, both shaft drives and both engaged, I have trolling valves and I can trol down to .8 MPH, We use Autopilot when we can, but the wife was having issues with it on a north wild last weekend, kept knocking her off course on a North troll, But with my 320 we had, one engine only, running twins was to fast of a troll. Love the trolling valves though on this monster, just had them installed last summer, without them, the boat trolled at 10 knots...one engine engaged....!!!

And I thought my 330 was overkill for a Great Lakes fishing boat!