I’m a die-hard bass fisherman. I have been for over twenty years. During those twenty-plus years, I’ve learned a thing or two about a large variety of bass fishing gear, including trolling motors. Time spent on the water with so many different pieces of equipment means getting to see how they perform, day in and day out, in real-life situations.

When it comes to my trolling motor, I don’t compromise. I want an electric motor that will work every time I need it to… period. I want it to be dependable and durable. I don’t want to get on the water and find that the motor doesn’t work, or that it works for half the day and then quits on me. That doesn’t cut it in my book.I’ve owned a few different boats during the past 25 years and I’ve used both major brands of trolling motors…Minn Kota and Motorguide. The Motorguide motor came pre-installed, brand new, on a new boat that I had bought.

I wasn’t crazy about that fact, since I had always used Minn Kota trolling motors, but I wanted to give it a fair shot and see how it would perform and how durable it would be. On top of that, I had just laid out some serious cash for the boat, so the last thing I wanted to do was spend more money to buy another trolling motor.Fast forward a couple of years. The Motorguide was still working, but I wasn’t the happiest camper in the park.To begin with, the motor wasn’t variable speed. I was used to having variable speeds on my trolling motor.
It was the way to go, in my opinion, when it comes to speed control. Having to deal with only 5 speeds was a real pain, but I dealt with.The worst feature of the motor was the shaft. It was steel, not composite. This made the Motorguide very fragile because if I hit any underwater obstructions with it, there was a good chance that the shaft would bend and stay that way, rendering the motor useless.

So I made due with the Motorguide for a few years, knowing that I would eventually replace it with a Minn Kota. When that day came, I was a bass fisherman with a big smile on my face!So now you know that I prefer Minn Kota trolling motors over the Motorguides, let me tell you a little bit more about why.First off, any Minn Kota motors that I have had have been much quieter than the Motorguides. They run smoother and create less vibration.They also use a different style mounting bracket to attach the motor to the bow of the boat.

The Minn Kota bracket is designed to break away in the event that the motor hits a stump, rock or other object, and then pop right back into place when the stress is taken off.The shaft of the Minn Kota trolling motors is also leaps and bounds ahead of Motorguide in the fact that it’s made of a composite material that will flex when put under stress.

This means that you can hit an underwater object and the shaft will actually flex and snap right back to pin-straight when the pressure is removed. So there are no more bent shafts and no more damaged mounting brackets. This makes the Minn Kota a winner without ever comparing any of the other features.

As part of his bass boat setup, Curt prefers Minn Kota Trolling Motors because of their reliability and durability. Check them out http://www.ElectricTrollingMotors.comArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Curt_Snow

When buying a trolling motor it is important to examine all the aspects such as size, shaft length, power, props, bow or transom mount and what brand you want to buy. All of these factors have been outlined below.
Size

It would not be beneficial to you if you had an undersized trolling motor. Which size you will need is determined by a few different factors. For example, let’s look at a fiberglass boat and an aluminum boat that are the same size. If you have the fiberglass boat, you will probably need an electric motor with 60 pounds of thrust, as fiberglass boats are heavier than aluminum. An aluminum boat would probably only need 50 pounds of thrust.

You would also need to consider which type of fishing you will be doing. If you are fishing in a river with a strong current or in high winds you will want a bigger, stronger motor to help fight the current.
Shaft length

The length of the shaft on your electric motor is very important to consider. If it is too short, your propeller will be bouncing in and out of the water, which is extremely detrimental as it not only wrecks your motor, you also lose boat control. So even though a motor with a longer shaft is more difficult to lift, it is advantageous to have.

You also need to consider how high the bow of your boat will be above water. If it sits close to the water, a shorter shaft length is all that is necessary, but if it is going to sit high above the water, a longer shaft is necessary.

Power

The biggest decision to make concerning the power of your trolling motor is whether to get the 12 volt or the 24 volt. The difference between the two is the 12 volt uses one deep cycle battery and the 24 volt uses two. If it were me, I would choose the 24 volt model as it will last twice as long, which helps a lot especially if you are fishing in a tournament, you don’t want to lose power half way through.
Props

Trolling motor propellers come in two, three, or four blade models. If you are fishing deep, open water, a two blade propeller would probably be sufficient. Keep in mind though that this model does not do so well in weeded areas as the weeds will wrap around the blades and prevent them from turning. This will really disrupt your fishing day if you have to constantly untangle the motor from the weeds.

The solution would be to have a three or four blade propeller as it will eat right through the weeds. Nothing will slow you down with this propeller. Keep in mind that even though this type of propeller does not have the same power as a two blade propeller, you can fish anywhere you’d like and not get disrupted.

Bow Mount or Transom Mount