if yoou can afford a kicker go for the kicker i just purchased 9.9 pro kicker and i love it i can troll my boat at .8 i have thought about investing into a trollmaster.

 

I "had" the Cabela's trolling plate on my motor for a little bit. I was extremely hesitant on drilling holes in my motor. I went ahead and did it. It worked, but I was not impressed with it. I lost top end speed due to the drag of the plate. Then within a few weeks to a month, it cracked and I ended up sending it back to Cabela's. And I did not want a new one so I ended up with a few holes in my motor. I now have a kicker and love it. You can use the bags to troll with. I think they are a pain to use, but they work great. If you go with the bags, use them on both sides of your boat or you'll be fighting the steering a lot.

 

To slow your boat attach a 5 gallon bucket with a 3 or 4 foot rope to the side, this will get you down to 1.5 give or take.

 

I have a plate on my 22 ft 140. With the plate and trolling bags I can get my speed way down. You loose some steering control however at real slow speeds. I think the kicker motor is the best route but since my budget won't allow it, the bags and plate work great.

 

Good info here:

http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/showthread.php?t=62830&highlight=trolling+plates

And here:

http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/search.php?searchid=1359651

 

I just purchased 2 of the 18" bags from Amish Outfitters. I thought that they would really slow out 17.5' Tracker but we did not get the results that we were expecting. Slowest speed before the bags was 2.5 and after was 1.8. We were hoping that we could get down to 1.0. Not sure if we should send them back and go with another option or what, but just thought I would let you know to go bigger for your boat.

 

i use the happy troller plate from cabelas. it works very well ,almost too well for my 40 hp. i did end up customizing it a bit with a different set of holes so that the plate does not drop down all the way. all the way down gave me a speed of less than .05 mph.

 

had a trolling plate on1800 lund was2.3 2.5 before after 1.7 1.9 had to get mine beefed up from welder buddy that was with 115yamaha hope this helps

 

I just purchased 2 of the 18" bags from Amish Outfitters. I thought that they would really slow out 17.5' Tracker but we did not get the results that we were expecting. Slowest speed before the bags was 2.5 and after was 1.8. We were hoping that we could get down to 1.0. Not sure if we should send them back and go with another option or what, but just thought I would let you know to go bigger for your boat.

Barcelona - I had the same problem with the bags from Amish Outfitters. I contacted Frank and he gladly let me return the bags and get a larger size. If you contact him I'm sure he will work with you. He is yknotfrank on this site.

 

Don't go with trolling plate, my buddy had one on his 17 footer and it did basically nothing. If you don't want ot buy a kicker, go with the bags.