I have a 34' Wellcraft with twin inboards. I don't think you will be able to get a 31' boat down to 1 mph and maintain control. I think 1.8 is about the best you will be able to do in a boat that size. There is just too much surface area for the wind to catch. Perhaps others will chime in.

 

I had a 29 coastal with twin 250s it was near impossible to get that slow with any control, let alone the auto pilot keeping up. My opinion is bigger boats don't make good walleye trolling boats early and late in the year. I have a 33 coastal now and I don't like trolling with it any less then 2.0mps with both motors and trolling gears. Summer time fishing I can run one and it's fine. I bought a Small 19ft for slow trolling time of year. But the boat your buying now should work great in the summer trolling abit faster. As for a kicker i think you would be wasting money as you wouldn't have any control even at faster trolling speeds

 

Do you want to put all those extra run time hours on those big 300's trolling around all day?
I would rather put the hours on a "disposable" kicker instead of the big girls!

 

I have a 31' contender with twin 250's I can get it down to 1.4 mph with bags and one motor. Sometimes 1.2 if heading into a stiff breeze. Controlling the boat is not that big of a problem heading into the wind or keeping it astern. I have never had a problem catching fish in spring or fall because of going too fast. Don't believe all the hype about getting down below 1 mph. 1.4, 1.5 is plenty slow enough. No need for a kicker save the money and put it toward a good autopilot.

 

Autopilot AND the good gyro/compass makes a big difference. My older unit could not keep my Baha tracking straight under various conditions - would go into panic mode as blown off course. The SIMRAD unit I put in with their gyro/compass has no problem tracking straight in almost all conditions. Yes, if you troll with quartering waves hitting port bow AND try to use only port motor to troll, you are going to have a tough time tracking straight.

Remember that your trolling bag should be deployed on the same side as the one motor you are using to troll. twin motors act like a tracked vehicle and running only the port motor forward will push the boat to starboard, toss trolling bag on port side will help to reduce that push.

If we still can't get the speed down with one motor and trolling bag - don't be proud, toss the 2nd trolling bag out the other side of the boat. If that still does not work, change your trolling direction as you are likely running with current/wind and fish in the lake are like fish in the river - they want to feed looking upstream where the food comes to their mouth first and not their tail first. There is a reason they call it "belly up to the buffet" and not "back to the buffet"...

 

I have a 23 Regulator with twin F150's and troll all the time on one engine. With 2 bags out I can get down to 1.2 to 1.4. Adding the Garmin Reactor autopilot now. I agree with mkalink...take that money and put towards an autopilot.

 

I have a 31' contender with twin 250's I can get it down to 1.4 mph with bags and one motor. Sometimes 1.2 if heading into a stiff breeze. Controlling the boat is not that big of a problem heading into the wind or keeping it astern. I have never had a problem catching fish in spring or fall because of going too fast. Don't believe all the hype about getting down below 1 mph. 1.4, 1.5 is plenty slow enough. No need for a kicker save the money and put it toward a good autopilot.

I believe at least 90 percent of the early /late bite fishermen would feel handicapped by being stuck at a 1.4 minimum troll speed.

 

The proof is in the freezer.

 

And all of this is a waste of $$ if you are not checking the actual speed in the water column where fishing. Meaning you need to be running one of the in-the-water devices to check speed. I run the FishHawk for all trolling. GPS, surface, and down speed can vary greatly. The fish only care about the down speed as that is where they see the lure.

 

Let me add the down speed devises are much much more important from Cleveland east. Not nearly as crucial from Huron West.

The deeper water is much more susceptible to currents and longer drop lengths make reading rods tricky.

 

I can get my big motor down with two bags to 1.3-1.5 no issue I would troll a big motor with an auto pilot and not think twice tourney style boats can just troll on a terrova which is there style I get that every boat is different do what you can with your boat and you will be fine !!!

 

On a boat with twin 300 4 stroke outboards skip the kicker motor. Spend the money on the best autopilot from whatever your electronics brand preference is and go catch some fish.

Just buy several size bags to accommodate different desired speeds and wind / wave conditions. You will want to bag the boat down a bit slower than you intend to fish and use your digital controls to adjust RPMs up to desired speed. You will be able to bag the boat down as slow as you want. Depending on wind / waves you may decide it better to fish a little faster to maintain steering control. On twin outboard powered boats like the Scarab Sport the outboards are MUCH closer to each other and the centerline of the boat than with inboards so you will find in most situations you will end up running a bag on both sides of the boat and you will have better steering control. If you buy 3 pairs of Amish Outfitters Beefy Bags from Frank Kittrick in the 28", 36", 48" sizes and spend a half hour one time rigging up the lines for each so all you have to do is cleat them off and can switch out bags easily based on desired speed / wind / waves you will be all set.

Enjoy the Wellcraft... but if you decide you would rather have a Grady White or Pursuit get in touch! Steve Carlson

 

I run a Grady White Gulfstream 232. Probably at least 6,000 lb outfit fully rigged. The boat is equipped with twin 200 I-4's. Like Steve commented, I run two sets of bags depending on the conditions and speed I try to target. I believe they are 21" and 36". I have no problem getting to the 1 to 1.2 target in the spring. The Garmin autopilot does well at this low speed as long as I am going with the wind.

 

Captain Mike, which set of bags do you use the most? Just picked up a 25' walk around with twin 200's and would like to to give a set of bags a try.

 

the Amish outfitter guys (in past anyway) would suggest a bag size and allow you to swap out if that turns out to be wrong bag for you...

 

Great advise from Steve. I ran a 621 Ranger in tournaments one yr without a kicker, but with a full blown below the deck autopilot, had 3 sets of rigged bags, and had no worries. Take time to have the bags ready to go so you can switch them quickly and easily.