Wave Tamer twin bag trolling system?

[tommyk]

Does anyone have any experience with this two bag system that runs 2-30"s or 2-40"s under the boat? Forward I am in the 3.0-3.3 mph range. Would either of these sizes be able to cut my speed in half? It seems this system is used for forward trolling, any reason why it would not work backtrolling if it could not cut my forward speed down enough? I do currently backtroll but still want to drop about .5 mph if needed.

[CFRay]

I use two 30" bags from the forward cleats. My Yamaha 115 does not troll slow enough in all conditions. To slow up I drape the bag set up under the boat and it does slow me down to an acceptable speed, 1.0 to 1.5. I troll forward with this set up. Walk-Thru windshield type boat.

Good Luck.

[tommyk]

CF,

What speed are you at without the bags? Did you mean that you now troll at 1-1.5 mph or the bags slowed you down by that much? Thanks for the input.

[Mille Lacs Guy]

The only way to go on trolling bags is with Amish Outfitters. Notice I didn't say drift socks, most guys are using drift socks for trolling bags and they seldom hold up after 2 or 3 years of hard use.

I use two 18" Amish outfitter bags to slow my 150 four stroke down and they work great. They bags come from the great lakes and all the charter captains out there use them. Do a google search and you will find them. Also, you probably don't need 2 30" bags, smaller ones will work.

[tommyk]

Mille Lacs Guy,

Thanks for the heads up on another product. Very reasonably priced too! How slow are you able to get down to going forward?

[hanson]

Tommy-

At the Appledoorn's Get-Together on Mille Lacs, Tony Roach gave us a little seminar and he touched on this trolling system as well. He had plenty of praise for its effectiveness.

I'm sure you know how its rigged since you are asking but if there are others wondering-

You run a length of rope (anchor line) from one side bow cleat under the boat to the other side bow cleat. 18 inches each side of the keel is where you attach the drift sock. You could tie in a loop, a carabiner clip, or something to attach the drift socks to. Then run an 18"-24" sock on each side under the boat. You obvioulsy rig this all up on land and once on the water, you attache one side to the cleat, walk the rig around the bow and tie it off to the other side. Good to go!

Besides slowing you down, it apparently stabilizes the bow of the boat big time as well. Less bouncing around in the waves and more going through the waves.

Anyways... its on my list of things to do. I can't slow my boat down past 1.7mph so I need to do something and this is what I was going to try. After looking at the price of those Amish bags, that may just be what I go with. I don't do a ton of trolling so I don't really want to spend a ton on this rig either.

Wish I could tell you how much it will slow you down but I don't know.

[tommyk]

Mille Lacs Guy,

I took a look back at some of your previous posts to see if you talked more about these Amish bags. I saw that you ran a 90hp E-Tec at one time. I am running the same motor on a Tuffy 1700 Osprey. The post of yours that caugth my eye was regarding your E-Tec and having the dealer adjust the RPMs so you were able to get down to a crawl. Does this adjustment take away from the WOT RPMs? A little off the topic, but what was your E-Tec set up (mount height, prop, WOT RPMs, top speed with avg. load)? I have a 17 pitch alum. prop and get 37 mph at 5000 RPMs with just myself, fuel, and batteries. Have read guys with heavier boats/loads getting 35+mph with same hp?

[Northlander]

Mil Lacs I cant find them. Can ya e-mail me the contact info please. I have been looking for 2 smaller bags to put off the front when trolling on Lake Superior and other inland lakes around here. Just cant get the 115 down enough on those no wind days.

[Mille Lacs Guy]

Having your dealer turn the RPMs down will not affect your top end RPMs. I ran the 90 Etec on a 1890 Warrior tiller and got about 35 mph or so depending on load and conditions. I don't have the boat anymore but I think I got about 5200 RPM or so and I believe the suggested range was 5000 to 5500. I don't know how high it was mounted or in what hole. If I had it really loaded down I got about 34. I ran a 17p stainless Evinrude/Johnson prop. I believe it is a Viper prop. 3 blades.

On my 150 I can troll about 2.4 or 2.5 without the trolling bags. I can troll down to about 1.1 to 1.3 with the bags. Slow enough to troll leadcore slow and even spinners.

These bags are very heavy duty and are hand made. A lot better made then most comparable products that I've seen.

[CFRay]

The speed I can achieve when using the bags is 1.0-1.5. I could not get below 2.0 without the bags on my boat.

[tommyk]

Thanks for all of the input guys. I think I am going to start by having the RPMs adjusted and see where that puts me. Maybe won't have to mess with trolling bags after all! If I do it looks like the Amish bags are the way to go.

[hanson]

Thanks for the input guys!

Sounds like a couple 18 inchers should be able to slow my boat to a crawl.

[Hookmaster]

Northlander,

Google "buggy bags sea anchors".

[b1gf1sh1]

if your looking to get down to trolling speed the best thing to get is a ''trolling plate''. it flaps a plate over your prop to restrict flow. cabela's has the best one out there IMHO. it has a super strong dual spring that makes it automatic with no pullstrings or shear pins and also doubles as a planer. i can get my 18 1/2 foot alumacraft with my 135 down to less than 2mph with new plugs and about 2 with aged ones under no wind conditions and less into wind, mabe 1.5 . get consistant .8 mph with a tamer drift sock and the plate into wind even less. for ease of use a plate is the only way to go. automatic is recommended because shear pins aint cheap and it's easy to forget you have it down and one little goose and trolling stops till you fix it.it's cabela's name brand, had it three years with no problems. pretty sturdy.gl

[tommyk]

MilleLacsGuy

I forgot to mention that I took the boat into an E-Tec dealer shortly after your input on the situation and had the RPMs adjusted. They were originally at the factory setting of 700, they are now down to 500 in gear. Can get down to 1.5 backtrolling and bit over 2.0 going forward. Thanks for giving me a heads up on that!

[hanson]

Back to the drift sock/trolling bag idea...

Trolled Mille Lacs Saturday night and borrowed a buddy's Drift Control sock. He had a big one, I believe it was a 48". It was either this option or nothing.

That drift sock can darn near stop my boat (16' w/ a 60hp) at my lowest forward throttle position. Went from 1.8 with no sock to 0.0 to 0.2 with the sock. Had to throttle up a little and could run 0.4 to 0.8 fairly easily all night.

The big problem was boat control. With a sock that big in the wind and waves, the boat wanted to pivot about the center. Was a real big problem trolling a straight line crosswind with the sock under the boat.

Sooo... the learning and experimentation process continues.