That’s some 9,000 pounds of

boat (loaded 34 Yellowfin with boat (loaded 34 Yellowfin with

triple outboards) being held in triple outboards) being held in

place by a single electric motor place by a single electric motor

fed by three 12-volt batteries. fed by three 12-volt batteries.

DropYour Anchor – Forever?

Save your back, fill your box: GPS trolling motor brings push-button accuracy and convenience offshore. BY DAVID CONWAY

TTo the traditional bottom fishing approaches of anchoring and o the traditional bottom fishing approaches of anchoring and

drifting, add a new one: holding the spot with a high-powered drifting, add a new one: holding the spot with a high-powered

GPS-enabled trolling motor. The technology allows you to stay GPS-enabled trolling motor. The technology allows you to stay

at a nearly precise position offshore over bottom structure with at a nearly precise position offshore over bottom structure with

minimal variance due to wave and wind action, and it comes minimal variance due to wave and wind action, and it comes

with a host of conveniences and fishing advantages. with a host of conveniences and fishing advantages.

The longer shaft trolling motors now being made for bow-mounting on The longer shaft trolling motors now being made for bow-mounting on

big center consoles with high freeboards make the technique possible and big center consoles with high freeboards make the technique possible and

increasingly popular for offshore boats. increasingly popular for offshore boats.

4040 DECEMBER 2019 www.FLORIDASPORTSMAN.com DECEMBER 2019 www.FLORIDASPORTSMAN.com

“If you’re in anchor mode and you

get a big fish on, you hit ‘off’ and

then you go and you’re chasing the

fish immediately.”CAPT. ROB GORTA

41www.FLORIDASPORTSMAN.com DECEMBER 2019

Captain Ryan Van Fleet (with a

really big yellowtail!) added the

84-inch shaft Rhodan (below)

and now mostly keeps the con-

ventional anchor dry.

ANCHOR

42 DECEMBER 2019 www.FLORIDASPORTSMAN.com

GPS anchoring offshore won’t make your old anchor obsolete, but if you invest in the motor, you’ll be hefting that chain a lot less frequently. That’s something most guys won’t miss.

At first glance, that’s the greatest advantage to trolling motor anchoring. No more lifting, dropping and pulling the heavy anchors and chains required for deepwater bottom fishing. No more windlass woes and sketchy anchor ball pickups, either. For most guys, that would be enough of a reason to finally drop their anchors if they could, but there are a lot of subtle improvements to fishing with these motors.

Imagine—just imagine--no longer having to test and retest your drift against wind and the current before anchoring to fish a bottom wreck, rock pile or reef spot. The reality is, get-ting your boat in the right position to fish a spot on anchor properly sometimes can be not only frustrating, but difficult. Instead, you can simply press a button to get your boat in po-sition and if you don’t like the current flow over the spot, let the trolling motor move you over 10 feet to get it right, and press that button again.

Out of this convenience comes two huge fishing advan-tages to anchoring with trolling motors. You can now hold steady at a spot in deep waters where anchoring would not be practical, or even feasible. Drop a jig down directly over the outskirts of a wreck in 350 feet from a nearly stationary boat? Now you can, at the press of a button.

Fishing with my friend Capt. Ryan Van Fleet of Good Karma Charters in Tavernier I saw anoth-er impressive advantage. Van Fleet recently rigged up his 24 Sailfish with an 84-inch shaft Rhodan trolling motor, and it’s working like a charm on

his reef spots.“I can now line up on reef locations that might only be a

few feet by a few feet, but are packed with fish,” Van Fleet says. “I could never take the time to try to get into position on a spot like that before, but now I can fish all these spots which I’ve marked but not been able to get to,” he said. “For me, it’s a game changer. The amount of time I save, and time I save my charter fishing clients, is so valuable. I’ve trolling motor anchored in the middle of a school of dolphin and let the guys bail on the fish, and I also spot-lock over vermilion wrecks and drop baits right down instead of making drift af-ter drift. What a difference.”

GPS guided and wirelessly controlled, when you’re at your spot, touch the anchor button on the fob and the trolling mo-tor will automatically keep the bow of the boat within a few feet of the spot, in any depth of water, automatically compen-sating for wind, waves and current.

I saw it for myself when I fished with Van Fleet recently and had the best day of yellowtail fishing I’ve ever seen in the Keys, and that’s saying a lot. We easily limited out on over 25-inch yellowtail and threw back countless 20-inch keepers.

Minn Kota 36-volt

iPilot trolling

motor in Spot Lock

mode holding 21-

foot boat over reef

in 2-knot current.

“I can now line up on reef locations

that might be only a few feet by a

few feet, but are packed with fish.

I can fish spots which I’ve marked

but not been able to get to.”CAPT. RYAN VAN FLEET

43www.FLORIDASPORTSMAN.com DECEMBER 2019

We caught all of the flag yellowtail on the bottom with live baits—live, frisky pilchards that Van Fleet gets from his bait suppli-er. Is it possible that without a chain drag-ging on the sea floor the fish are less skittish and more aggressive? Or is it possible that many, many more big fish are holding on such small locations throughout the reefline,

pushed off more popular marks by the fair-ly steady fishing pressure on them? I don’t know, and Van Fleet does not speculate much on it, but we were both surprised by the impressive fishing we had. We fished a total of two small spots in close proximity to each other, and his Rhodan had a straight 9 hours of use that day.

“You’ve got to give it time on the charger back at the dock after every day,” Van Fleet said. “It’s usually about a 12-hour charge, and it’s ready at 6 a.m. the next day.”

Van Fleet also previously had a Seakeep-er 2.0 installed in his boat, which helps sta-bilize the boat and helps the Rhodan do its job. “I had the space for the Rhodan’s three batteries up in my bow already, so it all fit right in. It’s a three battery, 36-volt system. If the space wasn’t there, we’d have found

another location for the batteries. You also have to have a charger. Bottom line: We’re catching a lot more fish now because we’re more efficient with time.”

With a conventional anchor, during tide and current changes your boat will swing into a new position, often swinging you right off your own well-placed chum slick. With the GPS system, “if I need to move it takes me two minutes to move versus half an hour to pull and reset the anchor,” Van Fleet says.

Captain Jason Prieto, who fishes Tampa Bay and the Gulf for seatrout, redfish, tar-pon and snook among other species, has been using the Rhodan system for years.

“Just as Power Poles changed shallow water fishing, these GPS anchoring motors have changed bay and deep water fishing.

Rhodan HD GPS Anchor Trolling Motor 36VShaft Length: 84- and 72-inch models for larger vessels

Thrust Rating: 120 pounds

Memories Exclusively for Fishing Holes: 4

Memories for Routes and/or Fishing Holes: 8

Total Memory Locations: 12.

Instant “off” button if you need it while fighting a fish.

Battery meter allows the battery state of charge to be checked on the boat using the wireless fob.

�Lockable quick-release mount permits unit to be moved for safe-keeping or use on another boat.

MSRP $2,999, 84-inch shaft

Minn Kota Riptide Terrova87- and 72-inch shaft models for larger vessels

112 pounds of thrust

i-Pilot Link technology for networking on Minn Kota’s One-Boat Network

Stow-and-deploy level for easy use

Bluetooth compatibility with Minn Kota mobile app

Tracking and Spot-Lock features

Compatible with Humminbird SOLIX, newer HELIX and ONIX models

MSRP: $2,999, 87-inch shaft

ANCHOR

When not chasing snook on Tampa Bay, Capt.

Jason Prieto often fishes reefs and ledges with his

trolling motor, targeting snapper and grouper.

44 DECEMBER 2019 www.FLORIDASPORTSMAN.com

You can use them anywhere you would use a regular anchor.

“I use mine a lot in the summer for snap-per and grouper fishing in the bay, and in the winter for reef, wreck and ledge fishing in 12 to 30 feet,” Prieto says.

“In Tampa Bay we catch bait a lot of times around structure and I can use the trolling motor in anchor mode at a distance of three or four feet around seawalls and docks and I’ve never had a problem with it or the boat hitting anything.

“A neat feature is the jog feature. What-ever direction you want to jog, press the button and it automatically moves you five feet, that way. Saves a lot of time and labor. You can be bottom fishing and you literally will not see the boat move once it sets on its coordinates.”

Captain Rob Gorta, who guides out of Tampa Bay is also an early adopter of the trolling motor tech. His experience points out some additional facets for interested boaters.

“I’ve used it every day I’ve fished inshore and nearshore for 10 years now. On my own 22-foot Skeeter, I have a Deck Gear stool on my bow, and I stand on top of that and control the motor with the fob to scan for shallow water redfish and snook. Out deeper, if you’re on a 5-foot ledge between 40 and 45 you can put it at 42 on the ledge. It’s just incredible how accurate they are. The reason it’s really catching on right now is because the big boat guys are having so much success with it in deep water.

“There are so many ways it’s convenient. When I’m waiting for customers at the dock, I’ll hit anchor mode a bit away from the dock, not to take dock space, then I’ll motor up when I see them. If you’re in an-chor mode and you get a big fish on, you hit off and then you go and you’re chasing the fish immediately.

“Fish with somebody that has one,” Gorta encourages. “You have to see what it’s like.”

Meanwhile, down in Tavernier, Van Fleet of Good Karma Charter says, “I’m very much looking forward to this year’s kite fishing. I’ll be using the Rhodan to lock our position or to run tracks while I fly kites. It’s going to be fun.”

The GPS-anchoring trolling motors won’t make old school chain and hooks complete-ly obsolete. You’ll still need an anchor on board in case of emergency as a safety mea-sure. Otherwise, you might never need to use it again. FS

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45www.FLORIDASPORTSMAN.com DECEMBER 2019