For the past two days I have been salmon fishing in the Strait of Juan de Fuca searching for salmon. On Friday, while fishing The Winter Hole out of Port Angeles, I counted 20 boats trolling with their main 4-stroke outboard. Their little “kicker” motors sat on the transom, tilted up and very lonely. Later in the day, I did see three trollers using their trolling motors and each had old two-stroke engines.

Question: If you have a four stroke outboard as your main engine do you use it to troll with or your trolling motor?

I must confess, I have been using my 70 hp Yamaha to troll with because it is just so quiet, efficient and easy. Today, however, I ran a good distance searching for salmon and ran low on fuel. Had I not started with half a tank I’m sure I would have used my “big” motor to troll with. Instead, my little four stroke 8 hp Yamaha went into service. A new steering connector rod made it easy, but throttle control still had to be adjusted frequently, requiring me to go from the helm to the transom to make the adjustment.