Table of Contents hide
1 Choosing a motor
2 Bow or Stern?
3 Powering the Motor

The cat is out of the bag. The dam burst. The train has left the station. Motorized kayaks are a part of the sport and there’s no going back. Turns out, effortlessly zooming to a distant fishing destination in a small plastic boat is simple, safe and more fun. Rigging a trolling motor is the least expensive and easiest way to go moto. And, maneuvering like a champ, a trolling motor will get the boat into and out of the tightest jam. There are a lot of reasons to motorize a kayak and a few key decisions to make before getting started.

3 Questions to Answer Before Installing a Kayak Trolling Motor

1 Choosing a motor

Derek Brundle, a tournament angler on the NuCanoe pro staff, fell in love at first sight when he was fishing a small boat tournament and saw a kayak with a trolling motor. “I was blown away by the maneuverability,” he remembers. Brundle put together a NuCanoe Pursuit with a MotorGuide Xi3 motor and he was off to the races.

Brundle recalls the early days: “I used a regular trolling motor and cut the shaft so it would fit my kayak.” Today, trolling motors with a 36-inch shaft are a perfect fit on a kayak. Aftermarket mounting bases and quick-release mechanisms are available for the most popular kayak and motor models. “This makes installation so much easier and safer,” Brundle says.

man fishes from a kayak with a trolling motor installed
Wake me up when we get there. | Feature photo: Kerry Peeler

The game changer is the remote-controlled, GPS-connected brain of the motor. Brundle controls his trolling motor with a remote on a lanyard around his neck. He says, “The precise boat control I get is unmatched and it really is a huge factor in my success.”

Anglers can save a few dollars with a tiller or foot-pedal-controlled model. These systems add a few installation steps and aren’t as convenient as the handheld remote. Sacrificing a little convenience can save some dough; tiller-drive trolling motors are available for around $100 and install in minutes.

[ Kayak Angler Buyer’s Guide: View all kayak motors ]

2 Bow or Stern?

Mounting the motor on the bow allows precise control of the kayak. Placing the motor in the stern is more efficient for straight-line courses. Derek Brundle mounted his trolling motor on the bow. “I stand and fish all day, so having a MotorGuide Xi3 mounted on the front is definitely the way to go.”

Kerry Peeler, manager at OEX San Diego, has installed trolling motors on nearly every type of kayak. He explains the bow-mount motor’s biggest advantage is the GPS-enabled virtual anchor. The angler pushes a button on the remote and the GPS-controlled motor rotates to hold the kayak in one position. “I can really concentrate on executing my fishing technique without worrying about anchoring,” Kerry says.

While a bow-mount trolling motor is more maneuverable, it is a little slower than a stern-mounted electric outboard. “I see a speed range from 3.7 to five miles per hour,” Kerry says. The slower speeds are due to two factors, Kerry says, “A 12-volt motor only provides a maximum 55 pounds of thrust and the bow-mount motor pulls the kayak which isn’t as efficient as pushing the boat with a stern-mount motor.”

Kerry says weight is another big factor. “Not all kayaks can handle the extra weight of the entire bow-mount motor system.” To handle a 40-pound motor and mount along with a 30-pound battery, the kayak must have the capacity to support the system, tackle, gear and angler.

a NuCanoe fishing kayak sits at water's edge on a pebbly beach with a bow-mounted trolling motor installed
Bow-mounted for maneuverability. | Photo: Derek Brundle

3 Powering the Motor

As important as choosing the motor is picking the right battery. To run all day, Kerry says a trolling motor requires a minimum of a 12-volt 100-amp-hour lithium battery.

Dual trolling motors mounted on a kayak. Mounting Dual Trolling Motors To A Kayak (Video)

In his kayak, Kerry runs an FPV 110-amp-hour battery and a smaller 3 FPV 17.5-amp-hour battery inside a Group 27 battery box. The two batteries power Kerry’s trolling motor and Garmin LiveScope Plus fish finder system. He attests, “I have run this setup for 14 hours and only used about half the charge.”

This system works great but it isn’t for everyone. Kerry says, “If you don’t plan on fishing all day or covering a long distance, you can get away with a less powerful battery to save weight and money.”

Kerry and Derek Brundle agree, the first step in adding a trolling motor is thinking about how the boat is used. Whether you’re looking for a little kick to get to the fishing grounds or position the kayak while fishing, there is an easy and safe way to add a trolling motor to your kayak.

Cover of Kayak Angler Magazine Issue 50, Fall 2023This article was first published in the Fall 2023 issue of Kayak Angler Magazine. Subscribe to Kayak Angler Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.

Wake me up when we get there. | Feature photo: Kerry Peeler

 

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Ric Burnley
Kayak Angler editor Ric Burnley has been kayak fishing since the dawn of the sport. In 2007, Burnley wrote The Complete Kayak Fisherman, with chapters on how-to make a PVC rod holder and glue a fish finder transducer to the hull. In 2013, he landed his dream job as editor of Kayak Angler magazine. Burnley is a regular contributor to Salt Water Sportsman, Sport Fishing, Outdoor Life, In the Bite and other print and online publications. Burnley lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, adult daughter, daughter’s boyfriend and daughter’s two cats. Experience In 2004, Ric Burnley stole his first milk crate from behind a 7-Eleven and fashioned it into a gear crate for his Ocean Kayak Prowler 15. Many years and many milk crates later, Burnley has witnessed the rise of kayak fishing from a bastardized fringe element to a legitimate industry with millions of devotees. The journey to becoming an angler started early in Burnley’s life. His father, Eric Burnley, is a renowned outdoor writer and former fishing guide, so the boy grew up in the cockpit of a charter boat and in the pages of national magazines. After college, Burnley lost easy access to his father’s boat, but not his passion for fishing. Once he had exhausted the limits of land-based angling, Burnley decided to try out a new thing called kayak fishing. About the same time, Burnley was looking for extra work to pay for his expensive addiction. His father, editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman Magazine, offered him freelance assignments for the weekly publication. That led to a position as regional editor at Salt Water Sportsman, publication of The Complete Kayak Fisherman and editorship of Kayak Angler. Meanwhile, Burnley and his partner-in-crime, “Kayak Kevin” Whitley were exploring the boundaries of kayak fishing. With the bountiful Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean as their playground, the two anglers were the first to target big red drum, cobia, trophy striped bass, monster black drum, sheepshead and many other species. Once inshore species were exhausted, Burnley loaded his kayak onto motorboats and fished for bluefin tuna, blackfin tuna, king mackerel and amberjack. All the while, Burnley shared his experiences and knowledge with anglers through print, photos, video, radio, seminars and online. Almost 20 years later, Burnley continues to fish obsessively and share the stories. His recent projects for Kayak Angler cover the latest trends in forward-facing sonar and remote-controlled electric motors. Over the past two decades, kayak fishing and Ric Burnley have come a long way from PVC rod holders and stolen milkcrates. Education ● Radford University: BA English; Virginia Teacher’s License. Highlights ● Other Interests: Mountain biking, traveling, hiking, surfing and skateboarding ● Day Job: High School English teacher at an alternative school for at-risk students Fun Fact Ric’s name is a contraction of Eric. Ric is named after his father, Eric Sr. To differentiate between the two Erics, Mrs. Burnley removed her son’s E. To this day, she writes the boy’s name ‘Ric, with an apostrophe replacing the E.

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