Turny on fan wide open must times, that 8 mph.
Ideal on airboat is 4 mph

 

Depends on water clarity. If it's nice a clear, I'll give the throttle a little pressure and cover some territory, but if the water is stained and we can't see the fish until we are right on top of them, I'll let my fan idle all the way down and crawl.

 

I'd have to agree with Kajun. It all depends on the water clarity. Some nights its super slow, the fish are down there but the water is muddy. Gotta wait till you're right on top of em to be able to see them! Then on a night when you're fishing on water that looks like glass and you can see 15' deep you can cruise. If there's fish slow it down a bit but it all depends on the night, clarity and wind is another factor as well!

 

Good thread! anybody else?

 

I don't go fast at all I'm usually shooting fish.
But if we are shooting big 20 or something I'm wfo.

 

Agree on clarity regulates speed, down to about 1.8 (3rd speed) on murky waters but typically fishing fairly clear water and seeing fish 6, 8 or even 10' in advance.

 

We don't have the numbers in AZ most of you have so I find myself going slower now than I used to probably 1.5-1.8mph. We also probably have different terrain so when I do get to a flat I slow way down and in deep water can't make the troller go fast enough.

 

I run at least as fast as you are,I like to cover water,looking for big pods of fish,thats whats going to win tourneys....not that stealthy sneaking(I dont shoot big 5,10,20,etc)

 

For me it depends on water clarity, depth, if the fish seem spooky, ............etc. MOST of the time I'm running right in that 2-2.5 mph zone. If fishing really murky water, or water I'm not familiar with obstacles and depth I run in the 1-2mph range depending on how bad it is. The few times I have found clear water and knew I was in good depth of water with no rocks, or stumps, etc., I turn it up and run around 3 mph. I'm really glad you posted this, I have never had the opportunity to really fish with seasoned guys and I always wonder if I'm fishing to fast or to slow :headbang: I will keep watching this thread for more answers I think on calm water I max at right around 4mph?? And I don't wanna run troller WFO constantly. I can't imagine fishing at 8mph or more like some seem to, I guess you get used to it ?

 

I guess you get used to it ?

Yep you do, and like many say water and fish.

 

I usually let the fish tell me seeing a lot slow down if not speed up.

 

I have chased one fish at 7 to 8 mph for a 1/2 mile before and did not get a shot at it.
Some time 8 mph not enough.
Will not get away with dat in da airboat lol
:co:

 

Every time we wrap up a tournament I revisit this question. I like moving fast 2.5+. It keeps me from feeling bored. However, I always think, had we moved slower and been more meticulous we would have shot more fish. Definitely, when fish are scarce or scattered it is time to crank it up. But when they're there I'm going to try and slow it down this year. More in the 1.5 range. The other issue that I've had is, we have more "cluster ****" happen when we're going over 4mph. Lines tangled, arrows driven over or cut by the troller. I will say that we are dealing with those better now that I have a talon on the boat. Kind of a "emergency" stop button. You just have to watch out that you don't get pitched when she halts.

 

We kicked our speed up a lot a couple years ago. Use to troll pretty slow and and stop when we shot a fish. The more and more we shot numbers shoots the faster we got. Also seeing fish take off before we got in bow range, kicked it up higher run them down before they get a chance to take off.
Now we try and cover as much ground a night as we can, only slowing down if we run into a big group of fish together. In a tournament (especially numbers) we don't stop or slow down if we hit a fish. Unless it's a big fish and we want another arrow in it.
Water clarity, we typically run faster through the murky stuff. Hit whatever fish we can on our way through it to better water. Had to many nights of wasting time picking up the random single slowing searching murky banks to get on some good clean banks loaded with fish with little to no time left to get to the weight in.
I've never GPS'd our speed while trolling but I will this weekend and post it after.

 

I can go fast or I can go slow...But sometimes I like to go so slow I'm basically not moving, that's when I kill EVERYTHING because there ain't that many fish to be found

 

Water clarity and amount of fish we are seeing. With my kicker I've done every thing from drifting in the wind to 5-6mph in clear water when thr fish are spread out. One night last year we covered 20 miles of shoreline with a couple breaks throughout the night

 

One night me and my old lady fished a 100 yard long grass line for 8hrs and basically sat still for 5 minutes at a time and pulled up 10 feet and sat another 5 minuets. We won second place that night.

 

Checked the GPS while trolling yesterday.
Average was about 2.5-3 MPH. That's about 50-60% on troller which is where we typically cruise banks at.

 

Great Thread!!!
I like 2 - 2.5 mph but I am just a rookie and have never fished a tournament.

 

im not sure on a actual gps speed but im thinking more like "slow ride"(beastie boys) in the mud flats and (System of a down)-"chop suey" hammering down the bank looking for fish.

if im on fish its moving slow and searching hard for movement, if im not on fish its -how fast can you safely go and still maneuver barriers. If im on fish but they are busting way out in front of the boat its- go, go, go, shoot, recover, go, go, go. Running a fan is how I imagine "doing crack" is. usually if someone new gets a fan ride they caint believe how fast im moving. but within a few hours they can get used to it.

 

Same here, muddy around 3. Clear 4-5 any faster and I hear the ocational wave slap.

 

Depends on the clarity and the amount of fish we are seeing. I like to cruise the flats slow until we either see fish or see a wake infront of the boat and then kick it up to about 7mph with the kicker and chase them. If we are in a tournament and not seeing fish I will push the bank between 6 and 7mph until we find fish

 

^^^ Nailed it. Every day and every spot is different, there's no one speed that will work for every situation. If you're shooting fish, keep doing what you're doing. If you're not, change it up until you're killing fish.

 

This thread inspired me to keep an eye on my Navionics while trolling. We've ranged from as slow as possible up to 4mph on the troller depending on clarity.

With our topography on the foothill lakes we usually troll as fast as possible from cove to cove, I like to coast to a stop into the small coves, blast whatever we can, the move quickly to the next.

Probably a completely different style than the guys fishing the wide Open flats I see on youtube videos.

Like everyone else is saying, it's completely contingent on the conditions.