Most fairly serious anglers I know who fish regularly out of a boat own at least one electric motor, and in many instances several. We have come to recognize electric motors not as a luxury but as one of our basic fishing needs, just like rods, reels, lures, boat, motor, and depth finder.
Many times I've heard electric motors called "trolling motors" when in fact they are used very little for that technique. Most of the time they are used more as a boat positioning tool more than anything else. And correct boat positioning is a major key to fishing success. Unfortunately, an angler usually doesn't realize just how important boat control is until he or she masters it and sees what a big difference it makes. Or he gets to fish with someone who really knows how to keep the boat "on the money" and it opens his eyes.
Since anglers have begun to realize just how important electric motors and boat positioning can be, more and more boats are starting to appear with dual electric's--one on the bow and one on the transom. This gives you maximum boat control potential.
Before we get into how to use an electric to position your boat, be aware of boat weight and design. The more your fully loaded boat weighs , the more power your electric(s) should have. About two pounds of thrust for every 100 pounds of weight in a boat (including motor, gear, passengers) is recommended, but I would tend to have even more power at hand. You never know when you'll need it in an emergency if your big motor konks out.
Boats that sit high in the water and expose a lot of their sides to the wind are a lot harder to control on windier days than low-profile boats. Many times hard-to-control boats may be the result of high-sided, under-powered rigs, and not so much the angler's lack of boat positioning skills.
When fishing in a boat with dual electric motors I tend to use the transom mounted electric motor while drifting with the wind and/or covering wide expanses of water; the bow mounted electric is used when fishing against the wind, especially when a pinpoint of pressure is needed. These are "rules of thumb" and some exceptions exist.
Drifting with the wind and casting is easy, but unfortunately the wind rarely blows you on the exact course desired. This is where a stern-mounted electric comes into play. It's an easy matter for you to flick the motor on or off to correct line drift and to bring the boat past as many casting targets as possible.
Most of my control drifting with a transom motor is across flatter areas, but I'll use it to work extended breaklines such as weed edges if the wind is favorable. A favorable wind is seen as one blowing somewhat parallel to the edge I want to fish. If the wind is too light I wont be able to cover much ground. If the wind is too strong, the boat will be moving too fast to accurately and thoroughly fish that particular edge.
A tip to increase boat speed when winds are slight, or to cut down drift speed when winds are strong, is to either stand up or sit down while fishing. Bodies will catch the wind and act like sails in your boat. So stand when you want a faster drift and sit when less is desired.
A bow mounted electric gives you the best boat placement under windier conditions. If you were trying to cast to specific, fairly close in targets on a windy day and were going with the wind, you'd blow right over or get too close to the target before the lure was retrieved. You must move against the wind to hold far enough from the target area to be effective. Under calmer conditions, coming with the wind or going against it wouldn't matter.
While working an unseen edge in deeper water I'd recommend going against the wind. This would allow you to fish with more accuracy and less speed; and more important, to cover up boat-control mistakes. If you were drifting with the wind and came across a small weed finger, erosion cut, or rock pile often by the time you reacted you would have blown past or spooked fish off that spot.
Now if you were going against the wind and came on something that was unexpected, it would just be a simple matter of stopping the boat's progress, drifting away from that spot, then coming back with a game plan. I'd also advise throwing a floating marker as a point of reference so you know exactly where your target area is located.
There's a term called slipping that involves running a motor (small outboard or electric) against the flow to cut drift speed. Originally designed as a means to work river currents, it can also be used under periods of high winds.
To slip a windswept edge (i.e. weedline channel edge, ledge) throw a series of floating markers slightly shallower than this breakline, then motor to the upwind part of the edge. Run your bow-mounted electric against the wind to cut the boat's drift speed to a fishable one. Then cast as you drift downwind and within range of the marked edge. This tactic has allowed me to safely fish windswept midlake structures alone, while other anglers couldn't cope with the situation. And it has paid big dividends on many occasions.
The same slipping concept has become hot for river walleyes. It allows an angler to match the boat's drift speed with that of a vertically fished lightweight jig. A boat and a light jig won't drift at the same speed. Water is fastest on the surface, and a boat has a lot more resistance in the water than a jig, so it drifts down current much faster. To be able to use a lighter weight jig in deeper water, which will produce many more strikes than the conventional heavy jig with a stinger hook setup, a bow mounted electric motor is employed to solve the "too fast" drift problem. Just point the bow into the flow and turn on the electric. Ideally (and this takes practice) you want your line and jig to stay as directly under your boat as possible.
This slipping-the-current tactic allows anglers to fish lighter jigs in deeper water, because of refined use of an electric motor. Anglers have found that cold water or negative attitude fish will more readily suck in these lighter lures than the heavier versions. Imagine this boat control tactic applied to other current-related fishing--being able to use lighter spoons, jigs, or live bait rigs in current situations for bass, striped bass, or even river steelhead to name a few species. It would certainly result in more strikes.
Where working deeper water and unseen underwater breaklines and breaks while controlling the boat from the bow, I would strongly recommend using a depth finder which has a transducer mounted on the front electric motor. When casting to visible targets this mounting isn't needed, but for more precise deeper fishing it's a must.
Want to know how good your boat control is? Then ask yourself this question: can you consistently outfish your partners when you're controlling the boat and you're working eight feet of water or more? If the answer is no, then you're either not very good at putting the boat where it's supposed to be (and knowing where that is), or you're a real nice guy to fish with. Boat control is knowing how to use an electric motor.