What will the next improvements to Trolling Motors and Shallow Water Anchors be?

[tcbass]

I can't think of anything that they will improve on shallow water anchors, but I can see some with trolling motors, specifically Minn Kotas. I believe that Motorguide already makes a wireless foot pedal but I would like to see Minn Kota do it. I like to move my Minn Kota Ulterra's foot pedal around from one side of the boat to the other depending on what side the docks or shore I am fishing are on. It's a pain with a wired foot pedal like the Ulterra has. It would be nice if the Ulterra had a wireless foot pedal with hard-wired backup. Like you could just whip out your cable and connect it to the foot pedal and trolling motor with quick detach hardware if the wireless went out for some reason or the battery died. It would also be nice if you could quickly charge the foot pedal off of the boat batteries when you plug in your boat's batteries each night. 

 

I'd also like to see a "Summon" feature on the Minn Kota. This would be similar to Tesla's summon feature. So you could launch your boat like in the Minn Kota Ulterra commercial where the guy launches his boat and then guides it to the dock with his remote. However, with the summon feature you could just walk to the dock and hit the "summon" button and rather than have to manually guide the boat to the dock with your remote the trolling motor will do all of the work for you and come right up to the dock so you can keep your hands full with your tackle and rods that you are carrying down. Sort of like when the Silver Surfer summons his board by saying, "To me my board". You also don't have to worry about coming in too fast with your trolling motor and crashing your boat into the dock.

 

 

What will the next improvements to Trolling Motors and Shallow Water Anchors be?

[Further North]

How would the 2nd feature know about obstacles like other boats, underwater rocks, stumps and such?

[tcbass]

33 minutes ago, Further North said:

How would the 2nd feature know about obstacles like other boats, underwater rocks, stumps and such?

 

 

Maybe linked to a depth finder?

 

Or you just use use it at your own risk and use it when you know it’s a safe area. 

[ratherbfishin1]

8 minutes ago, tcbass said:

Maybe linked to a depth finder?

There’s an idea, have one that will automaticlly raise when you get into shallow areas based off of a depth finder.

[68camaro]

The thing about technology and advancements is they will ALWAYS come out with upgrades and improvements we didn't know we needed or thought about, but we'll line up to buy.

[ratherbfishin1]

1 minute ago, 68camaro said:

The thing about technology and advancements is they will ALWAYS come out with upgrades and improvements we didn't know we needed or thought about, but we'll line up to buy.

Happens with iPhones every time a new one comes out.  I don’t think when the 4 was popular anyone even thought about having one with a fingerprint... now people can’t live without it.

[68camaro]

3 minutes ago, ratherbfishin1 said:

Happens with iPhones every time a new one comes out.  I don’t think when the 4 was popular anyone even thought about having one with a fingerprint... now people can’t live without it.

Yup, exactly how it works.

[Dirtyeggroll]

58 minutes ago, Further North said:

How would the 2nd feature know about obstacles like other boats, underwater rocks, stumps and such?

The same way one of those Roomba vacuums does...

 

 

 

there’s a tiny man inside driving it.

[Further North]

55 minutes ago, tcbass said:

 

 

Maybe linked to a depth finder?

 

Or you just use use it at your own risk and use it when you know it’s a safe area. 

That'll help with depth...and stop us from running it aground...in most TMs, the transducer is already there, would it even need a depth finder?

 

Rocks, trees and stumps underwater will be in front of the TM...docks and other boats will be above the water and in front of the TM.

 

I'm not criticizing or challenging...just pondering...

[Sam]

New material to create a shaft that will bend back into it's original position without any damage if you hit some wood, rock or the bank, etc.

 

This will replace the stainless steel shafts that bend when you hit something with them.

[JLBBass]

problem is that this stuff is pricing the average fisherman right out of the market.

[slonezp]

1 hour ago, Sam said:

New material to create a shaft that will bend back into it's original position without any damage if you hit some wood, rock or the bank, etc.

 

This will replace the stainless steel shafts that bend when you hit something with them.

Already been invented. It's called Minn Kota 

[tcbass]

50 minutes ago, PolarKraft195Pro said:

problem is that this stuff is pricing the average fisherman right out of the market.

 

 

Shoot, companies flagship bows used to cost around $950. Which was a lot. 2 years ago they all raised their prices to $1,200. 

 

 

An iPhone X costs $1,000 now. A quality laptop is $300. How the heck is a phone $1k??!

 

 

A loaded truck is now about $80-$90k. How long until it is $100k which is as much as a house???

 

 

Just like everything else going up in price. Heck, you can finance a phone now.....a phone!

[OCdockskipper]

33 minutes ago, tcbass said:

...How long until it is $100k which is as much as a house???...

Not for everyone.  Where I live in Orange County, there are exactly zero homes valued at $100K and only a fixer upper in the 800 sq ft range (old WWII homes) go for under $250K,  Median price for a normal sized tract home is nearly $500K and that is inland, 20 miles from the beach.  Gt close to the shore & everything starts at 7 figures.  That is why so many folks here move when they retire, almost elsewhere else you get so much more house for so much less money.  The only negative with the move is that you get weather too.

 

As far as the OP's question, I have always wondered if trolling motors could be in-hull.  Instead of mounted on the deck taking up space, there could be a slot in the hull that deploys the TM at the push of a button (like anchors on large ships).  It would probably be expensive and require some engineering, but it could be pretty trick.  Heck, you could even have some kind directional arrow in the bow of the boat or near the foot pedal since you would't be able to see the head of the TM.

[Bass Turd]

The next generation of trolling motors will have the technological ability to sense the fish, species and even size you are after and drive you right to them. An electronic display will tell you how far, how deep and how big they are. It will also suggest the bait and technique to use that has the best chance of working based on all the conditions including time of year, time of day and moon phase. 

 

The scary thing is that after reading what I just wrote I really don't think most of it is out of the realm of possibility. I would hate to see it get that automatic. You might as well play a video game outside.

[Sam]

1 hour ago, slonezp said:

Already been invented. It's called Minn Kota 

Yes, you are 100% correct. But I want it on all trolling motors as a standard part of the product.

 

And do you think the Grass Goat should be included on all trolling motors, too?