You know they’re down there; those hulking arches that boldly hang on your sonar display bespeak the bounty for which you’ve planned and prepared. But wind and waves challenge, as nature guards its treasures with sentries bent on resisting your advance.
Enter the equalizer – Minn Kota’s Ultrex trolling motor. Introduced to the bass market in 2017, this revolutionary motor brings an unprecedented menu of GPS functionality – as well as interconnectivity with Humminbird fish finders and Talon shallow water anchors – to the cable steer platform that bass anglers prefer.
Minn Kota has long led the market in GPS technology, but bass anglers given to site-specific tactics typically demand faster response than they’d found in the electric steer motors to which GPS features were previously restricted. Suffice it to say, Minn Kota’s innovative bridging of the cable steer category is one of the most significant developments the bass industry has ever seen.
Best-of-both-worlds? Not a stretch.
Game-changer? Another truth; because Minn Kota’s Ultrex is built to let bass anglers be bass anglers, and focus on their fish.
A REAL “I” OPENER
Central to Ultrex is the ability to remotely control the motor and utilize GPS controls no matter where you’re standing or sitting. Anglers accomplish this through their choice of the i-Pilot or i-Pilot Link systems, both of which use GPS to control the boat for the angler. i-Pilot Link takes that control to the next level by connecting with a Humminbird unit for integrated command.
Complete functionality from the front or back deck proves strategically beneficial for team scenarios, as well as fishing solo and setting up the perfect angle for a difficult presentation. Both systems include several powerful GPS technologies that enable anglers to maximize their time on the water through time-efficient performance.
GO WHERE YOU WANT TO GO
How many opportunities do we miss, or spot too late, because we’re looking ahead to confirm our course? Rhetorical as it is, that question actually defines the advantage of the Advanced AutoPilot system available through the Ultrex’s GPS control system.
Simple as pointing your motor where you want to go and hitting a button on the remote or foot pedal, Advanced AutoPilot keeps your boat on any heading you choose automatically with GPS precision. It’s ideal for working grass edges for prespawn bass or fry guarding bucks, tracing a contour edge for postspawners staging for their summer migration, or simply exploring a backwater slough bristled with laydowns that welcome a good pitching. Set your course and your Ultrex keeps you on that bearing until you tell it to stop.
STAY WHERE YOU WANT TO STAY
Hit one button on the remote or the Ultrex foot pedal and you’re solid. That’s the bottom line for Minn Kota’s Spot-Lock feature, which uses GPS coordinates to mark your location and tells Ultrex to keep you within a couple feet of it. Whether you’re enjoying a gentle breeze or it’s “gusting to 20,” Spot-Lock does the work for you.
And say you want to make incremental adjustments to your position – maybe you’re working a long point, punching a broad hyacinth mat, or dropping the shaky head along that bluff’s subsurface shelf. Spot-Lock’s Jog feature lets you move five feet in any direction. One tap equals five feet, three taps moves you 15, and so on.
By removing the constant distraction of boat positioning, this essential technology allows you to devote your full attention to the reason you’re on that spot in the first place. So, rather than fighting every wave, you can focus on feeling every rock. Why worry about moving the boat one foot, when you can concentrate on moving that football jig one inch?
Offshore anglers know the thrill of locating a big school of bass in obvious feeding mode, but glory turns to gloom when rough conditions impede effective positioning. For one thing it may take an hour or more to stimulate the school and once they “fire,” success demands repetitive shots to the same line.
Drift off the spot and your bait misses the strike zone. Waste five minutes reestablishing your position and the biggest fish in the school might fill their bellies with the next pod of gizzard shad and shut down for the rest of the day. Missed windows of opportunity often trace back to one question: Did you put your bait in the strike zone?
The principle equally applies in calm water, as culling, switching swimbait bodies or retying after a break-off can leave you drifting off the money. Minn Kota Ultrex prevents such heartaches by standing its ground and keeping that window open so you can step right into that perfect cast.
GET IT TOGETHER
Think there’s no “I” in team? Think again; Ultrex’s i-Pilot Link option integrates command of your boat by allowing you to control your motor from your Humminbird unit. Like a certain waypoint? Select the number and your Ultrex automatically navigates to it.
See a locked-on bed fish, a wolf pack of postspawn bass targeting bream beds, maybe a blow up on the near side of that half-submerged log? i-Pilot and i-Pilot Link will drop your Talon shallow water anchor before you can say “fish on.” Epitomizing time-efficiency, Ultrex is the first motor to offer interconnectivity between how you find your fish and how you remain in position to catch them.
SMOOTH AND STEADY
While not a GPS-based feature, Ultrex provides fluid, responsive Power Steering with hook-sharp precision that ensures your bow points toward the sweet spot every time. Often are the instances when a few feet to the right or left can mean the difference between a bite and a wasted cast. Ultrex’s Power Steering keeps you on target.
Anglers also appreciate the fatigue reduction of Power Steering. A few taps now and then to tweak a wind drift are no big deal, but a full day of flipping flooded brush or battling big water to keep your drop shot on that rock reef packed with bronzebacks – yeah, that wears on the ankle. Add the bulk of foul weather gear and the ease of that Ultrex pedal proves invaluable.
On the water, we’re not only matching wits with our finned opponents, we’re facing off with the elements and managing an array of attention-draining details. Focus equals fish and that’s what Minn Kota Ultrex allows you to do.
