The wind may be your friend, but this is true only for those who know how to take full advantage of whatever breeze happens to be blowing. Even a zephyr barely strong enough to move your boat dictates how you should employ your bow trolling motor.
This has been true since Ray Scott held his inaugural Bassmaster tournament, the All-American Invitational, on Beaver Lake, Arkansas, in 1967. Prior to that event, bass anglers typically cast for bass while pushing their small fishing boats ahead with a trolling motor fixed to the transom. Tennessean Stan Sloan made history by winning the tournament. Even more significant is that he was the first bass angler to mount a trolling motor to the bow of his boat. Sloan quipped, “It’s a lot easier to pull a chain along than try to push it along.”
Practically overnight, his astute modification revolutionized bass fishing. Anglers could now easily maneuver their boats while leaving both hands free for casting. When you add today’s mechanical anchors and Spot-Lock trolling motors to the equation, effective boat control can be achieved in anything short of a gale.
