I have a minn kota on the front of my boat,i useit in the spring on erie flat lining rapalas for walleye in shallow as the main motor will spook them when there in 2-6 feet of water.I havent used it for lake o as iuse my main motor(40hp merc)
As you can telli have a smaller boat that i use for everything.
On my boat i had tomount my riggers on the back fold open doors so what i did was buy bigger hinges and i used 6x6 by 1/4 inch steel plates i had powder coated at work for free and used that as my backing plates.
On yours iwould do liek every one else said but instead of wood i would use thick steel plates,as it will not rot/rust if you paint/powder coat and spreads out the pulling force.Also run the biggestbolts possible.
The SBH off of erie in buffalo was so friggin loaded with them your jigs wouldnt make it threw them.easily could have filled buckets full of them.got to the point after punching 25 holes and still couldnt get away from them that i left.It was not just 1 day it was the whole ice season
I like olcott as like capt.vince said close in cold water and its sorta close to home.Also its really the only port ive really fished out of except wilson 1 time.....
I hope to get into the spring trout/kings this year as its my first"full"year fishing for kings/trout on ontario.i gotta learn the wind's out there as it would really suck getting up at 330am hauling the boat 45-1hr.(i know short compared to other's)but when works hard to come by it sucks.
Any ways if you see a old beat up white chevy with a green fender and black cap thats my truck and a 17ft.sylvan seamonster behind it thats my fishing vessel(kinda small to be called a vessel)lol but ive been saving my pennys and hoping with in 2 years to upgrade to atleast a 21-25ft pennyann or thompson.
I say use what you want,those look good,im gonna be ordering a few myself.i am not partcial to one company as everything has its place,in my fly box i have siggs,atomik,howie,dreamweavers.