Yes it is an advantage because you have control of the boat positioning and the trolling speed. If your in the back sometimes your bait may never hit the bottom or hit the cover at the right angle to be effective. Good communication between you and your partner changes that.

Like many others have said, it just depends on who is in the front of the boat.  I prefer to fish out of the back of the boat so that I don't have to worry about running the TM and boat positioning.

Yes it is an advantage because you have control of the boat positioning and the trolling speed. If your in the back sometimes your bait may never hit the bottom or hit the cover at the right angle to be effective. Good communication between you and your partner changes that.

This is correct in my opinion.  The person in the front can stop and start the TM to please where his next cast is going to be and also where is lure presently is.  This is a huge advantage under MOST circumstances - the exception is maybe fishing a spot where there are targets at 360 degrees or when fishing open water.  Also the front seat can take the most productive casts.

For instance - I may have 5 rods on the deck and switch back and forth a lot - topwater, floating worm, texas rig, spinnerbait etc...The guy running the TM knows what he has in his hand, where his bait is and can run the TM accordingly - not so for the rear  deck....you are going where the front takes you whether your worm has hit the bottom or not or whether the front drags your topwater along away from the spot you just cast to.

The guy in the back has a big disadvantage unless the person in the front pays a LOT of attention to the rear deck and that is hard to do successfully when you also run the TM and try to fish.

If I am in the front I try real hard to watch the rear and help them adjust and be overly fair -- but even then  probably make mistakes that hurts the rear deck....unavoidable at times. 

I'm not a tournament guy or anything like that, so I'm not overly concerned with me being able to fish a spot first.  The way I look at it is, both people in the boat are probably throwing different baits.  We can get on a pattern quicker by working together.  Once we both find something thats working we share the fish.  So to me, no, it's not an advantage.

If money was on the line in a tournament, I could certainly see where it could be an advantage.  Especially in tournaments where a lot of bed fishing is done.

My buddy who always fishes the front of the boat with all that room and first cast at most spots doesnt seem to think so. Thoughts?

When fishing as a team, it should be a team effort. If you feel you are better at boat control, know the location better, like how to set up on the spot, then you should be up front.

If you are both bank beaters and simply casting to targets of opportunity, then go up front and share the platform.

The angler running the trolling motor, watching the sonar unit, controls where you both fish and has the advantage if skilled.

WRB

My buddy who always fishes the front of the boat with all that room and first cast at most spots doesnt seem to think so. Thoughts?

When fishing as a team, it should be a team effort. If you feel you are better at boat control, know the location better, like how to set up on the spot, then you should be up front.

If you are both bank beaters and simply casting to targets of opportunity, then go up front and share the platform.

The angler running the trolling motor, watching the sonar unit, controls where you both fish and has the advantage if skilled.

WRB

To a certain extent this is true. With my partner I am at the bow. I go to great extents to position the boat so he can make an accurate cast. When fishing main lake points you can give him an advantage based on angles. Him being at the stern he can be in  a better position to hit the back side of the points. Being partners is just that, equal casting angles.

This really depends on the style of fishing you are doing.  Bank beating, yes.  Open water No.