A foot-control motor is "hands down" better than a hand control .
If you went with something called a "Comfort troll" for the foot pedal it would be mounted below the front deck level and less likely to get fly line wrapped around it ( www.comfortroll.com) .
if you could find some stretchy netting (similar to the suff they use for the pick-up bed cargo nets -only with smaller squares)you could mount it over the the comfort troll to keep the line from falling in around the foot pedal but you could step down on it to operate the pedal. You would net big enough mesh squares 2" ?
to allow for reaching thru to adjust the speed control . If you couldn't find such a net you could make your own out of the small size bungee cord material 1/8" ? where ever they sell it in bulk .