Tag: jon boat fishing

Good morning brothers!

I write today from the snow-covered Land of Lincoln. (Yes… already… ugh…) This year, I was able to avoid getting stranded in the ‘ol jon boat – this is largely because of your generosity! (Thank you very much!)

I bought a new battery with your donations at the very beginning of the season after a lengthy conversation in the Bass Resource Forum. The battery that I was using… was rated at 50 Amp Hours… and I drained it more than once.

Let’s do some simple maths:

A Minn Kota Endura with 30 pounds of thrust will pull 30 amps at top speed. Theoretically, a 50 AH battery should provide power for (50 AH / 30 Amps = 1.67 Hours) 1 hour 40 minutes. Now, there are considerations when it comes to battery selection, such as battery type (flooded lead acid, AGM or Absorbed Glass-Mat, and Lithium Iron Phosphate or LiFePO4). These differ primarily in terms of cost, battery life, and power output. I decided to go with something that would provide good, level output for a full day on the water. This Mighty Max Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery powered my trips.

All year. With no issues.

This new battery is rated at 200 AH, which easily gave me over 6 hours and 40 Minutes of run time (200 AH / 30 Amps = 6.67 Hours). It’s big. A pain to move, as it doesn’t live in the boat, but the peace of mind is worth it. The DNR stopped me more than once by the ramp this year, and each time he said “oh hey, I remember you, you’re the guy with that huge battery.“

He thinks I’m nuts.

He’s not wrong…

I also picked up a small battery to run my graph separately. Some people worry about interference when running a trolling motor and depth finder on the same battery – and sure, that can be an issue, but it’s not a big concern for me. I do want to isolate my power consumption, however. This Mighty Max Battery is small. It’s less than $40, sealed lead acid, and just 15 AH – but it easily powers my Striker 9sv all day.

I charge both with a Noco Genius 10 Battery Charger & Maintainer. This is extremely important for taking proper care of the larger, $550 Mighty Max. I’ve ruined a few older batteries by leaving them sit idle for too long…

Finally – this little Minn Kota Endura pushed my butt around all year, into all sorts of close quarter situations – which is one of the main advantages of fishing out of a small, flat bottom boat. I was able to get where nobody else done got!

We caught hundreds of fish out of the jon boat this year. Mapped new lakes and canals, and next year I have some killer locations lined up for fishing from spring through fall!

It was a great year.

I was able to do more, and catch more, because my tools were improved.

Next year?

Well, next year this battery will be dedicated to the latest upgrade – a Minn Kota Powerdrive.

Why? Because the Powerdrive will allow me to set paths and run ’em both forwards and back via GPS, and I can work my active presentations as the trolling motor pulls me about. This will result in more casts, and more fish – I guarantee it – and when you fish alone like I do… you need to look for every opportunity to make your trips more efficient.

The more casts you can make, the more fish you’ll boat.

This will become even more apparent over time, and it’s a good reason to INVEST in quality gear, and DISCARD the fluff. The more you minimize the crap, the more focused you will become. The more crap you discard, the better your pool of fishing equipment will be.

How much is too much?

Well… we have some thoughts on that…

So thank you again, my friends. It is because of your generosity that I have been able to upgrade my humble rig. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the support, the feedback, the emails, the camaraderie – all of it. So many donations had messages attached to them that said some variation of:

“Be careful, and get back out there!!”

Noted, and will do.

Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.