New Hope, Minn. – In the Upper Midwest, temperatures have been above average this winter, leading to sketchy ice conditions, and difficulty getting to areas that typically hold communities of permanent fish houses and full-size trucks by now.
So anglers in the Ice Belt are kind of split, some heading farther north for hardwater—and others are fishing open-water on classic walleye rivers: the Mississippi, Fox & Wolf, Detroit River, the Missouri, and other ice-free tributaries.
Farther south, bass trails have commenced the 2024 season, with the MLF’s Stage Two on Santee Cooper, South Carolina, February 20-24—and the Super Bowl of bass fishing—the 2024 Bassmaster Classic—March 22-24 on Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees, Oklahoma. Smaller club tournaments are popping up everywhere.
It won’t be long until hordes of anglers clog the ramps for spring walleye runs, even though many anglers are already out on open water.
What does all this cold, early-season, open-water fishing have in common?
Answer: Reliable power that will take a charge overnight with temperatures below freezing.
From tournament pros to average anglers, all will tell you there’s nothing more frustrating than turning that key in the early-dawn only to find out nothing charged.
One angler familiar with cold weather, open-water fishing is JMO TV Host and former Devil’s Lake Fishing Guide, Jason Mitchell.
“I typically start river walleye fishing in early spring, but I will jump at the opportunity of a thaw bite—and then there’s Nelson Lake by Bismarck, North Dakota, with warm-water discharge and open-water fishing pretty much all winter,” states Mitchell.
Mitchell’s NORSK Lithium Power Set-Up
Fishing in cold conditions across the Walleye Belt led Mitchell to NORSK Lithium’s heated batteries designed around the company’s proprietary Thermal Core Heating Technology™.
A fan of slightly smaller and more mobile tiller walleye boats like his Crestliner 1850 Pro Tiller, Mitchell can fish pretty much any walleye water—from dumping into prairie potholes to massive lakes and reservoirs.
“Starting with the trolling motor, I have not had any issues fishing 12 hours in a day on the single 60Ah 36V NORSK Lithium battery, and if I’m not fishing from the bow, I’m often running it by remote from the back of the boat, so it’s on a lot,” offers Mitchell.
“And using Active Target 2 forward-facing sonar more, plus keeping my four big graphs on most of the day, I’ve never run into power issues. That one 100Ah 12V battery provides plenty of power for how I fish and film, which can mean long days,” adds Mitchell.
Sub-Zero Charging & Performance
Mitchell spends a good deal of time traveling and filming across the country, the early-spring routinely finding him on Francis Case for a Scheels event, the greater Missouri River system, to Pools 4 and 5 of the Mississippi, and later, the early-spring Rainy River walleye run on the border of Minnesota and Ontario.
“When I travel, a lot of times I’m trying to find a light pole at a motel where I can plug in my boat and charge the batteries overnight. In the past, it was always luck of the draw as to whether batteries would charge in cold conditions—fingers crossed that the mercury wouldn’t drop below freezing,” offers Mitchell.
“Before these NORSK heated batteries, one of the things that anglers found out is that they don’t charge in sub-zero conditions, even other non-heated lithium batteries. So anglers—myself included—were often unhooking batteries and bringing them up to their motel room every night and that’s just a pain.”
Mitchell says that with NORSK Lithium’s Guardian™ app, he finds confidence in being able to monitor his batteries from the convenience of a smartphone. “Not only can I check that they’re receiving a charge while in my room for the night, but the customer service aspect is also a great feature. Not only do I see what’s going on with my batteries, I will be notified via the app if they’re charging incorrectly or my charger has defaulted for some reason. NORSK customer service will then hold your hand through solving any issues.”
Mitchell advises: “If you’re going to be fishing rivers during winter, early spring, and again in fall, you really want to look at converting to heated batteries. They save a lot of hassle and time and keep you on the water in really cold conditions.”
Speaking of river fishing, Mitchell also runs a Crestliner 1850 Retriever Series boat with a Mercury 90HP with jet propulsion, “a utilitarian boat for hunting and fishing stretches of river water you normally wouldn’t be able to reach with a standard outboard.”
“I’ve tried a lot of different batteries over the years and NORSK is by far the best lithium battery I’ve found. With other batteries I was losing capacity or what I’d call runtime,” states Mitchell.
“The more I started using NORSK, I realized they offer a long runtime, plus they’re really well-built and serviceable. I fish them all day, then charge them at night or every other day. That’s been my routine. It’s like they’re built for how we really fish and all the electronics we’re using today,” offers Mitchell.
Speaking to his trolling motor power, he says it doesn’t matter if he’s spot-locking in three-foot waves or trolling upstream in river current—they just last all day.
“I might have the trolling motor on full checking spots, and it really doesn’t matter what the current or wind is doing. These batteries provide consistent power without any voltage drop or speed loss in the trolling motor for a full day of fishing.”
RELIABLE POWER
For open-water fishing right now through spring—and again in fall—know that there is a solution to the old problems of charging and reliably powering your boat electronics and accessories in cold weather.
Designed by anglers, for anglers, NORSK Lithium’s Thermal Core Heating Technology™?makes cold weather charging & fishing easy.
