Being Fully Charged and Ready to Fish

We’ve all been there at some point on a fishing trip: you are just absolutely hammering the fish and you start to lose power to your trolling motor or worse yet, your starting battery. Something as simple as not having your boat batteries fully charged can throw a huge wrench in having a fun and successful day on the water.

The two most important things to keeping your batteries fully charged and in good condition are:

Always plug in your charger right away as soon as you are off the water for the day. This is important as sometimes it will take a good 8 to 10 hours to get your batteries fully charged for the next day on the water.
Make sure that the battery charger you are using is in good condition and will properly charge your batteries, as some times a battery charger over its life will lose its effectiveness.

On my Ranger Z119, I run four marine batteries, one for my Mercury Optimax Pro XS along with my electronics, and then three to power my Minn Kota trolling motor. Having so much invested in time and money when on the water, I want to always make sure my batteries are 100% ready for any situations I may put them through that next day on the water.

To charge my batteries, I rely on the Minn Kota 460D on-board charger. The new “D” Series battery chargers from Minn Kota have risen the bar and quality in the digital on-board charging and the NEW micro-processor design. Other key features include Arc Protection and a clear LED light display showing what stage of the charge the battery is in.

The enhanced status codes also shown on the LED display give an in-depth understanding if there is an issue with the battery. By being able to quickly look in my compartment and see what color and whether the lights are blinking will quickly let me know what status of charging my batteries are in, or if there are any issues I need to address.

With automatic 3-stage charging, this charger is able to charge a battery properly based on which stage the battery is in. The Bulk Stage delivers high amps at low voltage until the battery reaches a charge of 75%, and then it enters the Absorption Stage, which has the current tapering down until the battery hits a full charge. The Maintenance or Float Stage will turn the charger on automatically if the voltage drops below 12.6.

By investing some time and money in a good battery charger, you’ll be helping your bottom line by preparing your batteries for countless days on the water! Check out this video for more on keeping fully charged.

httpv://youtu.be/rIUsYKvhuN0

To read more fishing tips and see informative videos, check out fishglenn.com.

Glenn Walker

Home: Shakopee, MN

Favorite Bodies of Water:
Pools 9 and 10 Mississippi River, Lake Minnetonka
Fishing Strengths:
Flipping, topwaters and Carolina-rigging
Fishing Weakness:

Glenn began fishing at the young age of two and spent his summers fishing the Mississippi River. In 2001, Glenn fished his first tournament and from that point on he has been fishing tournaments. Some of Glenn’s accomplishments include; back-to-back BFL Big Bass Awards in 2008, back-to-back tournament wins on his home water in 2009 and a 5^th place finish in the MN Silverado Pro-Am TOC.

Even though Glenn has moved to Minnesota, he still remains active in tournaments on the Mississippi River, in addition to fishing tournaments across the state of Minnesota. Besides fishing, Glenn takes pride in helping pass his knowledge and passion of fishing on to others through his articles, videos and seminars. To learn more about Glenn, his promotional efforts and upcoming tournaments visit, fishglenn.com.

Glenn graduated from UW-Stout in 2008 with a degree in Service Management and a minor in Speech Communication. The other passion in Glenn’s life is hockey, which he played at UW-Stout for five seasons and is now involved in coaching. Glenn resides in Shakopee, MN and works in marketing, advertising and public relations in the outdoor industry.