We headed for Basswood Lake the week after memorial day to target Walleye, but the weather had other plans. We quickly realize the Smallmouth and Bluegill spawn were in full swing so we switched our target species to match the current mood of the fish and we ended up having a couple of really good days of fishing.

Eric managed three new personal bests (Largemouth, Smallmouth and Walleye), and I managed to catch enough fish to avoid embarrassing myself.

Enjoy Basswood at its finest!

Basswood Lake Early June 2021

Eric, great video, what did that big walleye weigh?

Unfortunately, we didn't bring a scale on this trip. Guessing, based on some quick internet research, that this fish was likely just shy of 10lbs - most likely 8.5-9lbs

Typically a 25 inch Walleye is a 5 Pounder and every additional inch is another
pound.

I like the solar charger. Does that work pretty good?

yogi59weedr: "I like the solar charger. Does that work pretty good?"

Same question. Also, what are you using it for?

thegildedgopher: "

yogi59weedr: "I like the solar charger. Does that work pretty good?"

Same question. Also, what are you using it for?"

The massive solar panel was used for charging the trolling motor battery. My buddy just invested in a (100 watt I believe) solar panel and a 100Ah Lithium Battery for his trolling motor and we wanted to test them out (both Dakota Lithium). First of all, that 100Ah battery is a beast! We used it constantly to target those bluegills and bass as the motor would have spooked those shallow water fish. It had plenty of juice to troll across the middle of the lake into a stiff wind and the acceleration was impressive, sometimes almost knocking us off our feet if we weren't prepared and it was set to 10/10 power! I can't say how long it would have lasted, because we did our best to charge it when not in use, but I am guessing a couple of days easily.

The smaller solar panel was just used for small devices like our phones, headlamps and gopros.

I am a huge proponent of solar panels for those longer trips. Goal Zero makes a lot of great products for backcountry use (panels, battery packs, electric generators) and I always bring them along on my longer trips, especially now that I carry so much camera gear and do a lot of recording.

ericinely: "

thegildedgopher: "

yogi59weedr: "I like the solar charger. Does that work pretty good?"

Same question. Also, what are you using it for?"

The massive solar panel was used for charging the trolling motor battery. My buddy just invested in a (100 watt I believe) solar panel and a 100Ah Lithium Battery for his trolling motor and we wanted to test them out (both Dakota Lithium). First of all, that 100Ah battery is a beast! We used it constantly to target those bluegills and bass as the motor would have spooked those shallow water fish. It had plenty of juice to troll across the middle of the lake into a stiff wind and the acceleration was impressive, sometimes almost knocking us off our feet if we weren't prepared and it was set to 10/10 power! I can't say how long it would have lasted, because we did our best to charge it when not in use, but I am guessing a couple of days easily.


The smaller solar panel was just used for small devices like our phones, headlamps and gopros.


I am a huge proponent of solar panels for those longer trips. Goal Zero makes a lot of great products for backcountry use (panels, battery packs, electric generators) and I always bring them along on my longer trips, especially now that I carry so much camera gear and do a lot of recording."

Interesting, thanks for the info. For all our typical USB devices we've found a couple cig-plug style chargers to be pretty efficient in the boat. And since we primarily day-trip we just charge TM batteries overnight at the cabin. But those Dakota batteries are sure tempting -- was he able to quantify how efficient the solar panels were at charging that Lithium battery?

thegildedgopher: "

ericinely: "

thegildedgopher: "

yogi59weedr: "I like the solar charger. Does that work pretty good?"

Same question. Also, what are you using it for?"

The massive solar panel was used for charging the trolling motor battery. My buddy just invested in a (100 watt I believe) solar panel and a 100Ah Lithium Battery for his trolling motor and we wanted to test them out (both Dakota Lithium). First of all, that 100Ah battery is a beast! We used it constantly to target those bluegills and bass as the motor would have spooked those shallow water fish. It had plenty of juice to troll across the middle of the lake into a stiff wind and the acceleration was impressive, sometimes almost knocking us off our feet if we weren't prepared and it was set to 10/10 power! I can't say how long it would have lasted, because we did our best to charge it when not in use, but I am guessing a couple of days easily.



The smaller solar panel was just used for small devices like our phones, headlamps and gopros.



I am a huge proponent of solar panels for those longer trips. Goal Zero makes a lot of great products for backcountry use (panels, battery packs, electric generators) and I always bring them along on my longer trips, especially now that I carry so much camera gear and do a lot of recording."

Interesting, thanks for the info. For all our typical USB devices we've found a couple cig-plug style chargers to be pretty efficient in the boat. And since we primarily day-trip we just charge TM batteries overnight at the cabin. But those Dakota batteries are sure tempting -- was he able to quantify how efficient the solar panels were at charging that Lithium battery?"

The solar panel is only rated to 50W and I really haven't done any efficiency testing with it yet but I really should. I just let it do it's thing. Really can't speak highly enough about the 100ah lithium battery though for my 12v trolling motor. The combo let us fish for the 4 days but like Eric mentioned, we tried to be charging it whenever we could. We tried to be relatively conservative, I think the motor was typically running just under half speed and then with spot lock. But when we did crank it up, it really would go. No hesitation (trolling motor is 12v, 55lb thrust with iPilot). That little boat isn't the lightest either with all the flooring and extra stuff we brought.

Overall absolutely worth the investment, especially because it's always on my boat and the lithium batteries have such a long lifespan.

Thanks for the info. $900 is a tough spill to swallow but they do seem like a good solution for this kind of trip.