From gel cells to lithium batteries, keep your modern ice electronics working

It wasn’t all that long ago when ice fishing, equipment-wise anyway, was a simple sport. Pack some gear in a sled, fill the auger with gas and oil, trudge onto the ice, and start cutting a bunch of holes. Some would produce fish, most wouldn’t.

As with almost everything now, those days are no more.

Certainly, there’s something to be said for the old-school approach. At the same time, advances in technology mean it’s never been easier to be more comfortable and more effective atop the hard water.

Case in point: The batteries that power our equipment. Some anglers overlook them, choosing instead to skimp there while spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on electronics and fancy rods and reels.

As a fishing guide and all-around fishing fanatic, that’s simply not the way Matt Johnson – who’s also pro staff director and manager for several outfits, including Clam Outdoors and Ice Team – operates. Whether he’s fishing from the boat or on the ice, powering sonar, his motors, or his augers, he takes one variable out of the equation with his choice of battery type. There are several options, but in his mind, only one right choice: Lithium.

“Everything I run now is lithium, but for ice fishermen, in particular, it’s absolutely the way to go,” he said. “Guys are spending $2,000 on LiveScope and not thinking twice, but you want to skimp on a battery? Come on. To me, it’s a no-brainer, slam dunk.”

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For many anglers, battery choice depends to an extent on cost. And there’s no doubt that traditional gel cell batteries won’t set you back as much. Aside from the initial “sticker shock,” though, Johnson doesn’t see much downside. Among the main considerations is weight.

“We live in a mobile world and want everything to be as light as possible,” he said.

Chalk up one for lithium.

“You also get longevity,” he said. “If I want to fish all weekend and not worry about charging the battery, I can do that. I turn on ActiveTarget when I get to the lake in the morning and don’t turn it off until the end of the day. I don’t want to mess with charging a battery or worry about it dying, and lithium allows me to do that.”

Chalk up another winning feature for lithium.

“Your standard gel cell, lead-acid batteries dwindle in power and performance (as the charge goes down),” he said. “Whereas lithium batteries stay at peak performance until they go kaput.”

Those are Johnson’s top three reasons for making the investment into lithium. The take-home message: “We’re pretty spoiled nowadays, and we have these tools, so might just as well take advantage of them,” he said.

In addition to being lighter than the gel cell batteries that have dominated the ice fishing world for years, lithium batteries also charge more quickly. At the same time, battery selection doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing scenario.

Anglers likely will find that lithium is optimal for equipment that requires a lot of power – think fish finders, especially those with GPS or built-in sonar. Same goes for underwater cameras. But battery powered, simple devices such as heaters or lights? Gel cell batteries may be just fine, especially if weight isn’t your primary concern.

There’s nothing worse than preparing all that gear and lugging it onto the lake, only to have a battery short-circuit your day on the ice.

So, whether you’re tying your fortunes to gel cell or lithium batteries – or a combination of both – some best practices stay the same: Keep the batteries warm; turn off electronics if you’re not using them; make sure they’re fully charged; and make sure you’ve got a spare.