What nearly a half-dozen NWT competitors have experienced after switching to Norsk Lithium®

The National Walleye Trail (NWT) is full of the sport’s finest walleye anglers. And many also compete in AIM, MTT, and other regional circuits. What do all the competitors have in common? They’re running big horsepower and lots of sophisticated electronics to fish harder, faster, and farther, and put together the biggest bags.

Factor in expansive runs to fish-holding spots, holding on spot in river current for hours, and relying on your graphs to read bright, crisp and true all day long, and you start to understand what’s required to run with the big dogs. Not only does competing at the professional level in walleye angling require a lot of knowledge and angling versatility, it requires a whole lot of power.

Meet the “green team” -- Norsk Lithium pros and NWT competitors Will Pappenfus, Jake Caughey, Brian Bashore, Eric McQuoid, and Drake Herd.

Will Pappenfus

Bemidi, Minnesota-based EyeCrazy Guide Service founder and tournament angler, Will Pappenfus, is fishing all of this year’s NWT tournaments, the random AIM and MTT events, as well as local derbies. He’s a busy guy and on the water nearly every day.

Pappenfus runs a VEXUS DVX22S with two 36V + 28V 60AH Dual Voltage Heated Norsk Lithium batteries for his Minn Kota® Ultrex Quest 112 with the 28V section of the batteries running the black box of his Garmin LiveScope. At the bow, he’s running a Garmin 8616 and a Humminbird XPLORE 12. At the console, he’s running a Garmin 126 and a Humminbird® XPLORE 12. A Norsk Lithium 16V 135AH Heated battery provides the power for all of his screens.

Pappenfus remarks: “I’ve been using Norsk Lithium batteries for two years and the nice thing is you get a little less weight and whole lot more power. They’ve given me more confidence when I’m on my trolling motor; I know they aren’t going to die no matter what speed I have it on during tournament hours. And all my screens are running clean when I’m fishing with LiveScope, which is a lot of the time. Really, it leaves me to worry about what I need to and that’s catching fish.”

Jake Caughey

Currently, tournament angler Jake Caughey is tied for 11th in the NWT AOY race and hopes to keep moving up. He’s also fishing AIM North Dakota events, the North Dakota State Championship on Sakakawea with hopes of making it to the National Title. He also plans to keep fishing MTT events to qualify for the MTT Championship (LOTW) that he says he “was lucky enough to win last year”. He fished 21 pro events last year and Wave Wackers every other weekend in Brainerd. He finished in the top 10 in 16 of those events and ten top 10s to finish the year, two of which were NWT events and he also won the Casino Cup on Sakakawea, besides making the final day of the 2024 NWT Championship on Lake Huron.

Caughey runs a 2090 Warrior tiller with a 250 Mercury ProXS and two Minn Kota 8-foot Raptors on the back, as well as a Minn Kota® 112 Ultrex Quest on the bow. At the tiller position he has two 12-inch Lowrance HDS Pro and a Garmin 8612 installed. At the front of the boat, Caughey utilizes a 12-inch Lowrance HDS Pro and a Garmin 8616. He’s running two LiveScope units, one in the front, one in the back. For juice, he’s running two 36V + 28V 60AH Dual Voltage Heated Norsk Lithium batteries in line for his trolling motor and LiveScope black boxes. In the back he’s running a 16V 135AH Heated battery for all the screens.

Caughey notes: “This is my second year with Norsk. The advantages are numerous for me. I fish a lot differently than other anglers with my forward-facing sonar. I’m really, really hard on my trolling motor to the point where I told the boys at Norsk ‘we need some extra juice because I’m on that motor non-stop’. Now that I have the two 36-volt batteries in-line it’s been a nice advantage not having to worry about having to conserve power when I’m constantly moving with LiveScope. With Norsk, I don’t have to worry about power issues anymore.”

He continues: “Having the confidence in your electronics really stems from the confidence you have in your power. If you’re going to spend big money on electronics you better not cheap out on batteries because if you’re not getting the best performance out of your high-end electronics it doesn’t even pay to have them.”

Brian Bashore

South Dakota-based guide and NWT angler, Brian Bashore, runs a 2025 Nitro ZV21 with a Minn Kota Ultrex on the bow powered with two 36V + 28V 60AH Dual Voltage Heated Norsk Lithium batteries, nothing running off of them but the trolling motor. On the bow, Bashore is running two Garmin 12-inch units and two Humminbird XPLORE 9s at the console. To power all his graphs and LiveScope on the bow, Bashore is using a 16V 135AH Heated battery.

“The thing about switching to Norsk batteries is I don’t have to worry about them. I can run that trolling motor at 10 all day and don’t have to sweat about conserving battery power or managing batteries. And they charge pretty quickly for full juice all day. And they produce a clear picture on the LiveScope,” offers Bashore.

“And the Guardian app makes everything easy. I can connect as I’m driving down the road and make sure all my batteries are good to go.”

But Bashore says he’s doing more guiding this year and less tournaments.

“That’s really where these batteries have shown their worth,” says Bashore. “I take off at 7 am and I’m not back in until 9 pm sometimes and I’ve still got plenty of juice. And I do that day after day.”

Eric McQuoid

Fishing all NWT events plus Wisconsin AIM and H2H Fishing, Eric McQuoid is running a Ranger 621 with a Garmin Kraken trolling motor, Garmin 8616, and two Echomap 126s on the bow; at the console, he’s running two more Garmin 126s. The trolling motor and LiveScope black boxes are powered by two 36V + 28V 60AH Dual Voltage Heated Norsk Lithium batteries. All of the graph screens are powered from a Norsk Lithium 16V 135AH heated battery.

McQuoid’s second year running Norsk Lithium, he says: “they remove the worry about running out of power – and with the Guardian app I can see how much power I’m using, how much I’ve got left, and then for charging purposes, exactly what’s going on.”

McQuoid points to a recent highpoint of running green batteries. “At the NWT in LaCrosse last month we were Spot-Locked in the main river channel fishing wingdams so my trolling motor was on 40 to 60 percent all day – and the batteries at the end of the day were still at 75%.”

McQuoid ended up taking 8th place at that tournament by sweeping live willowcat rigs off wingdam faces.

McQuoid concludes: “Norsk batteries are definitely worth the investment because in the long term you’ll get paid back in performance trip after trip not having to worry about power. And you don’t have to run two 36V + 28V 60AH. Most guys will have all the power they need from just one. But like a lot of tournament guys, I just want that backup. Your average serious angler doesn’t need that.”

Drake Herd

2021 NWT Angler of the Year (AOY), Central Minnesota’s Drake Herd has been busy fishing every tournament he can squeeze in over the past several years. A “big fan” of Norsk Lithium, he’s currently running a Caymus DV20 powered by a Garmin Kraken trolling motor on the bow along with three Garmin Ultra 2 126s. To power the trolling motor he’s using the 36V section of two Norsk 36V + 28V 60AH dual voltage heated Norsk batteries, his forward-facing sonar black boxes powered off the 28V sections.

At the console, Herd has two Garmin Ultra 2 126s, and powers all five screens in his boat off a Norsk Lithium 16V 135AH heated battery.

“Norsk stands behind their products and they’ve treated me very well,” notes Drake. “For the trolling motor, Norsk is a huge advantage. I can run it at 80 –100% all day when looking for fish. I don’t worry about power. I’ve got peace of mind if it’s calm or windy.”

“And I’ll light my graphs up right away in the morning and they’ll last until the end-of-day, even into evening. I have a great amount of clarity – no feedback – with my black boxes hooked into the 28V section of the batteries. Rigged that way, I get the best and cleanest voltage for reading forward-facing sonar whether I’m in weeds or open water.”

In terms of recent NWT finishes, Drake finished 11th at LaCrosse which was primarily a Spot-Locking tournament in river current. Looking forward to the next event on Lake Huron, Drake says: “We’re not only going to have current, but big waves and wind – I could be casting structure, trolling, who knows? But with these batteries I can fish exactly how I want to fish.”

Epilogue

This isn’t the last you’ll be hearing from Norsk Lithium’s ‘green team’. With tons of tournaments this summer into fall, they’ll all be vying for upper positioning on leaderboards and payouts. With respect to NWT, the boys will be heading to Lake Huron in Alpena, Michigan on July 10-11; Lake Erie in Dunkirk, New York on August 7 and 8; and for those lucky enough to qualify, the NWT Championship September 4-6 on Green Bay out of Marinette, Wisconsin! Everyone at Norsk wishes the team great fishing and relentless power to fish exactly how they need too.