Al Farace

Bassmaster Opens Pro Angler

Al fell in love with bass fishing at a young age, living just a ten minute walk from his house in Maryland to the nearest lake. His father took Al and his brothers fishing regularly, as it felt natural for Al to purchase his first boat at the age of 18. In his late 20s, Al bought an 18-foot Bass Cat and dove head first into the Bassmaster Weekend Series before moving on to the Bassmaster Opens, where he was usually the only person from Maryland.

Al now has two boats, one Bass Cat Eyra, as well as an electric boat, given Maryland’s electric only requirements. He attends six Bassmater tournaments a year in addition to countless local tournaments. Al learned early on the importance of upgrading the power systems on his boats to include lithium batteries in order to catch more fish, spend more time practicing, and to ultimately stay competitive in tournaments.

Al’s power system includes:

Al uses RELiON batteries to power two of his boats. His electric boat uses four RB100 batteries to power his outboard or motor, two RB50 batteries for his trolling motor and one RB100 battery to power his Hummingbird electronics, including two screens and mega 360 imaging. Al’s non-electric, Bass Cat Eyra boat uses one RB100 battery to start his engine and to power the electronics on his boat, and three RB100 batteries to power his trolling motor.

Why Al switched to lithium:

“Primarily for the weight savings. It’s like taking a person standing on the back of your boat off of it. My electric boat has almost doubled in speed since switching from lead-acid batteries, which has allowed me to pass people on the water. This makes a huge difference in local tournaments especially. I can also now get into more shallow areas. The other big reason was to have a quicker recharge time. Now I can go to dinner and have my batteries charged by the time I’m done. With lead-acid batteries, sometimes they wouldn’t even be fully charged by the next morning, especially if there was a power outage.”

Why Al chose RELiON:

“RELiON has been around for a very long time and has a solid reputation, especially in the fishing industry. They’re also backed by a legit company. They have a full team of top notch engineers and an excellent warranty. RELiON is the leader in the industry.”

How Al’s lithium system helped him challenge his limits:

“I’ve been able to regularly go three tournament practice days without charging the batteries whatsoever. That’s full days on the water from sunrise to sunset, back to back. This really comes in handy when I’m sleeping at campgrounds that don’t offer a place to recharge the batteries, as I’d need to go for as long as possible without charging. Even then, when I’d finally find an outlet, I’d always still have 30-40% left in the batteries. My RELiON batteries have allowed me to fit a lot more practice time in. I used to have to come off the water three to four hours earlier to go to a hotel and find an outlet to recharge the batteries before other fishermen arrived.”

What Al loves most about bass fishing:

“I love the constant challenge. You can’t ever be the best, as there’s always more to strive for, even if you’re lucky enough to win a tournament.”

Al’s advice for people considering switching to lithium batteries:

“The peace of mind that lithium brings you, you can’t put a price on that.”


Al Farace Fishing