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much every angler/boater is familiar with the list of "must-have" items
that should be carried on board any boat operated on the open ocean.
There are the mandatory PFDs and distress signals, of course, plus the
ground tackle, tool kit, extra drinking water, backup radio and GPS,
sea anchor, foul weather gear and so on. But there are also a few "everyday" items that don't appear on a lot of equipment lists which can be incredibly useful to have along. These are things that aren't necessarily useful in emergencies but just come in very handy very often on typical fishing trips. Perhaps because they're simply useful — rather than critical — they don't get mentioned much in fishing/boating publications. Instead, individual skippers tend to discover them one at a time. Following are a few that I've found particularly valuable. Five-gallon Plastic Bucket The good old 5-gallon bucket has probably more potential uses on a boat than any other single piece of equipment you could carry. To "marinize" a bucket, pull the rust-prone metal handle off and replace it with a handle of 1/2- or 3/4-inch nylon rope. (Drill holes an inch or so below the rim, pass the ends of the rope handle through from outside to inside, and tie figure-8 "stopper knots" in each.) For starters, a 5-gallon bucket is great for washing down decks if your raw water pump dies or if your boat isn't equipped with one. It's also good for bailing water off the deck in an emergency. Of course, you should also carry a manual pump to de-water the bilge in case of failure of your electric pump(s), but when it comes to water on deck, you can move it faster with a bucket. Want to set up a chumline of chopped baitfish? Dump the whole sardines or 'chovies into the bucket and use the cut end of a 4-foot length of thin-walled PVC pipe to chop them up. It's quicker and less messy than chopping chum with a knife. Want to save some bonito or mackerel for strip baits, shark chum, or lobster bait? Toss them in the bucket. When the bite's on, it's not worth taking the time to put them in the fish-hold or the icebox, but you don't want them flipping around on deck either. A 5-gallon bucket with a rope handle also makes a pretty decent drift sock. It won't slow your drift as much as a real drift sock — and nowhere close to as much as a sea anchor — but it will slow you down a bit and also allow you to control your drifting attitude by attaching it at different places on the boat. (Don't try this with the original metal handle; it can pull free in a stiff breeze.) While fishing for marlin in Baja from my 21-foot trailer-boat, I've even used a 5-gallon bucket as a tank for drop-back baits. I took the spray nozzle off my washdown hose, looped a 6-ounce torpedo sinker around the end, dropped the hose into the bucket, and put the bucket on deck near the stern so the overflow just ran out through the scuppers while trolling. That way I could keep two lively mackerel hooked and ready — one in the bucket and one in the bait tank — without worrying about them tangling together. An Easily Accessible Multi-tool Most of us carry a good tool kit on board (and those who don't should), but it's almost invariably stowed in some hard-to-reach place. Multi-tools — like those made by Leatherman, Schrade, Gerber, Browning and many others — are no replacement for a real tool kit, but their advantage is that they can be stored in console compartments. That means that when you notice a loose screw on the electronics box, or any of the thousand other little things that catch your eye while you're on the water, you can grab your multi-tool and fix it right then, rather than trying to remember to do it when you get back to the dock and have time to dig out the tools. Basically, you've got at least workable Phillips and standard screwdrivers, a knife, a pliers, and a wire/line-cutter at your fingertips for whatever minor need might arise — cutting up a hunk of cheese, cutting line or removing hooks after your brother-in-law drops your regular pliers or dykes overboard, tightening screws, tweaking sunglass frames, opening fancy beer if you forget the real opener, and so on. A Spray-bottle of Fresh Water While reels should be either thoroughly rinsed with fresh water or sprayed with Salt-X or a similar product, a quick spray-off with fresh water is sufficient for lures and hooks. In fact, most of us don't rinse lures or hooks at all. If, like me, you don't have a fresh water tank on your boat, doing so would require leaving out all the tackle you'd used in a day and then rinsing it at home or at the dock. But spraying lures or hooks with fresh water and then leaving them out in the open somewhere to dry for 15 minutes before returning them to their boxes makes a remarkable difference in their longevity — and in the longevity of the tackle they share space with. With a spray-bottle in the console, it takes only a few seconds to do. Of course, it's also a good idea to give any metal tool you use — multi-tools, bait and fillet knives, bottle openers and so on — a quick spray before putting it away. The same spray-bottle is great for cleaning salt-spotted sunglasses or eyeglasses. Even with a purpose-made cleaning cloth, wiping them when they're covered in dried saltwater doesn't get them very clean and can scratch them — and dirty up the cloth, as well. Instead, give them a good spray inside and out with freshwater and then wipe them with a cleaning cloth or rag. The same applies to glass and plastic windshields and plastic enclosures. Finally, after a few long hours of sun and salt, a good misting of fresh water on your face feels incredible. You know the feeling — it's noon and you've been trolling for five hours and you can almost feel the salt-crust cracking around the corners of your mouth and eyes. That's when there's nothing like a light spray of cool, fresh water. Of course, if you turn the nozzle from "spray" to "stream," it's also a great way to get the attention of snoozing or daydreaming crewmembers. |