Boat Hacks & Tips

First Aid Kit: This is more of a tip, but super important nonetheless. Always keep a stocked First Aid kit on board! I am a big stickler for this. You hope to never need it, but knowing you have one is very comforting. Within ours, I do also keep eye drops, tylenol, and anti-itch cream. Along with our First Aid kit, we always have sunscreen and bug spray on hand too.  

Glove Box items:  Many boats come with a glove box. If yours doesn't, then a waterproof case works just as great. The glove box is where we keep all our random, but also some more important things, like truck keys and boat registration. We also keep extra sunglasses, windshield glass cleaner, pen/ paper, scale, trolling motor remote, and extra batteries. Another item we keep in here is our tournament culling paper. This is a simple thing I made by laminating a piece of paper that has the color of each of our culling balls and a line to write the weight of the fish next to each color. By laminating it, I can keep a dry erase marker with it and update as needed throughout the tournament. This is a super easy way for us to keep track of our fish without having to use our phones or remember.

Everything has a home. Now, we are blessed with our boat and its gracious amount of storage. With this, we can give all our gear a home. But whether you have a lot of storage or just a little bit, always make sure you are consistent with putting things away in the same spot. This will help you and anyone on board remember where things go and stay organized. If you find you don't have enough storage, the Plano Sportsman's totes work great for keeping everything in. They are durable and waterproof. I also recommend keeping the majority of your fishing/ boating gear on board at all times so you're not forgetting anything each trip out.

Bait Towel:  It can be a pain always looking around for a bait towel when you need one. But wearing one isn't always an option either. So I decided to fix this issue by attaching a small zip tie to a few rod holders that our Whisker Seeker bait towel can clip to. We run our rod holders all around the boat, including up front, so I like to have two bait towels in the back and then I attach one up front too. Now a towel is always handy and they stay clipped the whole time while we run from spot to spot without worry of them blowing out.

Small Tackle Box: Because Troy and I fish on the boat together and many times with other people, it doesn't make sense for us to each lug a huge tackle bag on board. Therefore, Troy will always bring his and then I take a small plano box with me. Inside I keep basic terminal tackle and restock it each trip with certain rigs for the style of fishing we will be doing for that specific outing. The idea around this box is that I typically sit up front when we fish so this just tucks away in the side up front and I can quickly re-rig something without hauling out the big tackle bag. This works great too for when we have guests on board and running around looking for things isn't ideal. To make things even more convenient, I took an empty fishing line spool that was shallow enough to fit in the box and re-spooled it with Whisker Seeker 60 lb leader line. I also velcroed the Whisker Seeker Utility Scissors on the inside of the lid for quick access.

Net Holder: I wish boats just came standard with a net holder, but unfortunately they don't. But adding the simple ones from Walmart or fabricating your own will do the trick. Just be mindful of the size of your net handle, especially if you run different sizes throughout the season.

Trash Can: This might seem pretty lame, but not having a designated spot for trash can really make your boat look, well… trashy. I keep a cheap, small Walmart trash can tucked up under the passenger side and I always have a roll of the small trash bags to line it with. Makes for easy clean up at the boat ramp too.

Paper Products Troy loves to cook on the boat, so we like to keep a few things on hand for those moments. Again, this is something we can easily do because of the storage we have. This may not be a necessity for you, but the majority of our trips consist of camping and eating on the boat a lot. But we like to stock the boat with paper plates, plastic silverware, and paper towels. We also keep ziploc baggies on board too for bait or any other reason. And then the number one paper product..Toilet Paper (or some Dude Wipes).

Anchor Storage: Some of your trips might consist of using an anchor or two. But dealing with tangled ropes and anchors rolling around are not ideal. I suggest using a large rubber tub or even bucket to store your anchor as you haul them in. *A tip for the ladies: I like to keep a pair of waterproof gloves on board that have grip on them when I need to haul in an anchor. Wet ropes can make my hands raw after time and difficult to haul in the rope. The gloves help prevent that, give me more of a grip, and help in the cooler temps when the water is freezing.

Dry Bag: We keep a large dry bag on board at all times that holds a packable rain suit for each of us and our inflatable life jackets. Knowing we always have these items on board at all times is great. Another tip for those that have guests on board all the time is storing extra (cheap) life jackets in the boat so you never have to worry if you have enough.

Tool Kit: This is something that not everyone thinks of, but very important. It can be adapted to the needs of your boat. You might not need a hammer, but a few different wrench sizes may be needed.

Scale and Grips: An easy tip for weighing fish is to use the Whisker Seeker Lock Jaws. By making a small loop on the wrist holder of the grips you can then hook your Whisker Seeker scale hook into that small loop. Using the grips helps with any fish that like to flail around. There is less of a chance of the fish flopping off or getting an inconsistent weight. It also works great for a quick release of the fish and eliminates the pain of trying to poke the scale hook in the fish’s mouth. Just remember to tare your grips on the scale before weighing the fish.

Weigh Sling: If you are someone who targets big fish, basically anything over 20 lbs really, you will want to keep a weigh sling on the boat. While it can be done from the grips, we don't like to hang big fish from their jaw to weigh them so a weigh sling is even good to have on those larger channels too. If you are unfamiliar what a weigh sling is, they are designed to safely weigh and release big fish. Basically they are a big sling that will hold the fish securely inside then you can use the handles to lift the fish and attach the scale. There is no pressure on the fish and they can't flop around on you. Minimizing your chances of dropping the fish, but still offering that chance of getting a weight on a fish of a lifetime. They also work great for releasing fish safely back too.

Boat Towels: The new Whisker Seeker HexCat towels make GREAT wipe down towels! We store several of these in our boat at all times. Wiping down the boat at the ramp each time is very important to us and these towels are awesome for that. They are also great used as a bait towel or for wiping down wet seats, windshields, and even wet dogs!

Dog Essentials: Speaking of dogs.. If you have a boat dog then you know how important it is to keep them comfortable. Earlier this year I came across an awesome amazon find for a travel water bottle for dogs. It is a 60 oz jug that has a pull out bowl that you can pump water into. It avoids the wasting of water and you can take it anywhere without having to remember to pack a bowl. We also make sure to keep some treats on board, especially carrots in the cooler for those nice cool treats.

Wash Down System: If you are lucky enough to have one, then you know exactly how awesome they are! And if you don't, then I suggest rigging one up if you can! Wash down systems are just a simple hose that pulls water in to spray down anything you need. We use ours for spraying down the dog and ourselves on hot days, keeping the boat floor clean from blood and guts, and spraying down large fish while you deal with them in the boat.

Cutting Board: There are so many ways to fabricate a cutting board on your boat. We have one that is stationary in ours and includes slots for holding pliers and our Whisker Seeker Bait Knife. Even though I store the tools in storage compartments when we are off the boat, when it's time to fish I can then have a place for them that is handy and out of harm's way as we are on the water.

Keep your grips handy When fishing, we hang 2 or 3 Lock Jaws from our rod holders in the back. This way we always know where they are and are easily accessible when we land a fish.

There are so many other little things that I could keep mentioning, but these are my most favorite. For some of us, there are only a few more months left of open water. I hope that many of you can adapt some of these ideas as your own and make the rest of your boating season more enjoyable!