Widgets and Gadgets

[DLM]

I thought it would be fun to share some of the little odds and ends we have made, either through our own imagination or from ideas from others. We all have them, those little widgets and gadgets we have made to help us in our quest for those silver water rockets

This is probably the the most helpful thing in my boat next to the bilge pump.

I took a 5 foot dowel and put a 1 inch cup hook in one end. It's main use is for those times when I my pole is in the holder, I am hooking the line into the release and the line slips out of my finger. I grab the dowel and easily reach out to the end of the pole and grab the line.

I also use a fairly long line on my release. I can reach the line while the ball is still in the water and bring the clip up so I can hook in the main line while leaving the ball in the water.

This also comes in handy when you need to reach something just out of your reach from outside the boat. It seems like everytime I pull the boat out, there is something that I left in the boat that I need. This dowel makes it so I can reaching and hook anything in the boat without having to climb back inside (ya, I'm lazy).

I have a couple more gadgets I use but let's see what you guys have. There has got to be a bunch of neat little stuff out there.

[MMDON]

I use a similar item manufactured by Fishstalker Enterprises to grab my planer board lines coming off of the mast on my hard top! Works great and is handy for a lot of uses.

[SilverBullets]

Here's a gadget I fabricated to mount a Luhr Jensen trolling speed indicator on the boat. I made it to fit into the shelf of the Smoker Craft and it mounts to a Scotty rod holder base. When not in use the rod holder base is used to store an awl to get tangles and knots out of fishing line. I use the Luhr speed indicator once in a while to check the accuracy of the GPS on the fish finder.

[SilverBullets]

This seat net storage was something that wouldn't have worked without some minor modification. The netting was purchased from Cabela's. The seats have 4 holes on the back but the net mounts didn't line up. I cut some thin plywood to pick up the hole pattern on the seats, mounted the netting to it, then secured to the seat. I'm not sure if the netting was intended for seats but it's a great location for small items that get used frequently.

[DLM]

Would'nt you know it. I show off my little stick with the cup hook on the end, then Sunday I lost it on GP. It was getting lots of use with double after double but the next thing I know it is gone and not floating anywhere in sight.

Picked up the supplies to make a new one today, only this will be out of 1/2 pvc with caps on both ends, maybe even painted orange. Total cost under $3.50.

[SuperD]

David, if you have a can of Great Stuff laying around, maybe shoot some in both ends of the pipe to ensure it will float and not take on water.

[DLM]

I got some great glue at home that will do the trick, thanks for the suggestion.