“Other” catting gear

After taking Toonicus out catting last night for the first time, I have a couple gear observations/questions… none of which have to do with fishing, actually.

First…

The new 5 million candlepower spotlight had a few issues. One, it wasn’t quite bright enough in the haze to pick up the shoreline like I’d like it to or to really make me comfortable we were gonna see some of the debris in the water that could make life difficult. Add to that the fact that it only ran for about 45 mins on a charge and I’m questioning its future.

I may go back to Cabella’s or Fleet Farm for the 20M CP spot with the 12V batteries and rig up a way to run it directly off the marine battery in the boat. They only run for 20 minutes on the internal battery, but it’s got 2 12V lead acid batteries in it, so a rig off the main battery should work just fine… anyone have thoughts?

Next…

Fish scales. No, not the kind that wa… waaaa… wallllll… ugh… you know, come wrapped in. The kind used to weight fish. I have a Rapala that only goes to 30# and I’d like to get one that has a built-in tape measure and can go up to, like, yanno… weights reasonable for big flats. I know Berkeley makes a 40# model, but does anyone else have a scale that’s got some muscle to it?

Last…

Boat electrical. This becomes an issue, especially (I think, anyway) in a pontoon that’s a lot more like a small living room than a boat. I actually have a few questions there:

• What do you guys suggest, wiring in and mounting a few cig lighter connections, using clips to attach things directly to the battery terminals (that, my friends, is a pain!), or some other sort of connection panel?
• Has anyone put a decent power inverter in their boat? I’d like to put a power inverter in the boat to run things like the iPad/iPhone charger which works best off AC, a portable stereo, and various other bits (blender on Margarita Night? heh)… but I only have one battery and don’t know how many I should be running if I’m going to run those sorts of devices…
• On-the-water charging. I’ve seen some “on-board chargers”, but I think they need to be plugged into an AC power source, yes? I guess the only real solution to this problem is to run a couple batteries so you’ve got more juice stored than you’re gonna use till you get to an outlet.

You guys rock, and I want to thank you all for helping me get this show on the road… err… river.

I have 2 tractor lights mounted on the bow of my boat. They are great and they wire right into your power supply and you can put them on a toggle switch. They work better for me because you don’t have to hold the light when you’re driving and you can pay more attention to looking for debris.

You will want a second battery to run them off because you don’t want to be left stranded with a dead battery when it comes time to start the motor up.

As for the on board charger…

I have 2 bank chargers (2 bank and 3 bank)on my boat that charge my 5 batteries. They do not charge my cranking battery because my motor’s alternator only puts out 5 amps. Depending on your motors size and age it may put out more and work to charge your cranking battery. You have to be running the motor for a while to get a battery charged up.

I do not run anything on my cranking/starting battery. This assures me that when I go to start my motor I will have the power to do so. I know a lot of guys run the electronics on the cranking battery but I chose not to just for peace of mind.

I would get a few more batteries in the boat and wire them up to run whatever gadgets you need power for. Wiring is fairly simple and the extra power is nice to have.

The bank charger really only does one thing for you. It allows you to have all the batteries on your rig attached to it. When you get home you no longer need to unhook batteries and charger them separately. You plug in the power cord an walk away. The one other benefit is the battery maintenance. The maintenance cycle of the bank charger will extend the life of your battery saving you money in the long run and ensuring your batteries work when you need them to.

If you look at battery chargers I would strongly suggest Minn Kota’s line. They have a 3 year warranty and are very solid.

Good Luck

i dont think that 20m cp would burn through fog any better, just my eyes! i have the 3.5m cp cyclops spot with a 12V cig adapter. it works great for me. i purposefully chose one without an internal battery because i knew they didnt hold a charge long enough, and didnt want the dead weight.

Will this fit?

Yeah, I use a corded light too. I keep saying I’m going to get a rechargeable for use when fishing. I don’t like the cord on the floor.

But for the ride home at night I like the light weight of a corded light. When I use a light.

I added a three way cig lighter plug in. Cell phone charger and spot fit in there and still have one slot left over for whatever.

Also as one wise Idoer once said “redundancy is a good thing at night”. Anything that can go wrong will at night.

If you don’t have a gps, it might be a good time to start saving. Too many times the fog roles in and it’s tough getting back to the launch with out one…even at putting speed.

Sounds like someone got the bug after fighting that nice fish

Here’s a few tips I can offer.

Do not waste any money on a rechargeable spotlight, they are garbage. It is possible you might be able to disassemble it, remove the battery and rewire it direct. Maybe, maybe not, depends on the brand. If you can’t, just throw it right in the trash, it will end up there eventually anyways. I hate em with a passion. Get a lightweight 1-3 MP candlelight spotlight that hooks direct to the battery. Those lighter adapters wiggle their way out at the most inopportune times.

If you want something even brighter, check out the HID truck lights at http://www.hidfoglight.com. About at cheap as you can get the HID’s. They are worth every penny IMO. They are brighter, use less energy, and cut the fog better than a standard halogen.

Other than that, wire up some 12V leds around the boat, keep about 10 spare headlamps lying around, and get a thermacell to take care of the skeeters.

HA In before Steve D. Buy a Bow Draw Weight scale. They go up to 100lbs in weight. You can get digital too

Scales by Steve D….

http://www.tradtecharchery.com/Details.aspx?itemNo=1870007

http://www.tradtecharchery.com/Details.aspx?itemNo=5640003

Cabelas Scale

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Other than that, wire up some 12V leds around the boat, keep about 10 spare headlamps lying around, and get a thermacell to take care of the skeeters.

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Thanks dtro (and everyone else)… this is fantastic info.

Oh, and I already got the 2-pack Termacell in green and the 4-pack of butane and pads.

I got my spot at wally world it has a removable battery and comes with two. I really like it. It is going strong on year 5. I don’t fish as often as Darren does and where I usually go I just drive towards the green and red lights when I am done. It is the other fools driving around that scare me. GPS is a fine thing too but you can smack a can pretty easy trusting it. Go slow when visibility is less then perfect and even when it is. If you are running a toon you can strike an ice berg with one those especially with it belonging to someone else. They are nice to fish out of especially if you have some dancing girls along. Redundancy in every system you need is a good thing.

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If you don’t have a gps, it might be a good time to start saving. Too many times the fog roles in and it’s tough getting back to the launch with out one…even at putting speed.

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Lowrance Elite-5 GPS/sonar: Check
iPhone/Google Maps/GPS: Check
iPad/GoogleMaps/GPS: Check

Works out pretty good to have all 3 on board (ooh, and it’s redundant, also!) And yes, I take my iPhone and iPad on the water with me at night.

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I don’t fish as often as Darren does and where I usually go I just drive towards the green and red lights when I am done.

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I hear ya, if it was a lake I fished, I wouldn’t be so passionate about my lighting either. It’s crucial here on the river we fish.

There are moments on the river that are downright scary… last night we started to push off from the landing when I realized I’d left the boat key in my truck. We were just close enough to shore that I could grab a paddle I keep in the boat for emergencies (heh, right?) and paddled us back to the dock. If we had gone any further or had no paddle along… I just don’t even like to think about being adrift on the river.

Too many possibilities and none of them are good.

The above posts covered most of your issues well.
1) ReIterating: USE ONE battery for the motor. All the other crap on the second.
2) Secure your wiring with liquid solder, real solder and plenty of shrink wrap.
3) use an AMBER filter on the spot. That will solve your distance issue.
4) Charger: Yes, just like mentioned.
5) Inverter: yes, but only for low draw items. No hair curlers for the GFs…
6) Accessory plugs: a couple are ok, especially if you get the map lite kind.
7) Fish scales Get a 50# if you can. When you want more, it’s important. When I got my big king, i went off a 40# and that was the last i got of a real live weight on her.
8) Fuse Blocks. I’d set up powered fuse blocks near your usage centers. It will save you voltage drop with long runs. I use 4 in an 18’er and power them with 8# underground wire. Even Dan Dorn was impressed…
9) LED utility lites: you didn’t mention them. I’d space 3-4 hard wires with swtches around the boat and get a couple of 4-AAs from NH for nite work centers. Invaluable for 2am re-rigging.
10) and last but not least: Redundancy, Redundancy, Redundancy…

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I just drive towards the green and red lights when I am done.

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Drive toward a green and red light on the river and we might find ourselves wedged in a barge tow…or was that a mine sweeper?

Laugh it up northern catters. I fished for 10 years on pool 9 which is twice or 4 times as big water as your home creeks. I know full well the dangers of it. I have narrowly missed cans by feet, been in fog where I lost my bearings and had to stop the boat to know which way was down stream, had tuna boats nearly run me down, had a barge throw me up against a rock wall, had my spots die on me where I decided it was safer to beach it until morning, had a barge decide he was going to tie up on shore right where I was fishing. It is safer here where I fish with the exception of the rich idiots in 100,000 dollar power boats getting liquored up driving around the lake at 50mph not watching where they are going. Night fishing is just plain hazardous.

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Night fishing is just plain hazardous.

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x10

Totally agree. I just thought it was funny that your “going home” marking lights were the same as the navigational lights on a vessel.

A couple weeks ago I radioed to a tow that I was going to stay were I was until he passed. I wanted to get to the other side and I’m sure the Capitan was wondering why I had stopped at that spot.

After a few more minutes my client said “OH! I didn’t see the barges ahead of that tow! I was wondering why we didn’t shoot across.”

What he saw was the lights of the tug boat. What he didn’t see were the 12 barges ahead of it that were right in front of us.

Yeah, night fishing is just plain hazardous.

As long as I have another minute…

Using a good GPS, making a ROUTE to your normal fishing hole and using the Steer page of the GPS will keep a person free of hitting navigational markers and getting lost in fog, which does sneak up on a person.

Once a route is made in the daylight, it should be tested until the operator feels comfortable with it. I test mine on the way out fishing. Finding out there’s some type of problem on the way in will at best slow a person down to a crawl.

Using a predefined route will keep the boater a safe distance from shore, the “cans” and going in the correct direction.

Trying to go upstream in fog without a GPS will have the boat ending up way down stream!

Disclaimer: Good, safe operation always means using two forms of navigation.

There is no argument that GPS, lights, etc will help you find your way, yet I feel no tool is better than intensive knowledge of your stretch of river. Your memory (likely) lasts longer than batteries!

The photo below is a common sight if you are out after sun-down and stay till sun-up.

That is a cool photo!

I was just thinking. If that photo was taken on P3 or 4 on a Thursday in June of 2009…we might have passed each other and not known it!

2009 Yes – Weekday No. In the photo there is a chair I nabbed from a party on my way out, so it must have been a weekend. Dont worry, the chair was returned on the way in.

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That is a cool photo!

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No, not really… “cool” isn’t the word.

“Terrifying”, maybe, is a better fit.

And yeah, the Lowrance Elite-5 has some really nice features including a “in-transit” page that sets off an alarm if you vary from your route, automatic route tracking per-outing, etc. I haven’t tried saving a route yet tho… maybe I should do that.