I've built a bracket that holds my craypot off the side of the boat when pulling it up.

Fishing with a sea anchor intrigued me for quiet some time and

I was lucky enough to win one last year in a competition.

 

I found it difficult to retrieve while hooked up

on kingfish and sharks without a trip line...

 

My boat is only 4mtrs in length so I didn't need a particularly large

anchor but it was still difficult to retrieve while hooked up

so I came up with this idea and so far it has worked a treat...

 

I have rigged the sea anchor on about 4mtrs of rope and

have attached a stainless clip to the end for quick release...

 

Attached about a foot along the length of the sea anchor rope

"at the clip end" is my easy lifter float and that is attached to the

sea anchor rope with a heavy duty shark clip "Clip on clip off"

the sea anchor rope....

 

I found once i dropped my sea anchor to the mercy of the current 

it was difficult to retrieve so a handle was added to the

top of the float and bingo Retrieving the sea anchor on the

drift without a hook is a PIECE OF CAKE

these chaps were down lake Tawarewa for the opening,alot of work gone into it and there is a mini keg of coke just out of shot underneath

How I improved my fishability.
Well for me it was a simple operation [I wish] I already had a boat a trusty stead called
BLUE ASPARAGUS a 28ft Ship Builders. We did a lot of work on her and she did us well. A nice boat but with a growing family and the want, no need to go further a field I talked the wife into looking for another boat, this we did and found a Carl Augustin on Trademe and at what I would call a good price, sure it was not exactly what we wanted and it was evident that we would need to do some work, so after getting a nice stripey and a great Blue she was taken home to Whenuapai to be worked on.
This was her when we got her, back then she was known as the SnowGoose.

So with her now at home it was decided to turn her from a somewhat bland boat into a game-fishing boat but retaining a family feel.
.
stripping her out and replacing bench tops and having new fuel tanks was more or less the easy part but with help from fishing.net.nz members things were made alot easier.
Snow goose had nothing on her no bait tank or anything that really could be considered suitable for fishing, even the rod holders were some what antiquated.
So tubes were brought and was one of the 1st things i brought for her.

That was a start and it all grew from there. My younger brother pointed me in the direction of a fibre glass fly bridge and on viewing said item a fly bridge uphostery, helm chair, bench seats and stainless was purchased for a mere $700, not bad at all.
So it became time to fit the fly bridge and this is where the fish net lads came in and helped out.

I cut over a meter off the original top as it covered in the cockpit, remember the boat was a sedan top as can be seen by the pics. I then set about recutting and fitting the rear windows as can be seen in the pics.

Fly bridge fitted and then became time to do a hard top, again Trademe came in handy and i purchased a hard top from Wellington for $300 no bad and it arrived with satiness as well, what a bonus, but it would not be suitable for my needs.

I then got a fuel tank made up along with stainless poles to support the fly bridge and fitted it all, she was slowly coming together.

Again I went back to trade me and found a bloke making rod holders so I asked him to make me up 6 which were made to take a thrashing and be able to take an 80 wide set up with ease, all 6 for $120 they are awesome 140mm long by 100mm wide with a plate as a gimble istead of a rod as you see in rod holders.
 so finally after 5 months and 24 days a new name was found for her, she is now called the Ultimate game, alot of my mates call her the cherry popper, 14 marlin in 2 seasons and all to 1st time anglers, my proudest moment so far is my sons 1st marlin est at 115kg and his 1st

her is a shot or two of the finished product.
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This the 1st marlin taken on her

Yip from what we had to what we have, we have certainly improved the fishability, but to add icing to the cake we brought a mariner in Whangaroa, just to up the anti you understand.
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Sea anchor improvement for those rough days


Sea anchor with a double section of 8mm bungee cord to allow a bit of give which stops the waves splashing over the back of the boat and make drifting a bit more comfortable when the winds cranking.These are looped over  hand rail and can be removed in seconds to hook on the frount or side of the boat as required.

That outboard well space can be used more efficiently simply by adding a rod rack..  great for rod storage.. (dont ya hate lying your rods down because ya got no rocket launcher) also magic for trolling on a small boat..  and simply a good spot to put that strayline rod for way out the back fishing, enabling the line to keep out of the way while you play out the side and back of the boat with another rod..