Useful Fishing Boat Features
Owning a fishing boat allows you access to more parts of the water so that you can catch more types of fish and be more successful in your ventures. You can take friends and family out on the lake to enjoy a sunny afternoon and catch something delicious to cook up for dinner!
While your fishing boat is likely equipped with a number of useful features already, you can always add more. Nisswa Marine is proud to be your Minnesota fishing boat dealer. Here are some of our top suggestions for the best and most useful fishing boat features that you can install on your boat to make your fishing trips more enjoyable and productive.
Cooler
You don’t want to go hungry or feel thirsty while you’re out on the water for a few hours at a time. Get yourself an inexpensive cooler to fill up with ice and pack along your favorite bottled or canned drinks, sandwiches, string cheese, yogurt, fruit and anything else that you might want to nosh on while you’re waiting for the fish to bite!
Depth Finder
Certain types of fish prefer different depths of water, so knowing where they’ll be biting is important to your ultimate success. Some fish swim near the shore and in the shallows, while others lurk in much deeper water. A depth finder is a device that will tell you how deep the water is where you are so that you know when to drop anchor and cast your line.
Rod Holders
Sometimes you want to be able to step away from the edge of your boat to get a drink or use the head or apply some sunscreen. In that event, you don’t want to have to remove your line from the water, so installing some rod holders on the sides of your boat will give you a place to rest your line while you do whatever needs doing. You can even use them to keep multiple lines in the water at once without trying to juggle them all yourself.
Baitwells & Livewells
The best way to keep your bait and catches fresh is to keep them alive. This is generally accomplished on a fishing boat with baitwells and livewells. A baitwell lets you keep live bait in a tank of circulating and aerated water so that you have easy access to it; fish love live bait the most, so if you fish often and like to use live bait, this is a great way to make sure it’s as tempting as it can be.
A livewell performs the same feature: aerating and circulating water in a tank where you toss your caught fish. This keeps them alive and swimming until you return to shore, so they’ll taste fresher when it’s time to gut them for cooking.
T-Top
If you own a fishing boat that doesn't have an enclosed cabin, then you may want to invest in some form of a cover on your craft to provide yourself and your guests with shelter from sun, rain and wind. A T-top is a good solution to this problem. They’re easy to install and will keep you from getting soaked in a light rain or sunburned on a hot day. You can even add overhead racks to a T-top for more storage options.
We hope that this guide helps you to figure out what types of accessories you can add to your own fishing boat to make it more useful. Still seeking a fishing boat? Come see us at our dealership in Nisswa, Minnesota, to take a look at our available selection of new and used fishing boats for sale. We also offer financing options for you to use if you need them. Nisswa Marine proudly serves the cities of Minneapolis and St. Cloud, Minnesota.