Purchased a boat, no gear - what to get? Maybe a fun thread..

[froek]

Hey all,

Got me a Campion 542, however I got absolutely nothing but a single cheap spincast rod and tackle setup for lake fishing. Looking for recommendations on what to get for salmon and hali. I have downriggers but no traps, rods, flashers, hoochies, spoons or anything. What's the most appropriate "first equipment for the boat that has nothing" for a new guy fishing areas 20-5/6/7 and 19-1/2/3/4. Mostly fishing with the riggers, but with pinks going nuts I wouldn't mind a rod purely for jigging the surface with the kids (will my crappy tire spincast be good enough for that?).

Read through my prior posts and you'll realize I'm fairly green - I'm usually the fishing buddy or occasional charter experience that should have paid more attention to gear, but now it's time for my own setup.

Also - required safety equipment? Should I get an anchor, if so which one suits this boat? I saw the other thread about the radar reflector, but there's no way I will be able to mount it high as it's just got a bimini. Electronics won't be installed for a few weeks - but want to get out before then - should I wait or get a cheap radio and use navionics for gps?

 

[finaddict]

Get ready.... I'm going to spend a lot of your money (B.O.A.T = Bring out another thousand)

Safety:
Anchor: small (5 kg) Bruce or Danforth plus 20 feet of 3/8 galv. chain and 200 feet of nylon 3/8 rode
DOT approved lifejackets or PFD's (enough for each person aboard)
Bailing bucket or manual pump
DSC VHF radio and antenna
Apply for MMSI number
Quality GPS linked to DSC VHF
sufficient tools to manage minor breakdowns and repairs
9.9 kicker motor
Boarding ladder
Watertight flashlight OR 3 Type A, B, or C flares
Sound signalling device
Navigation lights [Not required unless operated at night or in restricted visibility.]
Magnetic compass [not required within sight of navigation marks]
Radar reflector [not required under most day and near-shore use] but mounted low will still work better than no radar reflector
Class 5BC fire extinguisher if equipped with inboard engine, fuel tank, fuel-burning

 

[finaddict]

And we haven't even started on fishing equipment, gear, rods, reels, tackle, landing net, gaff, ....... ooooooooh this is gonna be fun

 

[SpringVelocity]

Get ready I second that!!!! I spent 2-3k in that safety stuff/things needed for boat without motor stuff and then realized why my boat was so cheap..I had zero... That is a good list above BTW...

 

[froek]

Get ready.... I'm going to spend a lot of your money (B.O.A.T = Bring out another thousand)

Safety:
Anchor: small (5 kg) Bruce or Danforth plus 20 feet of 3/8 galv. chain and 200 feet of nylon 3/8 rode
DOT approved lifejackets or PFD's (enough for each person aboard)
Bailing bucket or manual pump
DSC VHF radio and antenna
Apply for MMSI number
Quality GPS linked to DSC VHF
sufficient tools to manage minor breakdowns and repairs
9.9 kicker motor
Boarding ladder
Watertight flashlight OR 3 Type A, B, or C flares
Sound signalling device
Navigation lights [Not required unless operated at night or in restricted visibility.]
Magnetic compass [not required within sight of navigation marks]
Radar reflector [not required under most day and near-shore use] but mounted low will still work better than no radar reflector
Class 5BC fire extinguisher if equipped with inboard engine, fuel tank, fuel-burning

Any pros/cons for the Bruce vs Danforth?
DOT - check
bailer - check (maybe get double action manual pump as the plastic POS bailer doesn't sit with me well)
DSC VHF /w antenna will be coming in a few weeks (portable hand held good enough until then?)
MMSI - check
GPS linked - will be, so check
sufficient tools - nope!
kicker -- k.
boarding ladder - check
watertype flash - check
sound signalling - check (wired to battery plus I have a handheld airhorn)
nav lights - check
magnetic compass - check
radar - hmm ok.
5abc - (because of built-in tank) check, borrowing my tent trailer's for now

 

[froek]

And we haven't even started on fishing equipment, gear, rods, reels, tackle, landing net, gaff, ....... ooooooooh this is gonna be fun

LOL - B.O.A.T. indeed!

Thanks for the list.. keep it coming!

 

[kingblazer84]

As for the trolling gear, check out some of the posts on plugs, dodgers, hoochies and spoon fav's load up on most of the common stuff then just add from there

 

[Catch 22]

Congratulations on the boat. I just installed a lowrance elite 5 on my 542. It came with navioncs charts, transducer for $660 and they had a $100 rebate, the rebate may or may not still be on. Quite easy to do on your own. Took a couple hours. PM me if you want to talk and I can give you a call if you like.

 

[finaddict]

Any pros/cons for the Bruce vs Danforth?

I prefer the Bruce, but it is usually more expensive than a Danforth(or copy). If you are using it for just overnight and or a "lunch hook" then the chain weight and length is at least as important as the anchor

bailer - check (maybe get double action manual pump as the plastic POS bailer doesn't sit with me well)
DSC VHF /w antenna will be coming in a few weeks (portable hand held good enough until then?)

for sure. For the first few weeks I suspect you will never be too far from shore, so the range of a hand held will do nicely. Its just not a long term substitute

sufficient tools - nope!
kicker -- k.

well you should at least have one or the other, preferably both

radar - hmm ok.

Not radar, just a reflector. but only really needed if you intend to go out of the WCVI in the fog. BTW, Good start

 

[Sir Reel]

I think the 552 has an anchor locker on the bow and the danforth would fit in there and not the Bruce.
I had a danforth on my Campion 602 and it worked great. Little easier to handle.
A used Yamaha 8 high thrust would work perfect on that boat. I had that on mine and lots of power.
Unfortunaly they only make the 9.9 HT now.
You can get a good used for $1500 to $2000. Will keep your battery charged too.
you can hook it into your main tank through the main fuel filter. If it does not have one get one!

Get yourself an extendable boat hook for when docking.
aslo 4 good fenders and 3 dock lines about 20' long.

542 is a great boat. You will be very happy.

lots of great advice on here!

 

[froek]

I think the 552 has an anchor locker on the bow and the danforth would fit in there and not the Bruce.
I had a danforth on my Campion 602 and it worked great. Little easier to handle.

My 542 has a locker as well, however I'm not sure how big of an anchor I can stuff in there:

View attachment 19232

A used Yamaha 8 high thrust would work perfect on that boat. I had that on mine and lots of power.
Unfortunaly they only make the 9.9 HT now.
You can get a good used for $1500 to $2000. Will keep your battery charged too.
you can hook it into your main tank through the main fuel filter. If it does not have one get one!

Fuel Filter - great idea.. I didn't even check. I will probably look to get the 9.9 HT. I got 2x 2-pack costco fenders /w a couple of their 4-pack 15' dock lines and made up my own fender rope with what was leftover.

542 is a great boat. You will be very happy.

lots of great advice on here!

You can say that again!

 

[finaddict]

Fuel Filter - Racor with the transparent water separator bowl on the bottom to see any water in there. 10 micron filter

 

[froek]

Fuel Filter - Racor with the transparent water separator bowl on the bottom to see any water in there. 10 micron filter

I just checked my pics and I have the standard blue looking yammy outboard filter.

 

[seadna]

For the radio, I'd recommend one of the new AIS receivers with a built in GPS - such as the Standard Horizon GX2200 (about $330 US). With this you get DSC and AIS functionality without having to wire it to your chart plotter. Wiring it to your chart plotter will allow the plotter to display the boats transmitting AIS on the plotter but the DSC function will correctly report your position without being hooked to the plotter or if the plotter fails. If you get a bow roller and a retaining clip for the chain, you only need to stuff the rode and most of the chain in the anchor locker - the anchor will remain on the bow where it can be easily deployed (as it should be easy to deploy in an emergency). If the boat doesn't already have a swim step or a swim ladder, buy one and install it. You'd be surprised at how hard it is to recover a MOB without a ladder or swim step. I'd also buy a heaving line - e.g. a bag that contains a line that is designed to toss to a MOB for easier recovery. I have one I leave clipped to the rail. I prefer self inflating PFDs and require all on board to wear them at all times - people are more likely to wear something that is comfortable. For kids, you need the standard ones.


There's a ton of options for fishing gear - from the very expensive to the very cheap. I like Shimano tekota 500lc or 600lc bait casting reels for trolling ($150-200 U.S). but I know a lot of the guys up there prefer the knuckle buster type reels. For rods, I've found I can do just fine with Okuma SST Graphite Casting Salmon/Steelhead Rod 9.5' MH or Lamiglass downrigger rods. Both are inexpensive (about $80) and work well for trolling. The Okuma work better for running divers. There are many nicer rods (like G. Loomis) that have much softer tips and a better overall action but they generally cost a lot more. With kids and newbies, it's easy to wind up with a broken rod for any number of reasons and at $80/ea, these are a nice compromise between quality and expense. Here's a link to a thread I started on another site about 8 years ago - http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?p=85805&. It contains a list of my favorites and few suggestions from others.

 

[Sir Reel]

I just checked my pics and I have the standard blue looking yammy outboard filter.

I think the Yammy one is sufficient if you change yearly and keep a spare on board. I ran my Mercruiser stern drive for 11 years like that and no problems.
The Yamaha kicker ran through the Mercruiser spin on filter.
There should be another out port on the Yammy filter you can run to your kicker. Just cut off the end of the kicker hose and put a barb on the filter. Leave your bulb on too.
Clean fuel = happy engines

 

[froek]

Definitely getting AIS+GPS and will be wiring into chartplotter. The geek in me likes that

Bow roller is there so it sounds like that's easy enough to setup. One thing I need to sort out is getting some sort of rubber to cover off the ends of the 2 bolts that come through the hull where the safety chain where towing clips onto.

I like the idea of self inflating PFD's.. I have some generic normal PFD's for now but will likely move towards the self inflating.


Thanks on the gear options! I like the sound of the Okuma/Lamiglass.. I'm positive there will be some rough handling of them That link is exactly what I'm looking for when sorting out gear. Thanks!

 

[froek]

I think the Yammy one is sufficient if you change yearly and keep a spare on board. I ran my Mercruiser stern drive for 11 years like that and no problems.

Great stuff Sir Reel - anything else I should have on board as a 'spare item'?

 

[Sir Reel]

Great stuff Sir Reel - anything else I should have on board as a 'spare item'?

Always good to have a set of basic tools. I think the Yammies are metric so a few metric as well.
some spare spark plugs for both engines
extra bilge plug/screw
Spare prop for your main engine and a tool to change it with.

gosh it is fun spending your money!

this was my Campion. Just sold it.
what year is yours?

 

[froek]

Always good to have a set of basic tools. I think the Yammies are metric so a few metric as well.
some spare spark plugs for both engines
extra bilge plug/screw
Spare prop for your main engine and a tool to change it with.

Cool, I will enjoy buying the tools!

gosh it is fun spending your money!

this was my Campion. Just sold it.
what year is yours?

lol - it's fun spending my own money until 30 days comes due....eeek. It's virgin 2014.

 

[Kisinana]

I too have a 542 and love it. did not see a mention of paddles get a couple they can always be used to fend off the beach as well. I went with the inflatable jackets they don't interfere with fishing and are easy to stow the spares.
Hit a few garage sales you will be amazed by the fishing gear out there and it will give you a start. As you wade through it you can toss what you don't need or use and replace the items that work as upgrades. I went through about a dozen rods until I found a couple I liked and now buy those. Reels are the same way just check for one way drag and free wheel the opposite on rigger reels and look for level winds with line guides.
I am north end of the strait but hootchies always seem to work as well as coyote spoons.
Check your local tackle shop they usually know what works locally and since they want your business they generally stay up to date with what is catching what where and depths to fish.