Reviewed by Captain Mike Schoonveld

When I unboxed what my wife calls “the big gray box” Plano Molding Company sent me to evaluate for this column, I instantly imagined a half dozen great uses for it. Plano calls it the Marine Box.

 
I could imagine it stuffed full of lifejackets with the word LIFEJACKETS stenciled on it and stowed in an accessible, but out of the way location on a big boat. I could imagine it fulfilling the same function on a smaller sized boat, strapped or bungie-corded at the bow or tucked under a bench seat.

 

I could imagine it being stuffed with rain gear, enough rain gear for everyone on board, or extra coats for those times when a day on the lake is going to feature uncertain weather. No one likes to put on wet gear, even if it’s rain wear and in my boat, the bow of the boat is the best place to stow extra gear, but not necessarily the driest spot on the boat if I have to splash through choppy seas to get to the fishing area. The Marine Box has a rubber gasket to make it water tight and four snap down (even padlockable) latches to make sure the lid doesn’t pop off from the wind when going fast or from bumps when hitting choppy waves.

 

I could imagine the Marine Box conveniently stocked up with any sort of gear or supplies you don’t want to transport in the boat when it’s being towed on a trailer. Stow the chandlery in the Marine Box and haul it in the back of the tow vehicle, then transfer it all into the boat in one, easy to handle load. It even has wheels on the bottom so you can roll it instead of lugging it, need be.

 

When my wife spotted the big gray box she immediately started imagining uses for it herself. Currently, it’s storing an amazing number of sunflower heads which will be apportioned out to the birds at our winter feeder while keeping them from the mice that infiltrate our garage. It’s been stuffed full of blankets, pillows and sleeping bags on camping trips. It’s been filled with assorted groceries when returning from a shopping spree at Sam’s Club. It was filled with dog supplies when the mutt went on a vacation with us.

 

I imagine I’ll be getting a second one for myself. Over three feet long, a foot and a half wide and over a foot deep (108 quart capacity, Plano says) what can you imagine doing with one?

 

Get your own big gray box at a wide range of retailers or go to http://www.planomolding.com.

Reviewed by Captain Mike Schoonveld

There are a lot of things on my boat I don’t want to leave the dock without having. Many of them are things I don’t often use, don’t hope to need and certainly don’t need close at hand – until I need them. Many of these items are things better kept dry and since I don’t need them on a regular basis, if they would get damp or wet, I probably wouldn’t notice until, well probably, until it’s too late.

No more, thanks to the Plano Gear Box. Modeled after a military ammo box – the kind invented in WWII – this box isn’t the sharp-cornered, questionably water-tight, heavy steel container with the end-hinged lid dough-boys lugged across Europe (and Korea, Viet Nam, etc.) “Modeled after” means it has an end-hinged lid – more nostalgic than useful – and is taller than it is wide, giving it the ammo-box shape.

It has a tight, rubberized gasket seal making it 100 percent waterproof, rounded off edges, a comfortable, fold down handle and is made heavy enough to withstand a gorilla attack. It has perhaps twice the capacity as the familiar 50 caliber ammo carrier.

I just pulled the box out from under the passenger seat on my boat where it lives 99 per cent of the time. It contains a small stowaway Plano box holding assorted spare fuses, a small auxiliary first aide kit, an extra reel, a hand-held and head-strap flashlight, a hand-held compass, extra batteries for the flashlights and my camera, spare sunglasses, a couple of plastic rain ponchos, duct tape, electrical tape, medium flat and phillips screwdrivers, dry gloves, a notepad and pencil, a black Sharpie marker, two quarter-inch stainless steel bolts, no nuts but one washer and a 7/16-inch wrench I’ve been looking for and thought was in the lake.

Turn it into a portable safe by adding a padlock to the molded-in lock receptacles. http://www.planomolding.com

 

Reviewed by Captain Mike Schoonveld

I’ve had nearly frozen fingers dozens of times. The cold always starts at the fingertips and then works it’s way down towards the palm. That’s why I was skeptical when I first saw people wearing, using, working – even fishing with fingerless gloves. Perhaps they would more appropriately be called fingertip-less gloves since most of them have half-fingers that run up to the first or second knuckle.

I don’t know how long ago I finally donned a pair of them myself with the skeptical thought in my head, “These will never work.” I do know it was on Lake Michigan in mid-March with the water temperature hovering in the 30s and air temperatures to match.

Sure they will allow me to do “fishing things” better – tying lines, snapping swivels, gripping reel handles and freshly caught cohos. It would save me the effort of sliding my hands into and out of my fingered gloves. I expected to have cold fingertips, however, and feel the familiar cold slip downward towards my palm.

That didn’t happen! Seemingly working against all natural laws, I was able to do all the fishing things I normally did with bare hands and my fingers stayed comfortably warm. I’ve been a “bag-lady-gloves” wearer ever since, usually, generic rag-wool models.

I gave up the woolen gloves when I got my Alaska River Series fingerless gloves by Glacier Gloves. They are built on a neoprene base, much like a wetsuit material and then have a layer of fleece covering all but the palm of the glove. The rubberized palm is textured, helping get a firm grip on flopping fish. The neoprene offers enough stretch my hands never feel bulked up and most important, my fingers and hands stay warm while I’m doing any manner of fishing activities.

I use them while hunting, as well. The exposed fingers giving me a sure grip on my shotgun and a safe, secure feel when my trigger finger is on the safety or trigger.

http://www.glacierglove.com

Reviewed by Captain Mike Schoonveld

There’s no handier hand tool on my boat than needle-nosed pliers. I keep a descent-sized tool set on board but I don’t use the adjustable wrench everyday or the screwdrivers or most of the other tools. But I use needle-nose pliers daily and I always have a couple of pairs on my boat.

Having spares is how I learned when it comes to pliers – often squirreled away in a damp environment – there’s no such thing as rust-proof, stainless steel construction. Maybe if I spent fifty bucks or more for a pair I’d get better results but I manage to litter the bottom of the lake with perfectly good needle-nosers often enough I won’t spend that much on a pair.

“Why not,” thinks me, “try a pair of aluminum pliers?” So I got a pair for less than $20 from Bass Pro Shops, called simply BPS Aluminum Pliers. They are a sexy bright blue color, so they look good, come fitted with a set of stainless steel wire cutters which, new, cuts 30 pound stranded steel trolling wire just fine, as well as mono and braided line. I would guess the nippers will eventually dull and rust up but I don’t expect to ever pull the pliers out of the storage compartment and find them rusted shut or open.

They come with a nylon sheath featuring a belt loop so you can wear it like a holster. I never do that, but some people will find the carrier a plus.
In the meantime, when I’m holding the first fish of the day I can ask the person who caught it, “Hey, open that hatch and grab the bright blue pair of pliers inside.” They’ll spot them immediately and when I put them to work, they won’t be rusted shut.

As a side note, the serrated teeth inside the jaws grip well enough to grab, hold and pull the pin bones out of salmon and trout filets. Try that with your rusted-up stainless steel model.

http://www.basspro.com

Reviewed by Captain Mike Schoonveld

Lead core line has been around longer than salmon have been in the Great Lakes. Some of the machines used to braid the nylon line around a thin lead wire 50 years ago are still producing new spools of ‘core today. The line is the same now as is was then.

Why not? Lead core worked as a method to troll lures deep below the surface fifty years ago and still works today – up to a point – that point being about 50 feet of depth if you are slow-trolling a lightweight lure with a standard 100 yard long measure of lead core. Speed up to salmon speeds and a full 100 yard ‘core may only put your lure somewhere in the middle 30s under the waves.

So when Sufix built a machine that would braid the same fibers used to make Sufix’s popular “832″ braided fishing line around a lead wire core, the result was a lead core line, thinner and “slicker” than traditional LC line. Thinner and slicker means less water resistance as the line trolls through the water allowing the weight of the lead wire to sink deeper.

“Thirty percent deeper,” reads the package. I didn’t go out and try to drag the bottom in various water depths. I do know the first day I used it pulling a flasher and fly, my best downrigger depth was 38 feet (with a flasher/fly) and the 832 had as many bites as the ‘rigger and far more bites than a traditional core with the same exact flasher/fly fished on the other side of the boat.

If there’s a downside to the 832 line is 18-pound test is the strongest available. I’ve always used 27-pound traditional LC line. However, since most of the wear and tear in actual fishing situations is on the backing on the reel or on the leader between the ‘core and lure, I don’t expect the 18-pound to underperform on my boat. Hasn’t so far!

Available many places or go to http://www.sufix.com