It scares me to think about where I have taken a boat in the hope of catching a fish. From the dreaded stormy waters of Lake Superior and the outer reaches of California’s offshore banks to remote bays of the Sea of Cortez and the vast Mississippi River Delta, the promise of fish has pulled me like a tracker beam far from the main channels.

Yet there’s one boating experience that stands out as the most adventurous ever. It was in waters between the Timor and Arafura seas, amid the bays and lagoons of the Cobourg Peninsula at the top of Australia’s Northern Territory.

LED Nav Lights

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Gradually I’ve converted nearly all of the lights on my boat to LEDs. It started with the courtesy lights, then it was the overhead helm lights, and a while later the anchor light.

The latest update has focused on the red and green navigation lights on the bow of my 25-year-old saltwater fishing boat. The original incandescent nav lights were still in good condition, but LED is the trend, so I bought a pair of Sea-Dog Round Top-Mount LED nav lights ($93.47/pair, jamestowndistributors.com).

Joysticks for Outboards

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Teleflex Marine introduced its Optimus 360 by SeaStar this week at the 2012 Miami International Boat Show, and I had a chance to run it the day before the show started. This system makes it possible to have joystick-style low-speed maneuverability, similar to the MerCruiser Axius and Volvo Penta joystick systems for twin sterndrives, but for boats with twin outboards.

C-Map Charts Now Tell You Where Not To Fish

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One purpose of electronic charts is to help tell you where to catch fish. Well, now there’s an electronic chart feature that tells you where not to fish.

C-Map electronic charts for southern California are now embedded with the boundaries and regulations of the new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).