Besides catching plenty of fish, the two of the main ingredients for a good day afloat are feeling comfortable and feeling safe. If you can’t concentrate due to feeling un-easy about something, then much of the pleasure is lost. That being the case, you might as well pack up and head off home. Many things can bring on feelings of un-ease. One that is easily remedied is balance. There are a number of ways in which balance can affect small boat fishing. For example, my boat partner Dave Devine stands 6 feet 4 inches and weighs in at over 17 stone. I’m 5 feet 8 inches and weight in under 11 stone. That’s the same as stowing an extra 9 gallons of fuel on his side of the boat. Imagine the situation if he was fishing on his own. That would be the same as an extra 24 gallons of fuel on one side of the boat. The steering console, which often contains a battery for the on board electrics, adds even more to the imbalance. Riding in a boat that lists to one side is not a pleasant experience. It is also a dangerous in choppy conditions, particularly when either lying or travelling beam on, or semi beam on to a swell. Some small boats have too little freeboard as it is. Reducing it further while at the same time introducing instability is the last thing you want, particularly as for the most part it is avoidable. We can’t do anything directly about the weight imbalance between Dave and myself. But we can take measures to help counter its effects.

In a perfect world, items with potentially destabilising weight would be stowed at deck level along a centre line running from the bow to the stern. Back in the real world, the practicalities of boat operations generally, and of angling in particular, make this a non starter. Wherever possible, placing weight centrally makes good sense. If you don’t do it, counter measures may have to be taken. Thanks to the design work of Paul Haynes and Phil Byrom at Warrior boats, the deck well on our 165 has been constructed to take a 12 gallon fuel tank which Warrior supply to order. Twelve gallons of fuel at one side or other of the centre line could have serious destabilising consequences. At least when stored mid point close to the transom, no matter how much or how little fuel is carried, the lateral balance of the boat remains the same. This is not the case when working across two fuel tanks, as only one will be in use at any given time. When two tanks of fuel are required, it helps to stow them next to each other close to the mid point of the transom. On trips when only small amounts of fuel are likely to be used, why carry so much excess. Better to have a single tank at one side of the deck well, and the starter battery and anchor at the other side. A couple of one gallon fuel containers can then be stowed up front as emergency back up.

While the 12 gallon fuel tank, either empty or full, has no effect on lateral stability, it can make a big difference to balance along the length of the boat. Given that the calculations made by boat designers for the positioning of the steering console and the estimated weight of the person or persons on board are right, what you stow at either end of the boat can have much to say about how its rides across the water. Even when on the plane, a boat should still have water contact along almost the whole length of its hull. The difference with a planing boat is that the hull will be riding on top of as opposed to pushing through the water. You often see older boats, particularly those not designed for speed when paired with a bigger than necessary outboard, riding along with their bow and a fair bit of their centre keel out of the water. This can be very dangerous in bad conditions. Not only does the boat risk being flipped over, its ability to be steered accurately is also impaired. In this sense console steering has been a Godsend. Years ago, raised bow imbalance was more common than today due to the man in control having to sit at the back to operate the hand tiller.

In more recent times, bigger and heavier outboards have had to come into the boat design equation. Careful positioning of the steering console can be used to offset this. Then we go and throw the whole thing into disarray once again by stowing too much heavy gear either at the bow or under the rear splash well. If you are intent on carrying just the one battery, stow it under the steering console to help offset the weight of the fuel, though as previously mentioned, for a one man operation this can still affect lateral stability. Look also at where you keep such things as lead weights, fishing tackle, safety equipment, and tools. The best place in terms of logical stowage might not be the same as for balanced stowage. There are no hard and fast rules on any of this. Individual cases will demand individual solutions. When you start filling a new boat up with kit, be prepared to be flexible. Put to sea and try it, and if necessary, when you get back, move things about accordingly. Bear in mind that achieving good balance along the length of the boat can upset the lateral balance and visa versa, so compromises will have to be made. Fortunately, heavy modern outboards, while they might contribute to the imbalance equation, can also help solve it. The bow of a boat can be brought up and down to a degree by careful use of the power trim button.

Equally as important as balancing a boat on the water is balancing it on its trailer, and balancing the trailer on the back of the towing vehicle, both of which are directly linked. If you’ve ever experienced a trailer 'snaking' you will know exactly what I mean. This usually happens on long straight stretches of road such as motorways. A number of factors probably conspire together either to start or to exaggerate the problem. Large vehicles such as lorries overtaking you are one cause. If you see a lorry coming up in the wing mirror, work your way over towards the hard shoulder to create a bigger gap. Sudden manoeuvres on your part are another reason, as is too much speed, particularly down hills. On smaller roads these things are less likely to happen. The windiness of smaller roads also seems to cancel 'snaking' out. To a certain extent, it is possible either to reduce 'snaking' either completely or to a large extent. Until recently I had a Peugeot 406 which was a brilliant towing vehicle. The trailer was perfectly balanced and it towed as solid as a rock. I then swapped the Peugeot for a VW Passat, which is a heavier more solid car. No changes were made to either the boat or the trailer. But now it 'snakes' on the motorway. We have managed to adjust this out to an extent, but not completely. I can only put this down either to the balance of the car or its suspension.

A boat needs to sit right on its trailer supports. You don’t want the rear support rollers protruding beyond the transom, and nor do you want them too far forward. The point where the transom meets the base of the hull is one of the strongest points on a boat, and is therefore a good point to use for carrying lots of weight. What you also want is to have the boat sit nicely over the axle. Think of the axle as the fulcrum point of a see-saw. In theory, if a see-saw is balanced equally over its fulcrum, no matter how much weight it is carrying, providing that weight is equally distributed, it should be easy to lift at either end. It only takes a move of a few inches away from centre to displace that weight to a point where it is either difficult or impossible to lift. And so it is with boats. The idea is to be able to lift the tow hitch to get it onto the car. Adjusting the nose weight of a trailer can be done either by moving the winch post or the axle. To tow well, a trailer needs around 80 pounds of nose weight. This includes all the stuff you stow up front and the counter balancing effect of fuel at the stern. If the trailer continues to 'snake', try increasing the nose weight a little. This is what we did for the Passat, though in this case it has only been successful up to a point.

Balance in boat fishing isn’t only about distribution of weight. Other considerations can include outboard choice, seasickness, fishing tackle and personal safety. Most small boats these days are designed to have a maximum and minimum outboard rating. Too little power and a high performance boat wont get up on the plane. Too much and you risk damage to yourself, to your boat, and to its guarantee. If a boat is rated up to 80 hp it means that the construction of the transom is sufficient to take both the weight and the strain an 80 hp engine can deliver. Depending on where you are in the size ratings, sometimes a jump up of 10 hp makes very little difference in terms of additional weight, and sometimes it can make a lot. Too much engine weight affects the balance of the boat. From an economic running point of view it is useful to have more power than you need. Most boats will plane with a 40 hp engine, though most are constructed to carry between 70 and 80. Having a reserve of power is no bad thing. But the days when you can use either the reserve, or anything approaching full power an 80 hp outboard can deliver are few and far between. The weather usually sees to that. Inappropriate use of power invariably leads to both the boat and its occupants getting an unnecessary hammering, which neither was designed to take.

The way most people see balance with regard to tackle is matching an outfit to prevailing conditions in order that you get the most from the size of fish you are likely to catch. That to me is what fishing is all about. But it can also mean how the rod is balanced when propped up against the transom. I recently lost a rod over the back of the boat to a bass. It might not even have been a big bass. I’ve had a few near misses over the years where I have either managed to grab the rod, or its disappearance has been slowed up by either the eyes or reel, and the fish concerned have been as small as 3 pounds. A combination of swift violent takes and fast tides in shallow water can remove a rod in a split second. The one I lost was a Daiwa Interline which had no eyes to slow it down. Once the fish had pulled it to its fulcrum point, the rod over balanced and there was no stopping it. Normally I trap my rods under the velcro strapping of an Alan Sharpe rod rest. Not even a tope can pull them free from one of those. On this occasion I had just cast the rod and put it down for a moment to grab a picture of a nice bass Dave had caught and sods law took over. This obviously happens in other parts of the world too because on several foreign trips I have seen lanyards attached to reels. With a lanyard, if they are pulled over board they cant go far. The beauty of a lanyard is that if it is long enough, it need not even be disconnected when the rod is in use.

Lanyards also make good sense for dinghy anglers who fish alone. Most modern outboards have a dead man's switch activated by a lanyard fastened around your wrist. If you suddenly loose you balance and disappear over the side, the lanyard attachment pulls free at the control box and the engine cuts out. We once had a problem starting our outboard to the point where we thought we had a fuel blockage and began stripping the fuel system down. What we eventually found was that kids messing about looking into the boat had pulled the dead man's switch. So it does work. The assumption is that when you fall into the water, the boat will drift at the same pace as you, and that providing you have a step on the transom, you should be able to swim to the boat and climb back in. If you have ever tried getting back into a boat from water level you will appreciate how difficult this can be, even with someone in the boat helping to pull you back on board. But what if you over balance while the boat is at anchor. Slipping and sliding in a pitching boat is not exactly a rare event. A slip at the wrong moment is a swelly sea and you could be gone. But this time as you drift down tide the boat stays where it is. Swimming in clothes is not the easiest thing to do, even when desperate. Swimming in a state of shock in cold choppy conditions against a strong tide would be almost impossible. As with rod security, a lanyard could make a world of difference.

The final definition of balance is balanced attitude. When I first started fishing I wanted to keep everything and let everyone see how well I had done. Over time, this becomes less important, particularly when you carry a camera to record the event. On most occasions, those who have caught less than you don’t want to look anyway. It only rubs them up the wrong way, and there is little point showing off to those who have caught more. Unless I have been asked specifically by a friend or neighbour to hang on to something, these days I tend to take just a few fish each trip, and then only selected species. Whiting, rays, dabs and any excesses usually go back. I hear people argue that if they don’t take the fish commercial fishermen will. But to borrow a line from Mao Zedong, every long journey has to start with a single step. People tend to confuse conservation with preservation. The Americans seem to have got things right when they set rigidly enforced catch limits. These go further than mere numbers. Minimum and maximum size limits are also imposed. That way both immature and fully mature fish are protected. But you don’t have to put every fish back to be a conservationist. Let me close with a little something to think about. It is possible to take more fish home than the next man and still be an active conservationist. Who practices better conservation, a poor angler who catches 10 fish and puts them all back, or a good angler who catches 100 fish and puts 80 back. The successful angler takes more home yet at the same times returns 8 times as many. That is balanced angling in action.