Water fills empty cans and bottles, prevents paper from blowing overboard, guide says
We’ve probably all been guilty at one time or another: Watching a crumpled potato chip bag, candy wrapper or napkin that was wedged in the center console or behind the windshield fly off into the water when the boat gets up on step.
Lots of anglers put onboard trash like old cans, empty water bottles and bird-nested fishing line in a 5-gallon bucket, but Capt. Tommy Pellegrin, with Custom Charters out of Houma, said adding water to the bucket serves a couple of really good purposes.
“Number one, when you add water, it weighs it down and your bucket won’t fly away,” Pellegrin said. “And over time, I learned if you throw your garbage in with the water, the bottles and cans slosh around and fill up with water and sink.
“I always had trouble with stuff blowing out the bucket, and then you end up littering. But even paper sinks in there and it doesn’t blow out.”
So make your 5-gallon bucket even a better trash collector on your boat — just fill it about a quarter- to a third-full with water. And don’t worry about trash flying out again.
“With water in it, pretty much everything you put in there stays,” Pellegrin said.
