Van Staal Pliers Kit: At $175 (cabelas.com) a boater might choke, but a boating angler would drool. The Gold Standard of quality in fishing equipment, the Van Staal stainless-steel pliers are spring loaded for easy use. Tungsten cutters make short work of clipping wire and even heavy stainless-steel leader material. Plier jaws are textured for accurate wire rigging, and holes in the jaws can be used as bending jigs.

Coleman Camper's Tool: A tool is handy only if you have it with you. At $9.34 (amazon.com), we have no problem with leaving this stainless-steel multi-tool in the glove box 24/7. It has one precise cross-slot screwdriver blade and three different flat-blade screwdrivers to enable boaters to tighten nearly anything before it becomes a problem. Needle-nose pliers can help in a pinch to tighten battery clamps, and the sharp knife will help cut and splice lines.

Leatherman Crater c33RX: With a serrated blade so smooth that we nicked ourselves taking it out the first time, this blade is ideal for work with fishing lines and ropes. A pocket clip keeps it handy in the pocket or a lanyard snap lets you hook it to a belt loop. A cross-slot and flat-blade screwdriver also help keep things ship-shape. MSRP is $99, but we found it for a bargain price of $29.50 at bhphotovideo.com.