If you've been angling from a boat very long, you know there is one undeniable fact of life that's not suspended simply because you're on the water. When nature calls, you will answer - eventually.

If you've been on a boat very much, you know what I'm talking about.

We might refer to it euphemistically (the bank break and a quick dip "just to cool off" come to mind), but we've all been faced with the inevitability of having to "go."

If you're a longtime angler and you swear you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, you're lying - either to me or yourself.

A couple of die-hard Texas anglers and first-time inventors, Matt Smith and son Kirk, have come up with one of those ideas that I call a head-slapper. It seems so obvious that when you hear it, you slap yourself on the forehead, saying "I knew there was a need for that."

They've created the Bassroom - not it's not a typo.

It's a "privacy system" for bass boats that allows you to take those nature calls with a little bit of privacy and modicum of grace in a boat-based phone booth, so to speak. It's not radically different from systems already in use for camping, but it's the first time tent and sanitation technology have been tailored for bass boats.

As you can see in the illustration, the Bassroom in action looks like a small tent amidships on the bass boat. It's not much to look at, but like a modesty curtain for the church pianist who likes short skirts, it allows you to play without worrying about embarrassing yourself.

The Smiths offer it as a great solution for the angler who doesn't want to leave a good fishing spot.

They also offer that it's "environmentally better" than alternatives - their Bassroom utilizes a sanitary bagging system to take care of the waste.

It's also a good way to make certain your "nature call" doesn't end up on YouTube, and you don't wind up having to outrun a shotgun blast because you've mistaken someone's yard for the piney-woods.

Development on lakes makes the "bank break" more difficult than ever before.

The Smiths didn't have a sudden epiphany, cut down a tent and roll their product out to market. They say there was two years of conversation before doing anything. They expected someone else to, well, answer the call.

When that didn't happen, they started working on something that would be both private and durable. Not all that simple when you're working on a put up/take down structure.

Their end result is a "bathroom privacy system" for fishing boats that is sturdy, comfortable, and easy to use.

It's basically a domed cover, a stool with a full toilet seat, and black zip-up bags for waste. The cover folds down into a 23-inche bundle; the folding stool and seat into another 18x21-inch package. The seat is your basic household toilet seat.

In place, the canopy tall enough to get into and out of easily, yet still low enough not to be "getting in the room of another angler fishing from the front of the boat."

Like any new product, the Bassroom didn't come to market without some modifications. When the Smith wives saw the original product, it had a three-inch gap around the bottom. That was to make it easier to work with the slope of most bassboat floors.

The wives didn't like the gap, even though it was invisible outside the boat. Final products include a five-inch modesty skirt around their bottoms.

The enterprising inventors have a pretty healthy sense of humor about the whole deal. That's reflected in their web address (www.coveryourbass.com). The Bassroom is currently available, in an adaptable system for virtually any bass boat at a retail price of $149.95.

If you purchase a Bassroom, you can rest assured that your bass boat finally has that last great option.

But the Smiths have a piece of advice for you: practice setting it up - on your boat - before you need it.

When nature calls, call waiting might not be an option.

--Jim Shepherd