When going fishing solo always connect the safety cut out lanyard on the outboard to yourself so if you get tossed out of the boat its not going on without you.
I always launch and retrieve the boat on the windward side of the jetty.Park the trailer as close to the jetty as possible so that it stops the boat blowing around while you winch it up.

WhenI fish alone I always wear a lfe jacket / pdf,
Also I call into home and sea resuce by radio or mobile phone regulary, as it's good for them to know ealry when you missing.
Lastly I keep a big 25liter plastic container than has spare flares, radio and torch in it, as it will float and support me if it goes all cr@p out there.
I use a safty lanyard, but a longer one that normaly supplied to prevent false cut-offs.

Also make sure you have a first aid kit, ou never know if it going to be you hooked that day or worse a bait-knife cut! etc.

I have a big orange buoy with a waterproof saftey bag attatched to it. I keep this very accessible. So if something happens I have a floating saftey kit with my flares,epirb, first aid kit... also i keep my life jacket within reach and not burried under all my gear. In generall i have one life jacket at the front and one in the back, as i cant be bothered wearing a lifejacket/pdf continously Unless the weather is ridiculus.

Take lots of water, normally i have about 15-30L onboard, and 5L attatched to my saftey buoy. u can go with out food, but dehydration is a very big concern.

 Also If your fishing somewhere remote.. ie not metro and no rescue around.. i take a wetsuit with me and attatch it to my saftey buoy. Reason being is if you do go overboard and you are in the water for long periods of time a wetsuit will keep u warmer and give you more bouyancy.

big orange buoy is really good because it keeps you visible, and can keep a float lots of gear

Gday, I totally agree with the safety comments above but would like to add my two cents on a practical note.

As always with successful fishing preparation is the key, but more so with fishing alone.  I started out going solo and made a few mistakes, nothing embarrasing but it made me try to think it out a bit more, and when in practice works even better with crew.

The small bathtub boat we have is 14ft fiberglass tri hull. It has about 1/2 flat floor in the rear, a centre seat/locker and a tower in front of that with bait board and gear storage below. 25 hp Johnson outboard with an extension tiller bar so I can sit in the middle for the best ride.

As you are by yourself you need the boat prepped before even thinking about rods/reels/tackle.  A bow to stern side line for launching with an easily changed rear connection helps for launching/retrieval and should be easily stowed for the trip so as to not clutter things. Also Having the anchor ready for deployment and in a neat manner so you arent at the front mucking around with a tangle and not able to control the boat.

A clear path to the anchor via one side on my boat is essential and generally I load the boat to offset the single side fuel tank, my weight and the esky/dive gear/fishing gear for a level even journey to maximise the little hull protection I have from the splash while keeping a clear path. Offsetting the weight means even when I am on the side on the way to the anchor its still relatively stable.  

I generally have freediving gear and fishing gear on board when solo over summer as Cockburn sound is where I crab and fish for herring, whiting, skippy and recently been trying to chase some bigger bottom fish.  This makes it really easy to clutter up a small boat so you need to cut to the essentials on non safety items.

I take two buckets that fit into each other, one for catch and the other for burley. In the esky which is at the front for keeping the nose down I have beers, ice and I take lunch or snacks in sealable tupperware. A pack of large glad bags in the seat and I can generally seal up the catch and into the esky with crabs and beers, or can split some ice into a bucket for the ride home.

Siting the sounder/gps/radio where you can use it solo can also be an issue from where it is when there are crew as I sit at the back without the extension tiller when with crew.

Good rod holders for fishing and transporting is also a good idea, I havent sorted out the transport side of things yet so my gear generally lies in the bottom of the boat, but I havent got any bling rods/reels.  If I did I think I would go for something similar to Millseys(sp) boat. While I am thinking about it, also read luckytims? piece in one of the reeltime mags about solo marlin fishing out of exmouth heaps of good pointers.

A longsleeve shirt with pockets, longnose pliers in the BUTTONED UP pocket, bait/filleting knife in holder close to fishing position.  The tower in the middle is covered with cutting board material for a bait board.  Keys/wallet/mobile in waterproof bag in shelf under the tower. 

When Launchin at the ramp set the boat up in the carpark or standing area, not the launching lane, unless you like to fish with a busted face.  Bungs in, ratchet strap off, skeg up, sideline on the front but free at the rear and boat key/lanyard in. Go to the ramp, reverse down and into the water to usual depth.  Get out of car, make your way to the front of trailer, get the sidelin, Undo the safety connection and put the ratchet off the winch.  Take off cable and holding sideline, push boat off trailer.  Use the slack in the sideline to get onto the finger jetty.  Take boat as far out as you can and put the sideline over two bollards and attach to rear of boat on that side wrap around one bollard enough to get rid of the slack so the boat stays parallel to the jetty. At this stage I get into the boat, skeg down and start the motor for warm up. Back to the car, park in carpark.  Go to Trailer and with winch in freewheel take the winch line to the rear of trailer, attach and put on slight tension. 

When comming in to retrieve pick your ramp and put the sideline on that side. Come in in a slow controlled manner as canarvonite says on the windward for launching and retrieving. Put the boat into neutral and coast the last bit in and be ready with sideline and also to fend incase you misjudge it. Take the boat as far in the jetty as possible and turn off motor, raise skeg and turn off all electronics. Go get car and back up ready with the cable already set up, put trailer in, get out and go up to the boat, release sideline at rear, walk forward and get down to the trailer.  Make sure the winch is engaged, and there is enough tension on line to hold onto when walking down the trailer and enough slack that you can get it off the back of the trailer and onto the boat.  Walk down trailer bring boat in using sideline, line up, attach cable and walk back up the trailer holding tension on boat to keep it aligned and then winch it onto the trailer hopefully straight.

Phew!

i'm not sure you've covered everything sarcasm?!

The best way is to take someone with you,do the ring around,put a post on this site.Even if the weather is absolutely spot on I still won't take a chance on something happening.Had a close one once pulling cray pots off Two Rocks where the pot rope broke and I fell back cracking my head on the gunwhale on the dinghy.Resulted in a huge duck egg on the back of the head but could have been lots worse,never did it alone again.

i dont practice any unusualsaftey precautions - i travel slower tho and always carry more fuel than u think u need - pays to have a high quality reliable gps thats acurate and a well charged good condition battery and depth sounder - 27meg radio just incase u get in trouble and usual flares / life jackets - allso know your boats limits - dont venture past the line of offshore reef e.g threemile or five fathom etc unless during the day andd dead calm and make sure u can get back in if the wind blows up - dont go out in more than a 3 metre swell etc etc

than I normally would except talk less. I agree with having to be a bit more prepared though

I was hoping for a bit more detail but that will have to do!

Seriously though, thank you very much for taking the time to give such a detailed response. Going alone is not something I will do often but as my work can sometimes be haphazard I find myself with time on my hands and no one to fish with.

I like Northwests idea of the orange float attached to the safety gear container and is something I will impliment along with some other suggestions.

To everyone else thanks for you help and don't worry 3 meter swells and me don't mix at the best of times, let alone being alone in a dinghy.

with sarcarsmo but he could have gone in to abit mor detail for ya beejay! haha sorry couldnt help it but well done mate thats as good as it gets!

Sarcasm0's comments cover everything, the other point i would make is keep all of your fishing/diving gear etc tidy or packed away, just because youre by yourself doesnt mean you can have everything out across the deck,  all you need is to have a small grenny or wave slop come over the side and your gear will end up all over the place especially anchor and ropes which you might need in a rush either for yourself or to help out another rig and if you need to move around your boat quickly you dont want to be tripping over gear

alone in his dinghy and his 18.5 ft voyager frequently going west of rottnest, but more often than not he had someone there with him

just wear a PFD and put the engine lanyard and with some commonsense youll be fine