So I Start Noticing when Getting Home From 3rd Shift That on my Covered Triton Tr-20 Sitting in the driveway that had been acustomed to many morning trips this summer, ( kind of a drive home-unplug-hook up-and get gone kind of scenario repeated randomly throughout the week) is progressivly getting covered more and more with frost from cold illinois nights. "Not Yet!" i think to myself wondering where in the world the warm weather has slipped off to...
Time to face reality i suppose as living in the midwest isnt quite as fair on us as it is on my Southern friends. Following trucks in the morning pulling small trailers with camoflaged ATV's should have been my hint, but i still wait out those unseasonbly warm days to hook up the boat and get on the water. When Those Days seem to be a shot in the dark here is the break down.
First and foremost get the boat winterized!!
I just call up the dealership where i bought it from, schedule an appointment, and drop it off. They can usually get it done within a days time and this year i was even able to pick it up a few hours after i dropped it off.
My Parents own a Marina on the Mississippi River and i have seen my share of Large Yachts and Housebouats get winterized but i still choose to have my dealership winterize the boat for me for a couple reasons.
• Generate Buisness For The Dealership in an economy that has not been too kind to the Marine industry
• Peace Of Mind That the winterization is being done correctly; these guys do this for a living there has to be something good about that as opposed to me struggling with it on a Saturday afternoon
•Probably the MOST important reason for me taking my boat to the dealership for maintnance is so they know i am taking the time to take care of my boat by professionals and not taking shortcuts to save a few bucks. This helps in total resale of the boat when i want to trade it in on a newer model down the road. This way they have documented every single time i have taken the boat in to them and they know exactly what has been done to the boat.
After the Mind is at ease that my Outboard will more than likely start March when i start Fishing again, it is time to stare at the Moutainous pile of tackle that has accumulated in my Basement.
What to do?
My Custom soft plastics buisness keeps me quite busy year round, but in between orders to keep my mind at ease an for a little change of pace these are some things i do while theres a foot of snow on the ground and 8" of ice on my favorite lakes..
I like to start one project at a time....first thing that comes to mind when looking at all of this tackle sitting in front of me is "I wonder just how much tackle of mine is sitting on the bottom of the lakes on a stump or in a brush pile" ( Hint: Some Lakes drop there water levels in late fall so i go back and have retrieved SOME tackle i had lost in the summer while flipping brush and laydowns ) so i think one technique at a time... Crankbaits, Texas Rig, Spinnerbaits, Jigs are all things that tend to get snapped off. Take the time to go through your inventory and replace all these things and even re organize each box. Small things Save Big amounts of time while on the water in Tournament Situations
Take a Look at all hooks, sharpen and replace them if necessary
A Small Thing that i also do is take all my rods one by one and take the reels off and wipe my rods down, usually with just warm water to get any algae & hard water spots off of the blank. Then ill take a cotton Q-tip and get each end wet with warm water and swab out the line guides. I like to use Braided Line on My Spinnerbait rod and Flippin stick which brings in alot of debris and leaves line guides straight up filthy.
As far as the reels go, i take warm water and wipe off any algae build-up on the line guide an on the outside face of the reels. I leave the strenuous cleaning to my local Bait shop. They Call it COAG service on the reels COAG being a synonym for Clean, Oil and Grease. They take the reel completly apart and use special cleaning solutions to clean every part of the gears and bearings in the inner workings of the reel. The best part about taking my reels to the Shop i take mine too is that they hire High School Kids on the Moline High School Bass Fishing Team to help out in the shop, This gets High School kids into Tournament Fishing and they really get to learn every little part of the industry.
March Really isnt THAT far away and ill be Back on the water, so now is the time to control the few aspects of this game that i can...
Hopefully This Helps Ease the Start of Cabin Fever With a Little something to keep you occupied as well!
CATCH A MONSTER!!!
By: Derek Kaalberg
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