To others, preparing for the fishing
season includes certain rituals and tasks.
Check your boat as well as your boat
trailer. You don’t want to find out that the trailer needs attention
when you get ready to take that first fishing trip of the year, and you
don’t want to discover that the boat won’t start when you arrive at the
boat ramp. Check the air pressure in the trailer tires, make sure
everything that needs to be greased is, check charge levels in the batteries,
insure that battery connections and power connections to sonar units, electric
motors, and the like are in good shape, and make sure you have the plug
in the boat. It is amazing how many boats fill up with water on the
first trip of the year because someone forgot to put the plug in.
Lots of anglers like to have their reels oiled before the season starts. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, timing isn’t quite as critical, but if you have a reel-repair person perform this task, you need to get the reels to him right now. Reel-repair people are often swamped with maintenance jobs this time of year. Check the guides on your rod for chips or cracks. A damaged guide can nick your line, which weakens it. The same person that repairs your reels can probably repair a guide. Now dig into your tacklebox. Do an inventory and determine which baits you are missing and which baits need to be added to your arsenal. Are any of the hooks rusty? If so, can they be replaced, or does the entire lure need to be replaced? Rusty treble hooks on crankbaits can be replaced, but rusty jig hooks can only be cured by buying new jigs. If you’re a walleye angler, be sure to add some of the new Frenzy medium-diver minnow baits and some Rainbow 3-D spinners to your collection. These guys were killers last year. Many anglers enjoy this preparation
for the fishing season almost as much as the actual fishing. I don’t,
but I also realize this preparation helps make the first trip of the year
an enjoyable one.
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Now on to fishing tackle and equipment.
This is the time of year to put fresh line on your reel. Many anglers
take the line off their reel in the fall after their last fishing trip
of the season. This forces them to start out fresh with new line
the next spring. Select a line that is most appropriate for your
use. If you want a line that is invisible to the fish, Vanish line
is the best. If sensitivity and no-stretch is important, FireLine
is great. Trilene XL and XT still do a wonderful job in most situations.