Mark_VTfisherman
Lieutenant
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2008
- Messages
- 1,489
I had hoped to go fishing on Champlain Monday if the weather was good and waves calm but my fishing buddy backed out. I have never had my boat not put away this late before, but apparently I am going to have to acquiesce and store it- the off-season has arrived. I brought the rods in last night, snow covered and frozen. They were still rigged up anticipating their next outing with flutter spoons and a streamer. I noticed the big honkin' spinning rod and carolina rigged lizard from my last bass attempt at Waterbury Reservoir was still ready to go, too. Bah, humbug.
I read an article once where the author was talking about winter storage of his fishing machine. He was espousing making a log of all the things needing attention in the boat, what lures were missing, screws needing replacing, electrical connections which required a little tuning, and any maintenance not done. I am sitting here on my couch sipping some nice dark coffee, 8 inches of snow outside in the boat, which I didn't cover the other day. All that list making makes so much sense and seems so organized, but I am wondering how many of us actually do this?!
I would take my boat on Champlain - a big lake- without any hesitation on Monday with no more prep than filling the fuel tank and making sure I had the key before dropping the coupler over my hitch. If it's good enough to fish this off-season, would it be any less so in the spring?
I will accept some maintenance lag on my car, or procrastinate new tires, or not clean the thing very often, but my boat is usually clean and issues fixed as they come up. My boat is always ready, always safe, and runs turn-key all the time. After all, who needs to be dead in the water while fishing, and maintenance issues which are not too big of a deal on the car can be life-threatening on a boat.
To me, the boat is a platform to relax, fish, and take a load off. It's part of an avid hobby- I wouldn't boat if I didn't fish, and I probably wouldn't fish if I didn't boat. I enjoy cruising for the fun of it, but if I didn't mix it with a little fishing I don't know if I would get the point. So what to do? The list of "undones" seems appealing for the off-season - stuff to do to keep you busy while the snow falls and never melts - but that's like accepting winter! If you don't plan the off-season, you can try to tell yourself that winter is just a temporary interruption to the norm, and it seems so much less significant that way. Lying to myself I suppose.
I was wondering if others here in the northeast lie to themselves about the weather, fishing, and the off season. Do you get real organized to put up the boat, or are you reluctant like me, doing it last minute and complaining about the weather getting in the way of fishing? Is it April yet?
I read an article once where the author was talking about winter storage of his fishing machine. He was espousing making a log of all the things needing attention in the boat, what lures were missing, screws needing replacing, electrical connections which required a little tuning, and any maintenance not done. I am sitting here on my couch sipping some nice dark coffee, 8 inches of snow outside in the boat, which I didn't cover the other day. All that list making makes so much sense and seems so organized, but I am wondering how many of us actually do this?!
I would take my boat on Champlain - a big lake- without any hesitation on Monday with no more prep than filling the fuel tank and making sure I had the key before dropping the coupler over my hitch. If it's good enough to fish this off-season, would it be any less so in the spring?
I will accept some maintenance lag on my car, or procrastinate new tires, or not clean the thing very often, but my boat is usually clean and issues fixed as they come up. My boat is always ready, always safe, and runs turn-key all the time. After all, who needs to be dead in the water while fishing, and maintenance issues which are not too big of a deal on the car can be life-threatening on a boat.
To me, the boat is a platform to relax, fish, and take a load off. It's part of an avid hobby- I wouldn't boat if I didn't fish, and I probably wouldn't fish if I didn't boat. I enjoy cruising for the fun of it, but if I didn't mix it with a little fishing I don't know if I would get the point. So what to do? The list of "undones" seems appealing for the off-season - stuff to do to keep you busy while the snow falls and never melts - but that's like accepting winter! If you don't plan the off-season, you can try to tell yourself that winter is just a temporary interruption to the norm, and it seems so much less significant that way. Lying to myself I suppose.
I was wondering if others here in the northeast lie to themselves about the weather, fishing, and the off season. Do you get real organized to put up the boat, or are you reluctant like me, doing it last minute and complaining about the weather getting in the way of fishing? Is it April yet?
