Fishing Equipment Check - Part 2

Outdoor clothing is vitally important to the fisherman regardless of the weather. I have fished on warm summer days and suddenly have been caught in torrential rain. A rain suit is a must. A small inexpensive jacket and pants will protect you until you can find shelter. I was recently caught in a thunderstorm on the U.S./Canadian border and by the time I had found shelter, I was in the first stages of hypothermia, so be warned, and carry a set of rain gear. It could save your life. If you own an old suit, check the seams for tears, if you find them, patch them or replace them. There are several kits on the market for suit repair. I use them for my waders also. The kits can be found in most marine outfitters and surprisingly enough, in some pool supply stores.

The bags and boxes you use for your tackle should be clean and dry. After a long season, I empty the contents, wash the inside of the box or bag, then dry it. Next I lubricate the zips on a bag with some light oil, WD 40 is perfect for that purpose. When working with a plastic tackle box, I find an old toothbrush a very useful item to get into those hard to reach places and give the box a thorough cleaning. Lubricate the hinges with more WD 40. Next I replace the fishing tackle into the box and ensure all the hooks on my lures are sharp. Blunt hooks will lose you fish. I can speak from experience fishing in a BASSMASTER tournament and losing 3 big smallmouth bass before I realizing my hook was not sharp! Make sure that there are no pieces of line still attached to a lure. Leaving pieces of old line on a lure is a bad habit and can waste precious time, if you suddenly need to change a lure because a fishing situation changed. I have found that an old pair of nail clippers is the best tool for the job.

Weights and smaller items should be stored correctly in dry containers and tools should be cleaned and polished. With conservation and catch and release in mind, vital seconds will save the life of a fish if your hook remover or pliers are in working order.

If you find your lures need some attention, i.e. paint chipped or broken/blunt hooks go to a local hobby store and you can find small tins of enamel paint for about a $1.00 that can match your favorite lure and give it a new lease on life. Hooks can be easily replaced with a split ring divider and a pair of long nosed pliers. Again these tools are readily available in hardware and hobby stores.

Always replace spinnerbait and buzzbait skirts at the end of the season. I see so many people take them out of their boxes and find the skirts "glued together" because they were stored wet and the rubber emulsified in the damp tackle bag or box. These are now readily available due to public demand in all good tackle stores. Just slip off the old one and replace it with the new skirt.

Replace your fishing line. I have said this many times before, but it is worth repeating. Line will become brittle. It will also retain memory if left on a reel for too long. You will lose fish and ruin a days fishing if you did not take care of one of the most important items that connect you with the fish!

Finally, remember to store all rubber worms and the like in plastic bags, keeping colors separate. The substance that most rubber baits are made with will react to hard plastic boxes and will "burn" the two when they touch, resulting in a nasty sticky mess and a ruined tackle box.

Tight Lines!