For the people that love to fish, this time of year can totally suck.  The ice that is left isn’t safe, if there isn’t any ice the weather can be too cold, and our boats are still sleeping.  What does a person do until opening day (Wisconsin May 4th & Michigan May 15th in the U.P.) of fishing?  Well, you can sit and keep thinking about the opener, or start getting your fishing equipment ready for the season. Doing this might help folks get through this hard time.  Personally, I enjoy going through all my fishing gear and preparing for that first day on the water.  I’m sure everyone has their own way of doing this, but here’s a few things that could help those who do not fish often.

You can start by removing all of the items from you tackle box or soft bag. Clean all of the trays and take inventory of lures, jigs, hooks, swivels, leaders and weight and then reorganize all the trays, and depending on the amount of tackle a person has, this could take more time than you think.  Reels, remove reels from your rods and if you know how or (YOUTUBE IT) take your reels apart, clean and grease them (never use oil) and then replace the line. After a season of fishing, you will be surprised how dirty your rods can be (those tackle trays were, right?)  Once your rods are cleaned, check the line guides for any damage by wiping them with cotton balls and if cotton sticks to a guide, use sandpaper to repair it, because this could cause your line to break in the future while trying to land the best fish of your life. Put those cleaned and lubricated reels with the new line back on your rods and those are ready.

While you still have all the fishing equipment you cleaned, repaired and re-organized, on your mind, think about what else will you need for opening day?  Make sure you have those pliers, line snips, lip grippers, jig eye cleaner, hook remover, crimpers, measuring device and your net ready to go. An hour or so could be used for one of my favorite things to do, and that is sharpening knives.  So, if you take a day in between the tackle boxes, reels, rods, equipment and knives, opening day might not seem so far away.  GOOD LUCK ON THE WATER!