By Scott Norton
Getting prepped for the spawn can have its challenges. Serious anglers plan and execute their work early in the winter so that failures are at minimum when that warming trend starts to happen. The most important thing you can do if you plan on success is to be logical about eliminating situations that can actually ruin your chances at setting new personal records. If you have a list of things to do this should be your number one priority.
Things that can happen are mechanical failures and gear failures. Your boat has to be reliable if you are going to even attempt to run it. You can run into a situation that can ruin your trip or snowball into a failure that can ruin your season. The most common failures are your batteries and electronics. Dead batteries and corrosion of you connection points on your electronics will only ruin your day. If you are the type of person that neglects your boat is where the domino effect will take you out for the season. In the winter make sure you have your marine mechanic look over the health of your motor and hull. Have them write down things to be aware of so you will know when to plan an appointment. Once things warm up getting your boat in will take time because this will put you in the back of the line. Make sure you spend the winter downtime marking things off that list.
The next plan is something you can do yourself. Take all your out and choose what you’re going to use in the start of the season. You will find things like bad line, not enough line, rust on your hooks, bad bearings in your reels, broken or bent rod guides, expired registration, bad or expired fire extinguisher, or just being out of terminal tackle or baits. The list can be long and that’s why you need to know before hitting the water. The earlier you take care of these issues the more confidence you will have before the first day out. Many of us when we were young have either went with that friend that did not plan and you would take a vacation day or clear your schedule to only run into problems as soon as you get to the lake. I will say, ask me how I know. Many times, have I fished from the shore or docks because a friend did not plan correctly. Many of us have bought our own boats just so you can have an uninterrupted trip. We can never have a crystal ball, but we can stack the odds in our favor. Always have a plan and experience will come in time. Do your research and ask a pro for help. Today there are so many resources at your fingertips, so why not use them.
Scott Norton is a Western North Carolina native. Born in Asheville, N.C., he is a long-time hunter, angler and weekend warrior.