Winter Doldrums
During the winter months I don’t fish. Many people like to get on the ice and I say bravo. I used to ice fish when I was younger and it was fun. Me and my friends at that time usually had erected a shed on the ice made from 2×4’s and frame of about 8′ x 4′ and tarpaper walls and roof which sat on skids to be moveable. Inside we had a pot bellied stove and some folding chairs. We would catch mainly yellow perch or trout depending on where in the country we were. Being in the military 20 years, places changed and so did my fishing buddies. We would cook the fish and some fried potato’s and some canned beans; it was good. I miss that especially the comradeship. Now however, here in the middle of Illinois the ice is sometimes very thin and too dangerous to get out on much of the time. And I don’t have the hardiest of friends that I used to in the military. Were all pretty much too old.
So, I use the time to strip all by reels, clean and oil them, and change lines. I also resort my tackle boxes. Sometimes I will completely rearrange them to better accommodate the the way I intend to begin the new upcoming spring season. I have also purchased several of the cloth fishing bags that accommodate the plastic trays so that they are interchangeable. This allows me to take one, or maybe two small bags fishing, without having to take one big box. When fishing from my small two man boat or my inflatable raft this system doesn’t crowd the boat.
I also limit myself to three or maybe four rods in my small boats. But, in my G3 John boat, a 14 foot with a 9.9 motor, I’ll carry five or six rods. And I always have a fly rod or two with me. This allows me to try a fairly large variety of fishing methods during any fishing day without having to change lures constantly.
Well, that’s it for now. Tight lines.
Jim
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December 23rd, 2008 at 6:45 am
Jim it might also be a good time to catch up on the latest addition of your favorite fishing magazine,or fishing shows on TV.And a great time for the NFL. Here in Tennessee I can still get out and do some fishing as we do not have the ice problem you have up north. But it still gets cold, this morning it’s 30 but yesterday it was in the 20’s, in fact it got down to 9 at my house at 5:00am, but if you dress warm it’s OK. Bill
December 25th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I’m new to fishing, so don’t laugh, but why can you go ice fishing in the winter but not regular fishing?