Last week, I wrote about all the things boaters need to do to get their boats ready for the season. Now, what if you’re not just a boater, but also a fisherman? Well then, my friend, the plot thickens.
Rods, reels, line, hooks, gaffs, and nets take the same saltwater environmental abuse as the boats they are on. Consequently, they need the same love and attention. Funny how at the end of the summer we picture having plenty of time to do all the work we need to do on our fishing equipment, and then those winter months go by, and it turns out the fish are practically here before we take it on.
Rods have broken guides in need of repair, but the reels are what really need the work. Reels need to be opened up, exposing all the assorted bearings, springs, and drag washers. If the reels are freshwater rinsed after each saltwater use, they are usually in reasonably good shape, but if not, the inside of the reel is going to be salt-encrusted and all the parts will then need to be taken out and soaked in fresh water (or in Coca-Cola, a trick taught to me many years ago — Coke, it turns out, is an outstanding corrosion buster). Every part then needs to be dried and greased and then the reels put back together. Fishing line gets brittle from saltwater exposure and should be replaced every year. Hooks and gaffs become dull from use and need to be sharpened with a metal file. Nets have holes that need to be re-sewn or replaced.
Now is not the time to think about fishing as a practical endeavor. If you ever calculated the real cost of having your boat and fishing equipment in good shape and ready to go out and catch fish, the per pound cost of any given fish would probably be at least triple what you’d pay if you simply went to a fish market, pointed at a fish, and said, “I’ll take that one, please.”
Sometimes, the real value of a thing is more abstract and intangible than you might think. So it is with the intrinsic value of going out on the ocean, on your own boat, and catching your own fish. That experience and going to a market are worlds apart.
In case you need an incentive to get things done, it looks like the striped bass migration might be starting to get here. To our south, reports of catches along southern New Jersey beaches are beginning to trickle in. The prediction of a warmer-than-normal April for New England could mean the early arrival of stripers in our waters. But that’s just conjecture and wishful thinking at this point. These migrations are water-temperature driven, and right now water temperatures are still fairly chilly — that is, in the low 40s here as well as in Long Island Sound.
It takes a lot of sunshine and warm days to get things out of the deep chill that winter brings to our coastal waters. Some years it’s a straight line up, and other years it’s more of a three-steps-forward and two-steps-back process. But we won’t know until we’re in it what this year’s weather will be like. All we can do in the meantime is watch, wait, and repair.
