Holy crap am i sick of winter...been keeping myself busy with building rods, plugs and tying flies but enough is enough! Snow today for a bit and they are calling for a "wintry mix" later this week with lows in the 20s.
Maybe i'll put the grips and reel seat on the new 12wt i'm building tonight...question is...do i put the forward Cigar grip on it or do i just go with the full wells? 8 weeks ago, there wouldn't have been a maybe at the front of this paragraph but after a while, even building rods doesn't do it. Stripers are in southern jersey...maybe i should just hop in the car and be done with it.
5 weeks to go from past log books...can i wait that long?
A few years ago I got tired of paying a mechanic to winterize and shrink wrap my boat so i signed up for an outboard engine mechanic's course and have been doing all the work on my engines since and found out just how easy it is to winterize an outboard engine. Here are the steps if you want to save yourself a little cash...
1. Fill up your gas tank
2. treat with Stabil and Enzyme treatment
3. run boat to get treated gas into engine
4. run boat on land at idle speed for fogging
5. Spray fogging oil into engine carb or fogging hole (4-stroeks) until engine dies or almost dies out.
6. Remove spark plug and give about a 3 second spay with fogging oil into each cylinder head.
7 replace spark plugs, only hand tighten (do not reattach plug wires)
8 turn over engine 3 cranks
9 replace plug wires
10. remove lower unit oil (works like on a vacuum - undo bottom first and then top)
11. refill lower unit oil and replace gaskets on screws
12. remove cotter pin, bolt and prop
13. grease prop shaft and cover to protect from weather
14 pump antifreeze into your engine either with muffs or through the hose clamp (newer engines). Use hand pump, don't start engine to circulate fluid.
15. Run antifreeze through all pumps - bilge to live wells to macerators.
16. Charge, remove and store batteries where they will not freeze
It's hard to accept the fact that its already October, especially when it feels like June was just a few days ago. Again i look back and think that i should have fished more, that I should be fishing more now but somewhere i know that no matter how much i get out on the water, it will never be enough to get me through the winter. Winter in NE sucks....and it sucks more if you're a fisherman. A week's trip or a few long weekends south don't cut it and by the time April comes around, i'm about ready to put a fly in my own mouth and pull myself around the basement for a good 20 minutes. I've taken up rod building to help the time pass and still enjoy tying for the winter, and having a fresh new fly box for each June (primetime up here) but in the end, there is no substitute for the winter blues other than time, the first Robin on the lawn and the first reports of bass in New England waters. The one thing i do not have, which i told myself i would, is an arsenal of videos from the season...i don't have a video camera and still can't put down the rod to film someone else's action...but if i have one Fishing Year Resolution for 2007, it's to buy a video camera and film the action when the bass are busting or the tuna are shooting bait sky high. Long winter ahead...but I'm already excited about spring and maybe visiting a few good friends down south during the winter months to come. Who knows, maybe this year will be the year i get back down to the bonefish flats of the Bahamas!
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