Preseason Discussion #2: Gear Talk

[JohnR]

As in previous threads we're going to hit a few items specific to gear.

Here I got nothing - I have done hardly any prep for this year - I need to send a reel out, rewrap a few guides, and respool a few rods.

So what do you need to do for season prep. what have you done, or what do you have questions on ?

[Rockfish9]

I'm ready to roll.. i do all my repairs when I call it a season...


Only thing to do is un wrap the boat and slap sopme paint on the bottom..

I put the ice gear away yesterday... It's almost time..

[BigFish]

I gotta take the yak out of the basement after I finish doing laps around the furnace! Gotta strap my rod holders on the basket of my new canal bike and make a few modifications, gotta put a reciever on the truck, buy a trailer for the yak and a bike rack! Also have to clean the rods and reels and put some new hooks on my plugs! Oh...also have to order new set of waders!

[capecodkid]

Gotta spool up everything this weekend then my reels will be all set. Re-rig some lures and tie some leaders and flies and I'll be good to go.

[luds]

finish the kitchen, bathroom, hallway, and spare bedroom. i should be tieing leaders and spooling up by november.

[JackK]

Replacing and upgrading some gear for the upcoming season. I've tried to save loot in the past by purchasing cheap equipment, and it's come back to bite me in the rear. So this year my credit card company is loving me

GSB1201m getting wrapped as we speak. New set of waders (ll bean rapid river), along with a pair of the korkers crosscurrents. Finally made the plunge with a bogagrip. A few other odds and ends... I have pretty much all the plugs I need, save a few more of those NB plastic bottledarters, and a few more wooden pencils and dannys. I need to start hitting craigslist hard to find a large old women's bike that I can convert into a canal cruiser. Other than that, I'm pretty much set.

Still adding to the piggy bank for a VS250... About halfway there...

[MikeToole]

Reels and rods were cleaned up at the end of the season so they are all ready to go except for putting line on some of the reels. Plugs have been cleaned up with hooks replaced as needed. Have all the hooks for eel fishing so will tie up leaders towards end of April. Got my eel trapping permit and federal registration card. Rigged up about 50 sluggos. Been out checking the ocean front and getting in shape.

Still recovering from shoulder surgery but still hoping to be able to start fishing in May. About the only thing I need to do is get a new pair of Korkers, the old ones will never make it through the season.

Birthday coming up in a week and I'll be getting a new GSB1201M for a present.

Now only need fish to return!

[cow tamer]

Started tuning plugs and identifying sinkers from floaters.
Rigged some rubber.
Reversed some braid.

[BillM2]

Got new Bean sockfoot waders this year with simms rivershed boots -so I should be "gellin". Also will be using a 10' St. Croix Premier surf rod. It's a little lighter than my other rods and throws plugs in the 3/4 to 4 oz range. Im looking forward to see how it does. But the most important thing is I got that little plastic cover that threads on my reel opposite the handle. I lost it last season and had to load up the reel with grease. I'm real happy about that : )

[Rob Rockcrawler]

Replacing a ton of hooks, riggin sluggos, tying tail hooks, taking apart reels for the sake of doing it. I will probably send a reel to buckos, its a back up but is out of commission.

[zimmy]

several rods to wrap, leaders to tie, waders to return, hooks to change. really, all I've done is rig some sluggos. Gotta get going

[zimmy]

oh yeah... plug bag to sew, hopefully.

[Rockport24]

yeah I need to do a bunch of stuff including rig up some spring rubba, re-spool some reels, tie some leaders, organize the plug bag, swap out some hooks, oh and my new thing this year will be making some tube and worm rigs to tow around on the yak! that and figure out a way to mount my gps on the yak.

[Adam_777]

I'm ready.I washed and lubed my reels at the end of the season.Rods are all set.May need some new braid on one reel.I tie leaders before I go out.I have a few items small terminal tackle items I need.I figure 1 trip to the shop and I'm good to go.I may take the yak out this weekend.Temps are looking perfect for a nice spring stroll.

[tattoobob]

I don't need to do anything, maybe clean some drags on my older Van Staals

[numbskull]

Gawd, I've got another 4 months of crap to do. Reels to clean, parts to order, two rods to wrap, 1 reel to buy, line to change, bags to build, plugs to finish, chartplotter/sounder to buy and install, boat to paint, water pump to change, vapor separator filter to change. It's hopeless

[Dad 818]

Re-spool reels
Test a couple lures
Organize plugs
Rig some sluggos

[chefchris401]

got done:

both vs reels respooled and cleaned
custom rods done and ready to go
new AS tall bag and belt
new lanyards on all my stuff, pliers, bogs, digital camera, etc. Cant stress new lanyards enough
new hooks and hardware

need
leaders tied
finish new plugs
teasers and flies

[smac]

Still need to clean rods and reels.
Re-spool all reels.
Paint bottom of boat.
wash/wax boat.
Change lower unit oil.
Make bigger plugs for the new surf stick.
get new waders.

[hyefisherman2]

i need to rig some plugs with VMC, re spool reels, tie some leaders, clean up the cave and i should be good.

oh and buy more needles

[ThrowingTimber]

4 weight cleaned, greased and line dressed.
9 weight cleaned, greased and line dressed.
10 weight cleaned, greased and line dressed.
Jigs poured.
rubber poured.
wrapped a red weave lamiglas 1165 conventional
wrapping 2 sw108's one for Candi (clemens tartan) and one for her father (simple chevrons in camo colors hunter safey orange trim bands)

Made up a few lanyards. Thinking of redoing them with eliptical bungee inside sleeves if time allows.

0 plugs built so far have to jump on that.

flies tied macks, sandeels etc. I'll probably need to tie a few more dries for the trout.
conventionals all cleaned and ready to roll.
Spinners cleaned and ready to go. Sent the vs in for service.

to do list is relatively short:

spin up some plugs, finish up the sw1208's, square away a bag Im working on, and if Ive got enough time I going to try and wrap a rod for standup spinning for tuna. Big poppers and stickbaits - thinking of the 8 foot phenix hybrid phd809xh-b I pulled on a rod built on the blank and I really liked it. The 8 foot concerns me in the fact, that it will help the cast but hurt when being directly over a fish, but Im told good communication should make quick work of that situation.

Want to make a spool I can wind my spectra on too.

Have been debating on going with 65# hollow and 100-130# leaders spliced and served or solid braid to leader with either a slim beauty or a page ranking knot. I guess both have their pros and cons.

[freebie]

pretty much all set. picked up new waders last weekend(simms freestone). got all my leaders tied. sluggos rigged. bunch of stuff for the boat tied up(cod rigs, pogy rigs, eel rigs etc...)terminal tackle is bought. just need to break the surf rods out of their storage spot but probably wont do that until I'm ready to fish. might work on a canal bike project but have one that fucntions for the moment

[Pete F.]

I thought I was doing well until I read this, Finished epoxying plugs today now I need to think about the rest of the stuff.

[glennjan]

Havent got started yet. Need to respool rig some sluggos go through gear and see what I need to buy to get started. I dont think I need much. Time to get off my butt.

[Thumper]

need to tie leaders, snell some hooks, finish some plugs, rig the rest of the eels and finish a plug box im building.

[Crafty Angler]

So far so good - right on track

Over the course of the winter I cleared out my tackle room (for the 1st time in God knows how many years), sorted through everything to find the stuff I forgot I had and actually tossed some stuff out - although not all that much, I guess...

I already picked up new waders, new Korkers, a new surf top and a couple of rods...checked and rehooked all my plugs, rigged my Sluggos and checked my eels bags...plenty of live-bait hooks...also picked up a new eel trap...then checked off the last few plugs I had to have at the RISAA show

May tie a few more jigs but it'll be more out of boredom than need...made sure I had plenty of slip floats and 1/8 oz jig heads for Spring light tackle blackfishing,too...

So I'm pretty much ready to roll - and real soon too - just gotta figure out what I'm gonna do for a new plug bag - may just go with another Surfcaster bag since the old one lasted for probably 20 years and I always liked the set-up

The only thing left on my to-do listnow is spool up my reels

My only dilemma is what the hell I'm gonna do for leader material...

I used to love 50# Varivas but it's all but impossible to get, it seems - Leptar sent me a link to a site a while back but it's no longer valid

Beats me - I finally gave up last year and used 50# Big Game, but I want to go back to flouro - maybe someone will chime in with their leader material of choice

[ThrowingTimber]

chuck I like the seagar 50# and

the triplefish 30# if I come across it.

[Saltheart]

For leaders
50 LB ande pink or clear or 60 lb Ande green. The green is more supplr but the pink/clear is tougher from a wear point of view.

Big things sre clean reels. Replace the levelwind pall whether it needs it or not , Cleaning reels to me means opening them up , cleaning everything and relubing. For beginners , make sure you can put it back together before you pull it apart. Pictures help (take before pulling apart from many angles , etc.)

This year I may change lines. Not sure , might still have a couple of 600 yard spools of Cortland Spectron to use up but when its gone I think I'll look at some of the newer braids as the Spectron has gone down hill starting about 4 years ago and the other braids seemed to have improved..

Check the rods for cracked guides , especially the tips. Wipe any dried salt , etc from the rel seay threads.


Every year I dump the whole jig bag out on the table and start fresh considering everything that goes into the bag. All season long I just use it , adding and taking out and the bag gets heavier and heavier. I don't mean a few jigs heavier. By the end of the season my canal jig bag has probably gained 15 pounds from when I first start, At the start of each season I like to start fresh.

I look over the plug bags to see what I have. Usually there is so much fat of the land that no new ones are needed , just get orfganized.

I do like to start with a fresh spool of ande if the old spool has been stored near and plastic curltails , Fin-s Fush , etc. Something in the soft plastic oozes out with time and can damage the leader materaisl and the spool its on.

Make sure the hooks are still sharp and touch up the ones that aren't with a file.

I like to look over the jackets , boots and waders I will be using. Make sure everything is all set.

So , I make sure I can dress wellincluding my feet , the rod and reel are A1 , all the lures are available and organized in their bags. The consumable stuff like line and leaders is in stock , get the informational stuff like the canal tide and current chart and tide and moon charts fro the outside (ocean) , take a drive or two along the coast to see whats happened to acccess and parking. Try to do some walking and stretching to get the legs going after a winter of couch potatoing . That about sums it up.

[luds]

I know we've argued this before don't understand why you guys are waisting your money on fluoro for bass. 50# Ande clear does the job perfectly.

[Back Beach]

Bring on the fish already...