This year has been a bit different for me in the winter time mainly because I don’t have my boat with me here in Alabama. But typically this time of year I am full-on tinkering with tackle, organizing it, and finishing up whatever odd ends jobs need to be done with the boat. Of course, there is definitely time I could be spending fishing, but in previous years I just really had no desire to go for a month or so.
This time of the year, it can seem that there is literally nothing to do fishing related anyways. So how do you keep yourself busy? I thought I would share a few things I do to keep myself busy during the winter months and share them with you all.
Tinkering with tackle
For me, one of my favorite things is just tinkering with tackle. Whether it be taking every hard bait I have out of my box, cleaning my boxes, changing split rings, or swapping out treble hooks I truly enjoy that sort of stuff. Probably my favorite thing is going through my terminal tackle box and organizing it, but going to the tackle store to restock said terminal box isn’t so much fun.
This year unfortunately I probably won’t spend any time organizing my tackle, but one thing is for sure … I will probably still continue looking at how people store their tackle. So my request to anyone who is reading this is to go get some pictures of how you organize your boat and tackle or just your tackle and feel free to share on the Facebook post you found the link to this story on.
Typical boat maintenance
Especially before the tournament season kicks off I use to really buckle down and try to get my boat ready and squared away before the season starts. Seems like when April hits in West Virginia it is one tournament after another until June before it slows back down. So, having my boat ready before the season starts makes it so much easier trying to balance school, and work and then getting to tournaments before each weekend.
I will say basic maintenance for me was changing the lower unit oil, changing out the grease in the hubs of my trailer, changing the tires on the trailer, adding new batteries to the boat, vacuuming, and hand scrubbing the carpet (even though it would just get dirty after the first trip) and whatever may come along the way. I think taking a month away from fishing and putting it towards just getting my stuff together before the beginning of the new season puts me so much further ahead when the season does start.
Gaming
As unpopular and probably off-topic as this is, gaming was a huge part of what I used to do in the winter. Especially coming home from work and it is already dark and just some nights it was too cold to work in the garage. You could probably find me behind my computer screen with my buddies chatting it up and playing who knows what.
If I didn’t answer your phone call in the wintertime… this might be a good indicator as to why.
In all seriousness I know there is a lot to be frowned upon with gaming, but getting together with your friends and just having conversations with them (even if it is over a headset) are some of the best and funniest conversations you can have when nothing else is going on. It’s nice to kick back and just enjoy some time doing that.
What do you do in the off-season?
So the real question is, what do you do in the off-season? Obviously, everyone does something different in their off time, whether it be deer hunting, spending time with family, working on other projects around the house, etc. But I am curious as to what you do on the weekends in the winter when you’re not fishing. Again feel free to leave a comment where you found this story and let us know.
