Gearing Up for Trophy Rockfish Season
By Captain Mark Galasso
If you’re like me the fishing season starts out with anticipation and organization. But by the end of the season chaos reigns supreme. I start getting ready for the spring as soon as the season ends in December. It gives me something to do when the fish are hiding and the Ducks and Geese aren’t flying. And for me it is basically a two step process. Putting away last year and getting ready for next year.
By the end of December my fishing gear is in disarray. Tackle boxes in which everything had it’s place are now filled with old leaders and tangled lures on rusty hooks. Soft plastic lures are all together. Some bleeding color into others creating new patterns that are truly one of a kind. Bucktails are stuck together with mats of tangled hair. Some with Pork Rind trailers that are so hard it takes a pair of pliers and an exacto knife to cut them off. Rusty hooks bleed rust onto hair and fibers ruining them. Swivels and weights can be anywhere. Duplicates of everything are in all ten of my tackleboxes. (By the fall I find it easier to buy new than look for old.) Since I run two charterboats I have two sets of most things. Since I end the season at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel much of my gear has been exposed to seawater. Just a little salt spray finding it’s way into an open tackle box in December could mean finding nothing but hair and rust when you open that same box in April.
So to get started I empty both boats of all my fishing gear. Rods, reels, nets and tackle. They all come back to my one room office. It looks like an explosion at a sporting goods store. The first thing I do is go through all my rods and reels. Fix any guides or tips on the rods. Then I check the reels. I fix and replace anything damaged. I then check and or replace any old or missing line. Then I wipe everything down with a light grade oil like WD 40. Then I back off all drags on the reels to take the pressure off the washer systems. I remove any terminal gear and put the rods away. If you are not handy (or just don’t have the time) take your equipment to the local repair shop. I my case Shore Tackle in Grasonville can service anything I don’t feel comfortable handling myself. Billy can fix the rods and he sends the reels out to an expert for service. Don’t wait until the final hour becuase he gets busy and so does the reel guy.
Next comes the tackle. I put everything into piles. Plugs in one pile, Lead Heads in another. Bucktails and weights in other piles. Soon I have ten empty tackle boxes and piles of equipment all over my office. Make sure if you have pets your door is closed. That lure that never caught a fish all year is the one that will catch the dog when your back is turned. Consider that a disclaimer so the local Vets don’t call me after surgically removing your favorite fly from your wifes cat’s paw. Then I throw out anything that I wouldn’t ever use again, and start repacking my newly cleaned tackle boxes. I comb out all my bucktails and parachutes. At times I feel more like a hair dresser than a fishing guide. If I can’t get them the way I want them out they go. Sometimes on larger baits I will save the heads and hooks and retie them with new hair. As I repack I make a WRITTEN note of anything I need to replace or things I need more of. That way I can go to my local tackle store with a shopping list well before the season starts. It also saves multiple trips to the same store because you forgot something. And at three dollars a gallon for gas. That’s important.
I’m a firm believer in lists. Not only do I write down what I need to buy for next year I also go through my boats and figure out what needs to be done prior to the new season. I write everything down. Repairs and replacements. Fixing and cleaning chores. I develop a checklist. And as long as the dog doesn’t eat it or I misplace it, I have an outline of what needs to be done before my first trip of the new season. A sign I see every once in a while sums it up. “Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part.” It’s funny how that sign shows up whenever I need something done in a hurry. So I try not to do things in a hurry.
Once I have everything off the boats, cleaned, repaired and organized, I work on my checklist for the boats. I remove all the electronics and store them in my office. I winterize everything and do a general service on the engines. I repair anything that is broken or I think might break in the near future. I go through my last USPS safety inspection and check all safety equipment. See if the flares and signals are going to be out of date by next year. If they are put new ones on the list. Make sure all life jackets, lights and fire extinguishers are in good shape and up to date. I even go through my tool boxes and oil my tools so they still work when I need them. The drawers on the big boat are just like my tackle boxes. Filled with tangles and old equipment. Anything that isn’t right goes on the list. By the end of March all I need to do is wash and wax the boats. Paint the bottom and load my gear. Then I can concentrate on rigging terminal gear and fishing.
By now we are into March and it is only a few weeks before the Maryland Trophy Rockfish season officially starts. Hopefully you have already started getting ready. Remember if you wait until April and contact your local boat dealer for service you may find yourself on a pretty extensive waiting list. Also if you visit your local tackle dealer to find that special lure the day after Trophy season begins you may be out of luck. If you want to find out what worked best on opening day go to you local dealer the next day and look for the empty displays. Chances are there will be more coming in next month. Remember “Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on our part.”