I left off with the boat.. oh yes we need the boat and in short order.
It seems for most people that when we put the boat away for a long winter nap that sometimes it is in well less than perfect shape. The fact is that we have fished it all year and even though we try and keep up on things and contain all the messes that well it is a never ending job. It gets even harder when we are fishing in the late fall for those monster muskies and when we return to the marina they have shut the water off for the season, whether we are done with it or not! So now the spring is upon us and we head down to get the boat ready to go back intyo action for another season and we find that there is a seemingly mountain of work ahead of us.
We pull the shrink wrap off to find that someone must have snuck in over the winter and trashed this thing...WTF! We rub-out and wax the whole boat and then clean up the interior and put another coat of paint on the bottom then put another coat on all the miles of teak wood. Well that doesn't seem that bad.. for an army of people. Well it can be a time consuming and labor intensive project to say the least!
So now the boat is water bound.. yes finally there well only to find a punch list of all the stuff that has gone wrong or broke or just needs attention from the previous years use and abuse. So onto all that work.. well after it is all dsaid and done you just want to sit back and have a few cold ones and admire all of the hard work that you have done to get things ready for another season. Sometimes i catch myself thinking man is it really necessary to cover this bueatiful boat in muskie slime, blood, spilled beers,etc. Well that is how it is and when everyone gets to the boat they think that the magic cleaning elves just left as things appear showroom new yet again..
So the moral of this little tid-bit story is that when you get to my boat take a minuite and look around and realize what goes into getting this vessel ready and how it looks and smells. Noone is here to follow you around and pick up after you and fix the things that you break, so go slow and pay attention and be careful. Treat it like you would your own house unless you live in a pigpen.. then treat it like your mothers house! For all of those that do come and take care of things and help out.. hats off to you as the only magic elves that are around and the captain and mate!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Getting ready for the fishing season!
It seems as spring nears we get the urge to get back out on the water and do some fishing again. However for some of us we find that in the last winters rush to get the boat out of the water and everything stored...
Sometimes we just grab all of our rods & reels,nets,baits,etc. off the boat in a rush and simply toss them in the garage or basement and don't think much about them until they are needed again.
Well now it is time to go through everything.The big mess for some!
I like to put everything away neatly so i can take an inventory of what needs attention or fixing. I too though don't give it much thought until spring.
I now have to strip all my reels of their old sun battered line and reline them with all new line to start the season. While i am doing that i like to make all new fresh leaders and only keep the good ones as back ups! I like to clean and inspect the reels to make sure that they are working properly (drag,clickers,Etc) and oil them up a bit.
Now that our rods & reels are all set I look over the net and see a few holes that must have gotten away from me the previous year. If the bag isn't in to bad of shape i will mend the holes with a few zip ties, gotta love those things! Otherwise i will just put a new bag on to start the season off fresh.
On to that over stuffed box of tangled baits... Who put those away like that? Not I!
It is a good idea to go through the baits and check the hooks, make sure they have them and that they are sharp. I like to put them back in some order even though they won't stay that way for long. It is a good way to see what you have and what may need to be replaced, repainted or repaired.
Well that will get things ready to go back onto the boat.. Which is another story in itself. I guess instead of writing about this i better get doing it while it's fresh in my mind!
Sometimes we just grab all of our rods & reels,nets,baits,etc. off the boat in a rush and simply toss them in the garage or basement and don't think much about them until they are needed again.
Well now it is time to go through everything.The big mess for some!
I like to put everything away neatly so i can take an inventory of what needs attention or fixing. I too though don't give it much thought until spring.
I now have to strip all my reels of their old sun battered line and reline them with all new line to start the season. While i am doing that i like to make all new fresh leaders and only keep the good ones as back ups! I like to clean and inspect the reels to make sure that they are working properly (drag,clickers,Etc) and oil them up a bit.
Now that our rods & reels are all set I look over the net and see a few holes that must have gotten away from me the previous year. If the bag isn't in to bad of shape i will mend the holes with a few zip ties, gotta love those things! Otherwise i will just put a new bag on to start the season off fresh.
On to that over stuffed box of tangled baits... Who put those away like that? Not I!
It is a good idea to go through the baits and check the hooks, make sure they have them and that they are sharp. I like to put them back in some order even though they won't stay that way for long. It is a good way to see what you have and what may need to be replaced, repainted or repaired.
Well that will get things ready to go back onto the boat.. Which is another story in itself. I guess instead of writing about this i better get doing it while it's fresh in my mind!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
2009 Fishing Season Review
To all Mr. Muskie Charters Fans:
We wanted to give everyone a review of our 2009 fishing season. The season opened as always on the first Saturday in June and everyone was excited to get out chasing muskies and find out what the season had in store.
June proved to be a very good month for numbers of fish caught with an average of 6-8 boated fish per trip. However; the size of the fish that were caught were of smaller size mid 30” class fish being the average size boated, with an occasional mid 40” class here and there. We did boat in few fish over the 50” mark that weighed over 30#.
July was another gang buster month that had many days with over 10 fish boated.
The sizes of the fish that were caught also varied from 30” to 50+” class.
We had many days with double headers and the action was great all month long.
We boated 5 fish over the 30# mark and had 2 over the 34# mark on one trip.
August was a month where numbers went down a bit but the size of fish got better. We still averaged 6 boated fish a trip. However we did have multiple days with over 10 fish boated. We also boated a few over the 50” & 30# class.
September was a month where we had either a higher numbers day or less fish but of better size. We started to see more fish in the legal size class (42”-44”).
October was a very slow month with some low numbers, which is not common for the fall bite. However toward the end of the month there were two new lake records set within a two week period of time. The largest being over 54” and weighing 48.6#. It was a monster caught by Tony Jaros a long time Lake St. Clair fisherman that was a friend of Homer’s. It was nice to see that he was rewarded for over 40 years of muskie fishing.
All in all the 2009 season was a very productive year in many regards. It showed with the high numbers of smaller fish that the population is still very healthy and that we will have some great fishing for many years to come. It also had some of the largest fish ever caught proving that Lake St. Clair is the worlds best Muskie Lake!
We wanted to give everyone a review of our 2009 fishing season. The season opened as always on the first Saturday in June and everyone was excited to get out chasing muskies and find out what the season had in store.
June proved to be a very good month for numbers of fish caught with an average of 6-8 boated fish per trip. However; the size of the fish that were caught were of smaller size mid 30” class fish being the average size boated, with an occasional mid 40” class here and there. We did boat in few fish over the 50” mark that weighed over 30#.
July was another gang buster month that had many days with over 10 fish boated.
The sizes of the fish that were caught also varied from 30” to 50+” class.
We had many days with double headers and the action was great all month long.
We boated 5 fish over the 30# mark and had 2 over the 34# mark on one trip.
August was a month where numbers went down a bit but the size of fish got better. We still averaged 6 boated fish a trip. However we did have multiple days with over 10 fish boated. We also boated a few over the 50” & 30# class.
September was a month where we had either a higher numbers day or less fish but of better size. We started to see more fish in the legal size class (42”-44”).
October was a very slow month with some low numbers, which is not common for the fall bite. However toward the end of the month there were two new lake records set within a two week period of time. The largest being over 54” and weighing 48.6#. It was a monster caught by Tony Jaros a long time Lake St. Clair fisherman that was a friend of Homer’s. It was nice to see that he was rewarded for over 40 years of muskie fishing.
All in all the 2009 season was a very productive year in many regards. It showed with the high numbers of smaller fish that the population is still very healthy and that we will have some great fishing for many years to come. It also had some of the largest fish ever caught proving that Lake St. Clair is the worlds best Muskie Lake!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
