| Even
though there are still fish to be caught pretty much everywhere on the
West Coast that isn’t icebound, January and February are the “offest”
months of the off-season. In March, when the trade show circuit is in
full swing, we’re back at it in spirit at least, and in body when and
where conditions allow. But in those first two months, winter is at its worst, and there’s annual boat maintenance to do, and good football to watch, and new snow on the slopes, and resolutions to follow about spending so many hours a week at the gym or finally cleaning out the garage. This is the time to take or send your reels in for service; they really do need a good going over every year or so by someone who knows what they’re doing. It’s also a good time to audit and organize your ever-expanding collection of tackle. I take great pleasure in spreading everything out on the coffee table and the couch and the floor around my feet and sorting through it during timeouts and commercials while I watch the game. My wife, not so much. After I’ve cleaned the lures, replaced the rusty hooks and worn leaders, and oiled the tools, I sort them carefully back into their freshly wiped-out tackle trays by application — bass and halibut, yellowtail and white seabass, bottom fishing, inshore trolling, offshore trolling. Each tray is neatly arranged by color and size. Will they stay that way? Not a chance. Hopefully, each and every one will be a jumbled mess by mid-June, and remain so until next January. Cleaning and sorting tackle each winter is more a ritual than anything else, really, a way to revisit the best moments of last season (Look at those toothmarks! This must be the jig that huge lingcod ate on the San Quintín trip.) and to let the fish-gods see that you hope the coming one will be even better. |