The sound of the morning news blares out of the television and I squint my eyes rolling out of bed to get my balance heading downstairs to make a cup of coffee. The sun hits the west hills just right and a red and blue color pallet displays across the sky like a Boss Ross painting. But I check the forecast and realize it’s going to rain the rest of the day and rain away my fishing plans.
But do not fear! A day at home can be the best to prepare for those long and grueling days of spring trout fishing for stocked trout. I typically take a half day to a day to get all my gear ready to go. And to help you get prepared and catch the most stocked trout this spring, here are a few tips and tricks for you:
1. Clean Your Reels – take a soft brush like an old toothbrush and give that reel a nice clean, add a drop or two of reel oil and make sure your reel is in prime shape. I have so many stories of friends using gear that’s dirty or been sitting around for awhile, and they wonder why they keep losing fish or the reel sounds kinda fund. Take 10 minutes to clean the reel!
2. Check Your Powerbaits – you never want to get to the lake and your favorite jar of powerbait is dry and doesn’t work. Check all your jars of bait, see which colors you might need to restock and buy again, and make sure you have all your colors accounted for. My dad loves to take a color or two out of my tackle box, so I have to check and make sure I don’t need to buy more from the store. Which of course I do need to buy more, you are welcome dad!
3. Check Your Line – depending on how often you go trout fishing, you should put new line on your reel. For the hardcore guys, at least once a year. But for the average angler, maybe every 2-3 years. But don’t keep putting off new line on the reels. Eventually the line will start to go bad and potentially become a tangled mess. I recommend putting new line on the reel and you won’t have to think about main line issues all year long!
4. Organize your tackle box and gear. Going out to the water with organized gear will save you time. Organizing your spinners, hooks, extra weights even gear like pliers and line clippers are small but super important pieces of gear to keep organized. And if you happened to spill anything in your tackle box, take everything out and clean it out good – you do not want shrimp scent all over everything!!!
5. Do Your Research – if you plan to go fishing on some new bodies of water or new locations, take some time using Google Maps, OnX maps or other apps to find entry points, bends in the river or small walk in spots that could be the juice! Preparation is the key to success, and spending some time on the computer or phone could help you land more trout before you make a cast.
6. Go To Your Local Fishing Store – I love my local fishing store, Fisherman’s Marine. Some days I will just go into the store in the spring and see what new baits or colors have hit the store and grab some baits for the season. I challenge everyone to go to your local store, see what’s new and purchase a few new baits to try. You never know if you land on the motherland of trout with a new bait.