(Originally published January/February 2022)
By Capt. Ricky Wheeler
It’s nearly time for the fishing season. You, your boat, and your crew have been busy with other things that life throws your way in the offseason, but the season is fast approaching. Are you ready?
This is a loaded question. Mentally, I am sure you are chomping at the bit to get back out there and into the fishing action. Those bloody decks and leaping marlin are nothing but visions from the past or distant photos in your phone’s photo library and in your social media … it’s time to go make new memories! If you want them to be great memories, the time to get prepared is NOW!
Success without a doubt comes from preparation. Execution of a great day on the water only happens when you are prepared, or extremely lucky. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been that lucky! Before your season starts you need to check everything from the working condition of all of your reels and roller guides, to your line, to your rigs, and all the way up to the working condition of everything on your boat. As far as your boat (or the boat you fish on) is concerned, that varies drastically from boat to boat based on the size, type, engines, etc.
We won’t go in depth about boat prepping in this article. Here we will focus on
