What do you do in the off-season?

[j bab]

7 hours ago, Catt said:

Same here. It never gets too cold to fish on Toledo, just too windy sometimes.

[Bluebasser86]

I hunt and build baits more when it gets colder, but I don't have an offseason. I can see the plume from the smoke stack of the closest power plant lake from my house now.

[Will Wetline]

7 hours ago, stk44 said:

Thanks. I will definitely check this out. Do you find that you save money by making your own or is it more just for the fun of it? 

I know with reloading, everyone starts out to save money, then you start buying premium bullets, brass, experimenting with powers, etc and then you start spending more money than just buying the manufactured product. Not that there's anything wrong with either option. Just curious.

I make my own baits because I enjoy small, detailed hand work. Do not get into this with the expectation of saving money. Do expect, whether you're molding lead or plastisol, that this activity will advance in the same manner as your experience with reloading - if you like what you're doing you will want to acquire more stuff to advance your capabilities.

Read this post:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/170471-jig-pouring/

and remember to read everything posted by smalljaw67 and cadman on BR and TU to name just a couple of excellent, knowledgable craftsman.

Have fun and be careful when playing with molten materials!

[N Florida Mike]

I fish still but not quite as much.I usually get out hunting some .I do home projects mostly outside stuff that I put off until cooler weather.I also clean and reorganize my fishing room,and tackle boxes,and oil reels.I get a break from mowing the yard etc,until March.So My goal is to finish all my projects before spring before the lawn maintenance kicks in.

But winter fishing is still good here.Caught my pb on Dec 31 !!

[stk44]

@Yeajray231 I found your off-season kit while browsing TW.

 

[Kris2016]

The off Season for me is maintenance.  Changing out treble hooks that have rust, making more name tags for Plano boxes, preparing reels for service by a local tackle store, cleaning fishing rods and reels that aren't going out for service this year, restocking of favorite soft plastics and buying new I want to try and changing out three Season old line.  Since now using a lot of braid makes the last one pretty quick.  I also determine what rod and reel additions, deletions I want to make and get the stuff ready for a local Fishermans Flea Market in March.  This year I am trimming the arsenal down and getting rid of seven bass rods.  Two Dobyns Fury models will replace them. a 734C and a 705CB.  I am retired and belong to an old guys bass club that does two club tournaments a month usually.  Without a doubt looking forward to next Season.

Also, I take my batteries out each Winter from my reservoir boat.  They are stored inside, tested, recharged periodically and retested before re-installation.  My present batteries in my reservoir electric motored boat are seven years old I believe.  They were bought used from a fishing Buddy and I have had them for four Seasons.  These are Trojan SCS-225, 12v batteries That run my MK Traxxis 70 and my MK Edge 55 btw. I also make sure that all my electronics are clean and safely stored, Lowrance Elite 5 HDI and a Raymarine Dragonfly 4DV that is not installed yet, for the Winter.  I also accumulate all the upgrades I want to make my reservoir rig better.

As you can see I can stay pretty busy here.

[jr231]

Ha-ha ! @stk44 you're invited ! 

[Yakalong]

Watch college basketball 

[CrustyMono]

21 hours ago, scaleface said:

My last interesting piece was half a Barber quarter . Click on the photo and it will take you to my photobucket page and you can see a lot of the better stuff I found .

Some of those coins you have found are really expensive. If you sold them, you would probably make your money back that you put out to get the metal detector. Those 1914 D Wheaties are a really great find. Keep up the great work! I would hang on to those coins, they'll be worth a fortune in a few years.

As for me, I do this:

[scaleface]

2 hours ago, CrustyMono said:

Some of those coins you have found are really expensive. If you sold them, you would probably make your money back that you put out to get the metal detector. Those 1914 D Wheaties are a really great find. Keep up the great work! I would hang on to those coins, they'll be worth a fortune in a few years.

 

It took me three months  to pay for that detector .

[kickerfish1]

We are currently in off season mode here. During this winter break I usually:

1. Order more tackle I don't need and occasionally restock the stuff I do

2. Organize and put away everything for a fresh start in the spring.

3. Do a basic cleaning on my reels and send some of them off for a more thorough deep cleaning

4. Sell off tackle I don't need or want to keep around any longer

5. Spend time researching techniques as well as watching some videos explaining them.

[lo n slo]

replacing the carpet in the Javelin, new fish finder for the console and the usual boat pm. as for the jon boat, i'll be taking it out of the water for the winter soon, might sell and upgrade there. decisions. i usually sink some christmas trees but that wont be happening this year. take stock, restock, and pm gear and tackle. 

edit: good time of year for me to get the outside work done around the house. git r done

[ww2farmer]

On 12/10/2016 at 2:35 PM, 2tall79 said:

Reload, shoot, repeat.

yup...

April -Nov. is bass season

Nov-April is reloading, and going to the range season.

I will ice fish occasionally

 

[bassguytom]

I will ice fish if the ice is safe. I also melt down and make stick baits from all the plastics I have used during the season. But most importantly I do any projects my wife wants me to while it's cold outside. Why you ask? Because life's a chess game and I'm Bobby Fisher. 

[stk44]

19 hours ago, j bab said:

Same here. It never gets too cold to fish on Toledo, just too windy sometimes.

I would love to fish there someday.

[j bab]

1 minute ago, stk44 said:

I would love to fish there someday.

Fly in for the Toledo Bend road trip this year if you can  that's asking a lot but hey you never know until you ask right?

 

[stk44]

1 minute ago, j bab said:

Fly in for the Toledo Bend road trip this year if you can  that's asking a lot but hey you never know until you ask right?

 

I can't this year, but I see that's a yearly trip. That would be a lot of fun. I would have to arrange for the Wife and little one to have some activities to do as well, since I'm sure they would want to tag along. Definitely something I'm gonna do sooner or later.

[CTBassin860]

Drill a hole and catch them through the ice!

[Columbia Craw]

8 hours ago, CrustyMono said:

Some of those coins you have found are really expensive. If you sold them, you would probably make your money back that you put out to get the metal detector. Those 1914 D Wheaties are a really great find. Keep up the great work! I would hang on to those coins, they'll be worth a fortune in a few years.

As for me, I do this:

 

Dancing with the Stars ????  I missed that episode.

[JT Bagwell]

I bow hunt, go ice fishing and get in some much needed couch time.

[CrustyMono]

1 hour ago, Columbia Craw said:

 

Dancing with the Stars ????  I missed that episode.

haha, that's funny, unless you're not kidding...

[hoosierbass07]

I want to go ice fishing and hope I catch my first fish under ice.  I also what to build a new computer this winter.  I've never built one before.   Also, go see lots of movies at the theater.  

[Columbia Craw]

No Crusty, kidding.  I wrestled in high school.  It was the best six years of my life.

[wdp]

On 12/10/2016 at 1:13 PM, stk44 said:

What do you all do when/if you put the rods away for the year? 

I get depressed. ? lol

Luckily the off season for me only last about 2 or 2 & half months at most. We had some unseasonably warm weather in late Feb this yr & I caught a few good ones.

 

[papajoe222]

4 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

yup...

April -Nov. is bass season

Nov-April is reloading, and going to the range season.

I will ice fish occasionally

 

Throw in a rod build or two and this will work until sometime in Feb. Then I start thinking about driving 300-400mi. to wet a line and the bait monkey hasn't been fed in months, so by April 1st, I'm out of reloading supplies because I've spent everything at fishing shows.