Winter Projects

   Every fall I put a list together of projects I want to do over the winter. Many of the projects are
replacing gear that I have lost throughout the year. Usually these projects are to make new leaders, flies, and poppers.

   First I do an inventory of everything I regularly have to replace. I start with my carp gear and see how many leaders I have left followed by baiting needles. Then I move to the more complicated striper and surf equipment.  I make my own leaders, poppers, bucktail jigs, casting eggs and albie deceivers. I also go through the lures I use regularly and put a list together of what I need to replace at the store. Things on the list include Zoom Flukes, Cocahoes, and jigheads,

   Next I go through my trout gear. I see what flies need replacing along with any lures that I may have lost. Lastly, I check on important odds and ends such as pliers, bug spray, camping fuel, and sunscreen. I put a list together of exactly what I need to buy during the upcoming winter.

   I enjoy the projects. I get great satisfaction out of catching fish on a popper or bucktail jig I made. I get no more satisfaction than catching an albie on a fly I made attached to a wooden egg that I wired and painted with a leader I made.

   Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself and start the projects in the fall. So I set November 1 as the earliest day I can start making the stuff. Since these are winter projects designed to keep me busy throughout the winter, it does me no good to have them finished by October.

   Here is a list of things I plan on doing over the winter. Of course, you  have your own style of fishing. I'm just putting it out there to maybe give some ideas of things to keep busy.

1. Put a list of all the equipment I need to replace. Inventory bucktail jigs, homemade poppers, leaders, albie deceivers, first aid and camping gear. (This is done)

2. Make 10 bucktail jigs in sizes 3/8 and 1/2 ounce.

3. I barely watch tv. Sometimes I'll go weeks without turning on a baseball game in the summer. During the winter I sign up for Netflix DVD and put a queue together of movies I want to watch. I will watch a couple DVDs a week. I cancel Netflix every March.

4. Make albie deceivers.

5. Make leaders for surf rod, carp hair rigs, and fly/casting bubble.

6. Make a couple poppers. I wouldn't have had to do this, but the huge blues last week took off with a couple of my poppers.

7. I broke a rod this year. I take the guides off my broken rods and saved them.

8. Make a half dozen wooden eggs.

9. Put together a photo album from 2016. I get my pictures printed from Shutterfly. I used to get them from Snapfish. The quality is just as good and Snapfish is cheaper, but the website is impossible to use since it was "upgraded."

10. I save all my issues of On the Water Magazine. At the end of the year I write in a notebook my favorite articles in each issue. This way if I want to reread an article about Cape Cod Trout, I just look in the notebook and find it in my Table of Contents instead of opening up fifty back issues. I only write down the articles I'm interested in. I'll never care about swordfishing the Canyons, but want to read everything I can about Narragansett. This whole project sounds long, but only takes an hour.

11.   Plan daytrips I want to do the following year. Yes I get that ahead. I don't need to know what I'm doing every week, but I do put together a "bucket list" for the year.

12. Study a bird ID book. I'll force myself to pick a group of birds (like shorebirds) and try to remember key marks. Who knows how much of this I retain, but I try.

   I'll probably think of a few more ideas. I enjoy doing these things. When I get bored making my eighteenth bucktail jig in a row, I'll stop and finish another day.  There is no pressure to do these things. I think the reward is worth it though.

If you want to make your own bucktail jigs I did a post about it. You can follow the link below. It is as cheap to buy premade jigheads as it is to mold lead (and buy the mold) so I buy them prepainted.

http://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2012/11/httpwww.html