ALEXANDRIA —

March can be a bit of a difficult time for this open-water angler. The weather is starting to turn for the better, so I am very anxious to be in a boat. Yet, lakes across the Midwest are still ice-covered, meaning my boat and this angler are still on the sidelines. Nevertheless, there are some things that I, and we all, can do to get ready for when ice is off the lakes.

One thing that I work on all winter that really ramps up in March is cleaning my tackle boxes, taking tackle inventory, and restocking the boxes. I go through each of my couple dozen tackle boxes during the offseason. The first thing I do is empty each box, clean it, and then reorganize the tackle in the box. During this process, I have a notepad and pen and write down what tackle I am short of that needs replacing. I get that tackle on order.

Not only do I note and eventually acquire the tackle I am short of, but now is also the time that I note what I want in new tackle products. Every year new lures catch my eye and now is the time when I order those lures and then get them stocked into either an existing tackle box or dedicate an entire new box to the freshly acquired items. Spending time with these projects now means that I will have clean, reorganized, and fully stocked tackle boxes for the coming season.

Not only do I spend time with tackle now, but I also give attention to my rods and reels. I try to clean reels in the fall before putting them away for the winter. Now, however, I check each of my fishing rods and the eyelets on them for breaks or cracks and replace any that are damaged. Nothing is more frustrating than losing a big fish, or any fish for that matter, to a cracked rod eyelet that cuts the line while a fish is being battled. I run a Q-tip through the inside of each guide to check for cracks or breaks and then take them to the local bait shop where they can replace any broken guides.

Tackle preparation and rod and reel maintenance are important parts of my offseason routine. The other thing that I do now is to strip the line from all my reels. Once the existing line is off the reels, I like to re-spool some – but not all – of my reels.  I only re-spool those rods that I will be using this coming spring. The rods that get only summer use (some of my bass fishing rods, for example) will get a new line closer to when I will use them. I like to wait until closer to the use date for the spooling line to prevent the line from developing memory from the reel spool. The fresher the line, usually the more manageable the line so I like to wait until close to when I am using a rod and reel to spool fresh line on it. When it comes to fishing lines, I have been using the CONTRA lines in recent seasons. They are available in monofilament, fluorocarbon, and braid and I have good success with all three options being strong, yet very manageable too.

Here’s wishing you good success this coming season. Enjoy your time on the water and remember to include a youngster in your next outdoors adventure.

Mike Frisch hosts the popular Fishing the Midwest TV series on Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, and FanDuel Sports.  Visit

fishingthemidwest.com

to see TV schedules and all things Fishing the Midwest.