Well, since most of the guys north of the DMZ have hung up the heavy stuff and switched over to striper gear, I will start with the first of my Winter Tips. I will be posting a new winter tip every week or so.

For my first one, I will start with something very important to me. TACKLE MAINTINENCE. this subject will be what most of my winter tips are on.

As most of you know who fish with me or read my posts, i am fanatical about my tackle.

Here is tip #1.

I used to throw away my hooks after each season and start with all new ones each year (told you i was fanatical) but this can get expensive. I generally do not use SS hooks as they are almost impossible to rust out of a fishes mouth when either released or they break off. So i generally use duratin hooks with some exceptions. No matter how well you maintain these hooks, they will rust through the course of a season. Rather than throw them out like i used to each winter, take a small bucket or any suitable container and fill it with 1/3 CLR (calcium, lime, and rust) and 2/3 warm/hot water.

Throw all your hooks from the year in there and let sit for a few hours. After a few hours take each hook and place them on a few paper towels or rags. Put more paper towels or rags on top and press down sandwiching them between the towels. This should take most of the rust off. If there are some stubborn ones, rub them individually and that will take the rest of the rust off. You will be very surprised. This will make your hooks look almost new again. Just sharpen and store them for the rest of the winter until its time to re-rig again.
Until next time. . .