Arctic Blast...What to do While Stuck Inside the House?

If you're like me, and you have a "fishing room", now is the time to get in there and play with stuff. Organize it, and start looking at hooks that need to be replaced, or check your inventory of crawler harnesses and perch rigs that you can make to replenish your stock before the season starts.

My room was so full of old boxes from electronics, that I thought I'd better keep, that I couldn't even walk into the room without having to step over something, so I threw them all out.  Just like when I go through my closets to get rid of clothing I haven't worn in more than a year, I decided that I had no good reason to  keep boxes with little pieces and parts any longer either. I did keep the pieces and parts, because you know as soon as you throw them out, you're going to need one.

I put all the little pieces and parts in a small box and put it away in the closet. Will I ever need them? Probably not. But, it's better to have and not need than to need and not have. I just didn't need to have the big boxes sitting around anymore. Maybe next year I will clean that stuff out again, but for now there's room to store it.

The other day, I got in there and cleaned it all out. There was so much room in the closet after doing that, that I was able to clear the entire floor area in the room, and organize it nicely in the closet. Now, I can go in and watch a movie while piddling around with my creativity making harnesses and perch rigs, without the nagging feeling that I've become a crazy horder lady. lol

I know the next question you're going to ask...."How do you make your crawler harnesses?"  It's very simple. Here on Erie, for the harnesses I troll behind the Off Shore boards, I use two hooks....a #4 treble in the rear and a #4 singe hook in the front. For harnesses used behind bottom bouncers I like to use two single hooks.

 

I use 20# test Sunline Super FC, and attach a barrel swivel on the tag end, so if I don't want to switch out the snap to a snap-swivel on my mainline, I don't need to.

As far as beed colors go...I have a plethora of colors and just have fun creating different combinations. I like to use #6 Colorado blades the most often, but if there's a cold front, I downsize them to a #5.  I have found that during a Mayfly hatch they like the rootbeer colored beads along with a #4-#5 gold hammered hatchet blade.  

There are hundreds of blade colors out there now, but I feel most are to catch the fisherman rather than the fish. lol

I believe, the bottom side of the blade is the most important, since I feel that's what the fish see's more so than the front side. Am I right? Who knows...it's just my gut feeling. I'm not a walleye, and don't talk walleye, so I can't actually ask a fish what it sees. lol

Having all the color options available to use and figure out what they want best each day, is key.  Own all the base colors...gold, copper, silver....along with antiefreeze, pink antifreeze, chartreuse, pink, green, purple, and orange. That will give you enough to choose from without having to own a fortune in different fancy painted blades.  You'd be surprised how often you can get away with just using the three base colors, so if you don't want to spend a lot of money, just buy some gold, copper, and silver, and you should be okay.

Now that I can walk in my fishing room, I'm going to go spend the rest of the day going through some boxes of building stuff that need organizing...while hoping I make it through the next day and a half without my pipes freezing or the power going out. ;)

Stay warm everyone....and, have a great day!

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls