Winter is in full force and our days on the water can be limited. This is a great time of year to take care of our gear and handle a few projects that you’ve been putting off. Here’s a few things I’ll be doing this winter.
I’m pretty proud of myself, as I’ve already started on a couple of the smaller projects I have on my ‘winter to do’ list. A few weeks ago, I cleaned and covered my boats, organized the garage (a bit), and reorganized my office, and finally gave myself a designated tying desk.
Here’s what remains on my winter to do list:
- Fly Rod Tube Organization
- Clean Fly Lines
- Organize Gear
- Raft Maintenance & Upgrades
Fly Rod Tube Holder
As I reorganized my office, my fly rod tubes found themselves on the ground, without a home of their own. I searched the web and found some awesome solutions. However, they were a bit more expensive than I anticipated and much fancier than I desired.
I decided to build my own solution as cheaply and quickly as possible. It took me about 90 minutes to build, including going to Walmart and buying the materials. Cost of materials where around $20. Check out the video below.
My solution is by no means the best possible option out there, but it should give you an idea of a cheaper option to store those rod tubes.
Clean Fly Lines
I’ve been putting this off since my season ended back in November. This is a critical step to protecting your gear and helping your lines last longer. This process doesn’t take long and will really pay off in the long run.
The two line treatments above I have used with great success. They’re simple to use and work really well. You can click on the photo of Loon to take you to purchase at AvidMax; for the Umpqua you’ll have to visit your local fly shop.
Organize Your Gear
- Sunglass Storage
- Inventory of Flies, Tippet, etc.
- Inspecting Gear
As a guide, we have no shortage of gear and keeping organized can be tricky during the busy season. I really like going into the season with everything organized. During this slower season of winter, I really want to dial in my organization.
As I stated previously, I moved some things around in my office and made some space for a designated tying desk. One of my goals for the new year is to tie a lot more flies. Incorporating the fly tying desk has solved my fly tying space problem but brought up other issues with gear organization.
I recently purchased a cheap sunglass stand from Amazon, which will allow me to safely store my glasses but also display them so that I’ll be able to see them. This will prevent me looking through half a dozen cases to find the ones I want for the day. Not to mention, it should look pretty snazzy on the shelf. (We’ll see).
Going through ones fly inventory is no small task. I don’t envy fly shops for having to do this on a regular basis. I am doing it so that I can prioritize the bugs I need to tie. I’ve got some fly patterns left over from last season and some fly patterns I’m completely out of. This “inventory check” is not necessarily counting them all. Instead, it’s giving me a rough estimate of what I have and what I need more of.
I’ll also be going through my tippet inventory and seeing if I’ll need to order more for the upcoming season. I’ll inspect my fly rods, fly reels, and fly lines for any defects that need to be fixed or replaced. Doing it now will give me plenty of time to fix or replace well before the heart of my season begins.
Raft Maintenance and Upgrades
- Anchor Fix
- Ropes on Oars
- Captains Seat Organizer
- Stickers on Dry Box
I purchased a raft back in September and utilized it throughout that month for guide trips. I was fairly busy during that time and wasn’t able to make some adjustments that I wanted to make my boat a bit more comfortable for myself.
Anchor Fix
The anchor system on the raft is designed to have the rope go through the frame, which keeps it out of the way. Smart design but the friction it created made it extremely difficult to pull up the anchor. It was to the point where I’d bring gloves to help me grip the anchor rope to keep my hands from shredding to pieces.
Thankfully, it was a simple fix. I needed a pulley system on my anchor that would also swivel around and prevent my rope from twisting. I didn’t think about this when I ordered my boat, as my drift boat doesn’t require a rotating pulley system. However, my drift boat anchor system is in a straight line and naturally has less friction.
I highly recommend grabbing a pulley for your anchor system if you’re finding it unnecessarily difficult to pull up.
Ropes on Oars
I got new oars for the raft and originally ordered sleeve to protect the shafts. After a couple of months of use, I’m not really liking the oar sleeves so I’m going to replace the sleeves with ropes. From a functional standpoint, there’s not much of a difference; it’s more of a personal preference kind of thing.
Captains Seat Organizer
Rafts inherently have less places to store things. Everything is more constrained and it’s smart to make the most out of the space you have. My raft is 14′ which is a good size raft but it’s still 2′ shorter than my drift boat.
While guiding out of it this previous fall, I found that I didn’t have a great place to put my flies that I was changing out. Yes, I have a patch on my bag to place flies on but I don’t trust it as much with the smaller nymphs. I typically like to keep them somewhere safe and where I can readily see them so I know what I’ve used already.
Therefore, this winter I’ll be playing around with some kind of solution for this, for lack of a better term, problem. This isn’t high on the priority list but something that will make my day on the water a little easier and more organized.
Stickers on Dry Box
If you’ve been around fly fishing for any length of time, you’ve probably accumulated a bunch of stickers. Personally, I’ve got a Yeti Go Boxes covered with stickers, stickers on my fly tying desk, and still find myself with a shoebox full of stickers that have yet to be placed.
The dry box for my raft is completely bare at the moment and is begging for some accoutrements. I haven’t decided for sure if I’ll cover the whole thing in stickers or if I’ll just put a couple. To be honest, I’m not sure that I have enough stickers (that I like enough) to cover the whole thing. Most likely, I’ll put a few that I really enjoy and add as I go.
It’s been a relatively cold start to the winter here on the Western Slope. I’ve only been fishing once this year so far and there have only been a few days of good weather to take advantage of. I am toying around with the idea of doing some night fishing, as the full moon approaches but that’s a topic for another day.
I am starting to get the itch to get out on the water, as too many office days in a row can drive anybody crazy, especially a fishing guide. I will say that I am proud of myself as I’ve been tying up some bugs and quite happy with how they’re turning out. I certainly have a long way to go as a fly tyer but happy with my progress thus far.
Winter is certainly slower pace for me and I’m enjoying the extra time to do some reading and writing and prepare for another great year. I’m really looking forward to this year and expecting some big things to come. I hope you’ll join me on the water this year!
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