It was a February day. I was planning to go out crappie fishing with my son. We live in the Midwest, so winters usually are not too bad. When I looked out the window, the wind was blowing so hard the snow was falling horizontally, not vertically, and the roads were icy. We would wait until a better day.
I decided I would start getting my fishing stuff ready for spring crappie fishing. I went to the garage and brought all my crappie rods and reels in the house. My wife does not believe me when I tell her that they are male and female, and they multiply when stored too long in a dark garage.
I remove the line from the reels, especially those with bird nests. I sure wish birds would not do that. Next, I clean and oil them, tighten screws, and put on new lines.
Some of my older rods needed replacing but that is hard to do when you have had them so long. They seem like an old friend. Besides, with some of the prices now, I would have to take out a small loan.
I lovingly carried all my rods and reels back to the garage. Now, it was time for several trips bringing in tackle boxes. My wife was not falling for the same story I gave her about the rods and reels. She shook her head and left the room.
It is unbelievable what you can find in your tackle boxes when you sit down to straighten and clean them on a nasty winter day. A crappie jig hook was bent out straight. That happened when I hooked a snake and tried to cast it off.
I also found a half-eaten peanut butter sandwich, a melted candy bar, old fishing line, rusted hooks, assorted sinkers everywhere, empty bait jars, used Band-Aids, and dried blood in several places. I do not remember how I cut myself. Maybe it was that snake’s fault.
My exceptional mind thought it would be a good idea to take everything out of each box and lay it out on the floor. That way, I could wash out all the tackle boxes in the bathtub, dry them with my wife’s bath towels, and then put them all back organized.
One thing you should never do when cleaning and organizing crappie boxes is wash them in your wife’s bathtub, which she loves to take bubble baths in. Also, never lay out lures and hooks on carpeted floors. It is hard to pick up hooks off the carpet without getting a lot of snags.
That, and stains, means new carpet. I will also eliminate all expenditures planned for new crappie tackle and some crappie fishing trips. Cleaning and straightening crappie boxes on a cold winter day can be expensive.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
“My biggest worry is that when I am dead, my wife will try to sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it.” ~ Koos Brandt
