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Well, this Spring I’ll have the pleasure of bass fishing on the awesome California Delta once again, with my buddy Cooch (Andy Cuccia).

I fished the Delta with Cooch back in March of 2005. The action was a little slow for me, but it was worth it because I landed my personal best LMB of 9 lbs. 14 oz. 🙂

9 lbs. 14 oz. - Black/Blue Senko

Cooch also landed one over 9 lbs. that day too.

We hit them both on large Senkos in black w/blue flake. Needless to say, that day made me a believer in the power of the Senko!

This year, I’ll be taking my best friend Bob with me and we’ll be spending 3 solid, consecutive days fishing with Cooch, so I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome of it, with so many hours of fishing on such an awesome body of water, with a guide of the caliber of Cooch.

Cooch is pretty well-known in western circles and has won more than his share of tournaments on the Delta and on Clear Lake, as well as many other waters in the area.

What’s really cool, though, is that Cooch actually lives right on the Delta, literally. I mean… it’s in his back yard! How’s that for an intimate knowledge of a body of water?

So, I’m looking forward to Spring for more reason than one, and I think you’ll understand why!

Now, go bag a hawg!

Curt <><

Here’s another quick boat winterization tip for you. This tip actually needs to be in action before you actually store your boat for the winter. Put this tip into play when the night time temperatures start to get down into the low 40s or high 30s.

When you get home from your fishing trips, be sure to remove your motor toter and lower your motor all the way down, so all remaining water in the cooling system water jacket drains out. This will keep the water from freezing inside of the water jacket and cracking something.

Lowering your motor all the way down will also keep water from collecting in your lower unit, in the exhaust port, if it rains. Allowing water to collect in the lower unit from the rains may also cause damage if it freezes.

Remember to start putting this boat winterization tip into action well before Winter actually sets in. It will save you a lot of money and some serious aggravation!

Now, go bag a hawg!

Curt <><

So lets talk about winter boat maintenance again for a little bit.

The thing I want to talk about today is not the boat itself, but the trailer that it sits on. Most people winterize their boat and fail to remember the trailer, and it ends up sitting there all Winter, with no winterization or maintenance done to it at all 🙁

So what about the trailer??

First of all, there are items on your trailer that need to be tended to before it sits unused for 3 – 5 months.

First on the list would be your trailer tires. Do you know that it does to a set of tires to site there in the same spot for months at a time? Sidewalls can crack, flat spots can develop and tire pressure can decrease.

There are a couple of things you can do to prevent this.

The best option is to put the trailer on jack stands and remove the tires and rims and store them inside for the Winter. The second best option is to put the trailer on jack stands to get the weight off the tires and to then put some kind of cover over the tires, after applying a good coat of armor all or tire shine, to help preserve the rubber and prevent cracks and dry rot.

Next on the list are the trailer bearings. Make sure they’re filled with fresh grease for the Winter. If the trailer isn’t fairly new (three years old or more) the bearings should be removed, cleaned, inspected and then repacked with fresh grease. If they look worn or the bearing race looks pitted, replace the bearings and races and pack with fresh grease, then re-assemble it all. When Spring comes around, you’re ready to roll with fresh grease and/or new bearings.

One other thing that some people like to do, and something that I recommend, is to oil your hitch’s latch mechanism. Lift the latch and squirt a small amount of light oil in around where the latch passes through the trailer tongue, then move the latch up and down several times to work the oil into the pivot points.

After doing this, take a plastic bag of some sort and place it over the hitch, securing it with some string or some type of wire, to keep it from falling or blowing off. This prevents rain, snow and ice from getting into the hitch mechanism and causing it to rust or bind up later on down the road.

Last, but not least, inspect all of the trailer’s lights and exposed wiring. Check to make sure the bulbs all work, then check the wires and look for nicks or kinks that could pose a problem, and fix anything you find that looks like it might be trouble.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back with more boat and trailer winterization tips later on.

Remember, taking the time to maintain things now will prevent them from failing unexpectedly later on down the road, when you need them to function.

Now, go bag a hawg!

Curt <><