Herring Bytes: Spring Training!

After a long wet winter and 150+ days since my boat was last on the official hunt for salmon, my modified version of spring training starts Saturday with the first trip of 2011. The objective is always to have a good time with friends and family on the water while we aggressively try and catch fish. However, it's still just a little bit early in the year for salmon, so as I've done in years' past, we're going to spend a little time working out the kinks for a day. Really, that's my way of setting low expectations and under promising - with all intention of over delivering. (I've made a living with this approach - kidding, sort of)

Most successful fisherman will say that half of catching fish is what takes place the night before vs. out on the water - meaning that it's the preparations and homework done before getting on the water that gets a fair amount of the credit for a successful catch. I fully subscribe to this way of thinking and one would be hard pressed to find someone more prepared this spring than I am - it is after all, really one of the only aspects of this sport I love that I can fully control - preparation.

This past weekend was spent finalizing the preparations and all that goes into spring salmon fishing; installing a new prop on the big motor (don't ask), 3 rods locked and loaded w/ a 4th as a backup in the rod storage, 25lbs. of lead for all my buddies who get stagged and lose gear on a regular basis, enough flash to make Bourbon street jealous (even though we run the herring naked most of the time), a little UV this year to spice things up, stink stocked in 8 different flavors, 25+ tied mooching/herring rigs, 10+ dropper lines, stupid baits (I mean Super) tied, herring brine recipe items stocked, egg cure ready, etc... (That's a lot of fishing slang!!) With these preparations in place, we'll be well positioned to maximize our opportunities.