Once the weather grows more frigid, and the snow begins flying, fishing can be out of the question for some people. The fishing off-season can be a real bummer if you’re an avid angler. However, our experts on fishing trips in Florida offer these activities you can participate in during the fishing off-season.

Equipment Maintenance

The first off-season action we recommend is giving your fishing gear some tender loving care. Preserving your fishing equipment is not something you want to be forced to take care of during peak fishing season. Spend some time in the off-season with a few of these everyday fishing gear maintenance exercises.

• Cleanse your fishing poles of any soil and debris
• Check your fishing line for frays and tangles
• Respool your fishing reels with a new line, if required
• Break down your fishing reels, clean them well, and lubricate them
• Reorganize your fishing tackle
• Inspect your fishing hooks and lure hooks for deterioration, sharpness, or bends and sharpen or unkink, if required
• Inspect your hard lures for breakdown and repaint, if required

Discover More About Fishing

Like any skill, continued learning is vital to stay at the top of your fishing game. However, you can still learn from other people even if you can’t be out there learning while you practice. There are numerous different authorities to learn from and even more subjects to learn about.

Research New Fishing Locations

Just because you can’t go fishing doesn’t mean you can’t research and discover new fishing spots. There are various methods that we suggest to scour new local fishing spots. For example, you can utilize Google Maps or Google Earth to study your area and uncover new waters. First, use the map view to locate the obvious places in well-known waters. Then, switch to a satellite view, zoom in and find the lesser-known areas and the specific spots on the banks or water to fish.
We also recommend physically visiting the locations. Once you discover new waters, head to the actual site and explore. Winter months often make exploring easier, with much less greenery and fewer obstacles. Look for items like bank access, structures in the water, or water inlets, so you know where to go during fishing season.

Stock up on Supplies

Throughout the fishing season, you might have misplaced lures, damaged them, or even destroyed them. But, on the other hand, perhaps you just fished through your whole stock of synthetic worms, craws, grubs, and trailers for your soft baits.
The off-season is the ideal time to take inventory of what you have, categorize it, and refill or replace what you require for the coming season. This includes, but is not limited to, hard baits, soft baits, tackle, line, and terminal tackle. Being unprepared without a reliable, stocked tackle box is the last thing you desire on your first trek.

You might not get to fish in the off-season, but there is still lots to do to ready yourself for that initial outing and your first cast in the Spring. So take advantage of the time so you are not caught off guard and wish you had done more to ready yourself and your equipment. Check out our homepage to plan your fishing trips in Florida today.