Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
After some time away from fishing, renovating to sell, moving north and getting re-established, adventure angler and Tackle Tactics professional angler Robbie Wells wanted to share his thought process and preparation for getting back on the road, on the water and into fishing.
Most of you would probably agree that there is a fair bit of confidence that goes into fishing to make you a successfully angler.
Whether that be fishing at your local secret spot or out there finding new ground to fish – confidence in yourself and your gear fuels you.
It’s what gives you the commitment to keep you and casting – waiting for that one bite that you’ve invested all that time into.
Confidence gained from the time you’ve put into researching the right rod and reel combination, lures, time of day, location, tides and other factors to maximise your chances of success on that target species.
With changing priorities, some of us have somehow drifted away from being able to pursue our passion for fishing.
Unfortunately, this happened to me recently… well for five months and one week to be precise!
Now, it would be easy to simply grab that tacklebox of gear and combo – already pre-rigged from that long ago last session of course – and go fishing.
You can almost guarantee that Murphy’s law would come into play, you’d be hooked up to a cracker and start thinking is your gear up to scratch after such a hiatus from fishing.
So many things can go wrong or fail from personal-induced gear failure… basically, being a bit lazy and thinking I’m only going for a quick fish.
I started thinking about my gear and couldn’t remember the last reel service or sounder download, and even if my reels were full of line, were my batteries full to avoid potential
problems on that first mission back out there?
Below are five tips, elements or steps that I went through to ensure that everything ran smoothly when I was back on the water after such a lengthy break away from fishing.
Rods and reels
When did you last service your reels?
It’s time to consider whether they need a rinse and a lube.
It’s also a great idea to service your reels if you know that you’ll be having a break from fishing, ensuring that they’ll be in better working order when it’s time to fish again.
This may even be the case for reels that you use for a particular type of seasonal fishing.
Check your rods for cracked guides or tips, along with checking the reel mounts and any other fittings.
