An old Mark Chesnutt tune bemoans the dog days of summer by lamenting that it's, "too hot to fish, and too hot to golf."
Well, it's too cold to fish right now and too cold to do much of anything else. Even the Bassmaster Classic, in progress in the usual semitropical environs of South Carolina, is the coldest Classic ever held. It's so cold that the first-round launch was delayed because of safety concerns.
This has produced some good comedy on the Internet. Jason Sealock, former Springdale resident and editor of Wired2Fish.com, posted a photo on Facebook of a tip-up rig over an ice hole with the caption, "The Winning Pattern at the 2015 Bassmaster Classic."
Another photo shows sled dogs running at the Iditarod with the caption, "Takeoff at the Bassmaster Classic."
Want to sit in a deer stand for a last chance to fling an arrow at a deer? Have at it. But until it heats up, there's plenty of outdoors-related stuff to do inside. Here are a few tips to help you outlast winter:
Tune a crankbait
Over time and after multiple casts, crankbaits can get "out of tune" and run to the right or left. It's a result of the eyelet on the lip canting to one side or the other.
Re-tuning is simple. With needle-nose pliers, gently re-center the eyelet. It usually takes only a few millimeters to make it run straight again. You can test them in your bathtub, a swimming pool or even a kiddie pool. No, wait. The pool is frozen.
Reload ammo
Winter is the perfect time to replenish your supply of ammunition and develop new loads. It's a relaxing way to tailor ammo specifically to your firearms and save a lot of money.
If you don't already reload, a basic kit that includes a press, powder scale, dies, reloading manual, case block and case lubricant will be your main expense. You'll have to replenish the lube occasionally, but the other items will last a long time.
Reloading isn't just for riflemen and pistoleros. It's a great way for shotgunners to save money, too, and also to tailor loads for various applications. I have pet loads for target shooting, others for dove hunting and others for upland bird hunting.
With special presses like the MEC Steelmaster, waterfowl hunters can reload their own steel shot loads. There are all sorts of aftermarket non-toxic loads, including tungsten blends and bismuth.
It doesn't take much time to load a box or two of rifle or pistol cartridges. Once you get the hang of it, you can reload a case in a couple of hours with a simple single-stage press.
Respool reels
Professional anglers put new line on their reels every night. Recreational anglers might use the same line for years.
It's wise to respool regularly because line becomes brittle after continuous exposure to sunlight, cold, heat and humidity. Line also retains a tightly coiled nature called "memory." You probably won't notice this until a big fish breaks your line.
A cold, sleety night is a fine time to strip old line and replace it with fresh. You can buy battery-powered line strippers to do that quickly.
To respool a baitcasting reel, keep the supply spool in line with the reel. The supply spool should roll toward you as you reel. Run a pencil or a thin dowel through the center of the supply spool to form an axle on which the spool can roll. You might need a helper hold it.
To spool a spinning reel, simply fill the reel while the supply spool rests on the floor.
Discard used line responsibly. Don't leave it outside where it can endanger birds and other wildlife.
Clean firearms
It's also the best time to do the dirty and unpleasant task of cleaning your guns.
It's especially important to clean semi-automatic shotguns, especially if you fired yours a lot during duck season. Carbon deposits build up in the chamber and prevent the bolt from seating. This can prevent your shotgun from going into battery and cause misfires. It can also prevent the firing pin from resetting, or cocking, during the ejection process. It happens to pump guns, too.
On shotguns with gas-operated actions, carbon deposits form on the magazine tube under the gas ports. This can inhibit the ability of the spring from moving freely on the tube, causing feeding and ejection problems.
Clean the magazine tube with a patch soaked in solvent, wipe dry and lightly oil the tube.
Use Q-Tips soaked in solvent to scrub carbon deposits off the bolt face and around the chamber mouth. Also, ream the gas ports with a pipe cleaner.
Lightly oil all action rails and other friction areas. It's also a good idea to remove your choke tube, clean the threads and lubricate the threads with choke tube grease.
Sort tackle
Don't wait until spring to remedy the chaos in your tackleboxes. Spending a little time organizing tackle now will simplify preparations later.
Over the summer, anglers often allow their tackle spaces to become untenable hodgepodges of different colors and styles of plastic worms, lizards, centipedes, crawdads and other soft lures. Discard the stuff you don't like or use. Replenish the stuff that works and gives you confidence.
Organize hard lures as you see fit. I have a box for squarebill crankbaits, another box for deep divers, and another box for specialty crankbaits. I keep shallow-diving, deep-diving and suspending stickbaits in separate boxes, too.
Again, get rid of the stuff you never use. Package it up and give it to the neighbor kid along with a rod and reel you don't use anymore.
When it gets warm, maybe you'll give that kid a chance to use his "new" stuff.
Sports on 02/22/2015