I like to say, "i'm either fishing or getting prepared to fish", and this is the time to spend getting ready for the upcoming season.
First, the boat...annual service is even more important with the new technology of outboard motors, the high pressure direct injection motors such as Floridaze 200 HP Yamaha should be serviced by a reliable service tech instead of a "friend" with a little knowledge and lots of good intentions....today's ethanol fuel has a terrible impact on these outboards and requires regular service of the fuel filtration system and use of a good additive such as StaBil. I also have a new impeller installed because that's not something you want to wait until it breaks, take the opportunity to change the lower unit oil and do a pressure check. On salt water motors check the zinc anodes, there are usually 2-3 on different areas of the lower unit.
Next, the tackle...take each reel off the rod and clean the reel seats, spray a little silicone on the seat and hardware. Remove the spool and check the drag washers, stack them in the order you removed them cause it's easy to mess it up, usually the metal washers can be cleaned, but the non-metal should be replaced regularly, especially in salt water. Don't use any spray or grease on the drags when they go back in....if much more work is needed I take it to the Bluewater Outriggers and have a Pro do it...usually at least 1 or 2 need more than I can do....DON'T spray the reel with WD-40 and leave it, that only attracts dust, if you spray it, then wipe it all off and don't get any on the line,especially braid. Check the line, if its mono it probably needs changing, braid can be pulled off a few feet and checked for wear...sometimes I transfer the braid to another reel so the last hundred feet or so is from the bottom of the old spool and probably has never been used.
Then, prepare and practice....spend some time tying leaders and put them in a zip lock baggy, tie different line classes and use different size hooks, I store mine in a plastic coffee can that is labeled by weight and hook size...kinda anal-retentive but when you're on the fish and somebody gets broken off, it's a lot easy to grab a zip lock with the correct size leader and snap it on...back to fishing!!! Tie on a 1-2 oz weight and put some buckets in the yard, try seeing how close you can come to hitting the bucket from different distances, it will improve your casting and give you some confidence on how the reel/rod/line combo tosses, then when that big Cobia shows up close to a bouy, you can grab that rod and toss something with confidence that you will hook a fish not a bouy....and the line will be fresh and the drags smooth because you were PREPARED...
