Time to get the tackle boxes in order

Submitted photo/ A tackle box with clean lures and sharp hooks ready for the spring fishing season.

Every angler should be acquainted with Kipling's outdoor poetry, not simply because of its artistry and musical quality, but because it sounds like the depths of a man's soul and possesses understanding and appreciativeness acquired by experience.

It is March, and though belated blizzards come roaring down from the north, blotting out the sun and burying the earth with white, our spirits rise for we know it cannot last long. Spring and the good fishing lie just around the corner.

The very devil of unrest possesses us. Books and magazines grow monotonous, conversation lags. I suspect we anglers are a bit hard to live with these days and the fair partners have our sympathies. The trouble with us is, we are fishing in anticipation. We must have something with which to busy our hands in our idle moments, something that has to do with "rods and reels."

Submitted photo/ Some ods and reels all cleaned up and ready for action.

Most of the people who know me know that I have little use for the average matter of fact how-to articles, such stuff as so many outdoor magazines carry.

The practical writer, practical fisherman, practical man is an enigma to me. I like to be impractical, and fanciful. Long ago I discovered that it is not all of fishing just to catch fish, or of living to live. I like to dream, and fritter away many an hour just gazing into an open fire and building air-castles.

Now and then I manage to put a solid foundation under some ichthyic air-castle; but for the most part they remain intangible and apt to vanish, though I enjoy to the fullest their construction from the materials of which dreams are made. Just the same, these days I want to handle the tools of our craft.

This is the season when dyed-in-the-wool followers of Izaak Walton get their tackle boxes in order.

The amount and variety of fishing tackle available today may be confusing to a beginning fisherman. While it is true that some tackle may appeal more to anglers than to the fish, the majority of tackle has a specific purpose. It pays to buy good-quality fishing tackle made by a reputable manufacturer. This tackle, if cared for, will last for many years, though even quality equipment won't guarantee limit catches of fish. Every angler soon has his favorite lures, baits, rods and reels as well as methods for catching fish. Selecting the tackle is part of the fun of fishing; using it skillfully will increase the appreciation of the sport of fishing.

Getting ready for fishing, setting your tackle houses in order, does satisfy that spring fever to a degree. I know of nothing that pays the angler greater dividends than caring for his rods and reels with meticulous fidelity. Reels, good reels, are so well made these days that if parts show unusual wear it generally means that the angler has been remiss in care.

Speaking of abusing a reel, I recall going bass fishing with a friend who was using a reel with little line, so I offered him the use of one of my good reels. Imagine my astonishment when he calmly dropped it in the sand. When one of my reels picks up a grain of sand anywhere, I lay it on one side until I have time and opportunity to give it a thorough cleaning.

The tackle box gets a lot of attention as the good spring fishing approaches. Everything is dumped out on a table and gone over. There may be time for that now, but the good fishing lurks just beyond the new snow covered earth. Oh, I dawdle away a lot of time over my tackle, and I posses more of it than a married man should.

By getting ready for the good fishing that lies ahead, and not have unnecessary problems with your gear, remember the boy scout motto, "Be Prepared."