With winds from the NW gusting to over 25 mph tonight's charter had to be rescheduled. It's always disappointing to cancel but safety is first and foremost. Downtime for Captains allows catch up on all the basics. Spring was very busy at On The Mark Charters so it's a good time to refill my Quantum Cabo spinning reels with fresh Power Pro braid. Full spools allows for longer casts and reducing the chance of cutoffs as you most likely have nicks and cuts on your main line from months of fishing. Using a good reel lube take a few minutes and lubricate all moving parts. If unsure what to lube check your owner's manual or check online with your reels manufacturer.
Check you rod eyes for burrs and nicks, simple way to check is use a cotton ball and rub across all the eyes inside and out. If the cotton ball snags you may need to replace the eye. Most good tackle shops provide this service.
Clean and re organize your tackle bags, you will be amazed of how much room most of us waste not to mention what we find that's been missing. Take inventory and run to your local tackle shop. It's never any fun to find out your are out of something while on the water.
Boat owners there are numerous easy tasks, changing fuel water separator filter, changing engine oil and filters. Installing new spark plugs is a piece of cake on my Yamaha 4 Stroke.
Check safety equipment, flares, sounding device, fire extinguishers, PFD's, VFH radio. Before you run at night check running and anchor lighting. A quality spotlight and flashlight are a must. The golden rule never mess with Mother Nature. It's thunderstorm season, afternoon pop up storms build quickly and while typically short lived can be very powerful for short durations. Place to be during a thunderstorm is back in port.
The USCG website has a host of safety information http://www.uscgboating.org/ take a few minutes and review some safe boating tips.
Capt. Steven
