It has been several weeks since I have soaked my fishing line out into the aquatic wonderland that surrounds me. A large part of that is due to the frigid temperatures and several feet of snowfall. Defeated by my own environment, I am left to wonder what an angler is to do between the fishing seasons?

I realize fully that I could be preparing for an excellent ice fishing season, but I do prefer the view of the lake from the bass boat. That being said, I have brainstormed some things that you could do until ice out or the season of your favorite favorite fish species opens again.

1. Build an Ice Hut. Here is a few plans that I have found on a previous post:

• Great Ice Fishing Hut Plans
• Build an Ice Hut for under $100
• Collapsible Hut
• A Great Shanty Design

2. Clean your fishing reels. I found some interesting web pages with some instructions for various reel types:

• Spinning Reels
• Bait Casting Reels (I found a maintenance guide from Shimano)
• Fly Fishing Reels

3. Become a fishing blogger. Go it alone with a web tool like blogspot or join an outdoor blogging network. May I suggest you consider the crew at Skinny Moose Media? You don’t have to be a good writer, you just have to love what you are doing. Joining a blogging network (like Skinny Moose Media) provides the new blogger with technical support, encouragement, and money making tools.

4. Build a Fishing Rod Cabinet. You can google to find a myriad of different plans and looks. To save you some time, I have listed two plans that I found:

• Fishing Rod Cabinet 1 (this a link to another site called, Our House)
• Fishing Rod Cabinet 2 (this is a .PDF file of a complicated cabinet)

5. Make Your Own Fishing Lures. All great lure designs started somewhere. I found an interesting website that shows you how to make your own fishing lures. The website outlines materials needed with basic plans and specifications listed. You might even save some money! Send me some photos of your new secret weapons!! To visit the website, follow THIS LINK. (The lure design pages and plans are in the left column of the main page)

6. Go Barbless. Recent studies and articles have demonstrated that barbless hooks can slightly decrease the chance of fish mortality on hooked fish. An interesting article I have ready recently about this can be found here. Consider going through your fishing lures and take some time to pinch or grind the barbs out of the way.

7. Read Fishing Books. Google ‘good fishing books’ and read some reviews of some books online. I have done some reviews on some fishing books. You can find a list of my ratings here.

8. Clean Your Bass Boat. If temperatures permit, deep clean your boat. Here is a site with some informative boat cleaning tips.

9. Watch some online fishing videos. YouTube and World Fishing Network, are great places to start. Here is one of my own that I put together a few years ago:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1ze5wu9Z74 331 276]

Please consider sharing this post:

• 

Fishing Tips, what to do when fishing season is over