Goodbye Snow and Ice...... Hello Florida

Well for nearly a month now I have had plans to head down to Florida with Neil, and I hadn't done a whole lot to prepare for the trip until this weekend. Most of my days off were spent chasing fish at a local warm water discharge. Since Neil and I were going to head down this upcoming Wednesday I figured that maybe I should start preparing a little.

First on my to do list was my trailer, since the beginning of last year its condition has taken a downward spiral. It was thrown together rather quickly in the spring of 2013 so that we could attend the BKFT events. I found the trailer on Craigslist for $300, it was a single axle 4'x6' utility trailer...which at the time had working lights. I purchased the used trailer, brought it home and began making my "barnyard modifications". I found several 2x4s left over from rental property renovations so I quickly bolted a couple 2x4s onto the trailer and hit the road. At the time I was pulling the trailer around in an old Monte Carlo, which did not have the trailer package (nothing to plug the lights into).  In order to have running lights I cut the wires and ran the trailer lights directly to a 12 volt battery that I had on the trailer. Last fall during a trip up to Dayton one of the boards broke and off partially and was dragging the pavement for quite some time. Once I discovered the broken board I cut some anchor rope and tied the board back onto the trailer. This is pretty much how my trailer has been for the last few months.  Needless to say the trailer was in BAD shape, it was getting us to the water but it was only a matter of time before someones kayak payed the price.

Saturday Amanda and I went to Cincinnati to do some shopping, the first stop was Tractor Supply Company. I wanted to buy a set of bearings and a spare tire and rim for my trailer, its 600 miles from Ohio to Florida so I figured it would be a good investment. I bought a tire, but the bearings were out of stock.  I also grabbed a cheap set of trailer lights for around $30, my lights were in good condition but the wiring was bad. I figured that a new set may save me some headaches down the road. From there we drove over to Walmart and got oil and an oil filter for my Equinox. According to my dash, I had 20% of my oil life remaining. I also picked up some wiper blades while I was in the automotive isle. We then drove to Bass Pro and picked up a few things. After watching a several hundred youtube videos on inshore fishing I quickly discovered that almost every angler was using spinning outfits with light line. I assumed that they were using spinning outfits for the extra casting distance on the shallow flats. Here in Ohio, I use baitcasting combos for all of my fishing except for panfish.....so I needed to pick up a medium to medium heavy spinning outfit for the trip. While I was at bass pro I also picked up a spool of 10lb Suffix Siege (a light monofilament that is very abrasive resistant and has little to no memory), Zoom Super Fluke JR.s, a cheap 7'1" Shimano Sellus Rod, a few swimbaits, and my trailer bearings.



I got home and pulled the trailer inside to begin work on my bearings. Upon inspection of the tires, I discovered that one was bald, very bald actually. The other tire seemed to be in good shape. After a couple minutes I decided to buy a second new tire and use the good old tire as my spare.

I then took the hubs off and began inspecting the bearings, both sides were in excellent shape. I repacked them with grease and put the trailer back together. If I have a bearing go bad on the road I guess I will have 2 sets of spares. The rest of Saturday night was spent organizing tackle boxes. I had a general idea of what people used for redfish and speckled trout, so I set out to make a few boxes with those lures in mind. In my first box I placed all of my swimbaits and flukes, most of which were white, grey, green, and transparent. Wherever you fish in the world you can rest assured that a bait with a minnow profile will catch predatory fish..... so I felt these lures were safe bets. In my second box I started throwing in shallow running hard baits such as Rapala's Original Floating Minnow, Rapala's Original Floating Jointed Minnow, rattle traps, spoons, and poppers. Most inshore fishing that I witnessed was done in water less than 6' so these lures will let me work that water column. In my third and fourth boxes I placed terminal tackle such as hooks and sinkers for live bait fishing with shrimp.



Sunday after I got off work Amanda and I went to our local Tractor Supply Company to get another rim and tire for the trailer.  While we were in the city we also stopped by Lowes and checked to see what we could find to add to the trailer in order to cushion our kayaks from the metal frame. Most guys that I have seen with trailers have used pool noodles to add cushion to their trailer. Since its February in Ohio, most stores no longer carry pool noodles. Lowes on the other hand carries pipe insulation year round. It may not be as thick as most conventional pool noodles but will be more than enough to protect our kayaks during travel. We decided to get the 1" pipe insulation, which was around $1.20 per 6 foot section.





One we got home I began work on the trailer once again. I bolted the second new tire on and began to zip tie the insulation to the frame of the trailer.

I bet you cant find the new board......haha.

I then went around to all of the zip ties and clipped off the excess tags, to which I then melted the ends so that no sharp ends were left to cut my arms when loading and unloading kayaks. With the trailer complete I turned my attention to rods and reels. I found an old spinning reel that I had bought last year and I began to disassemble and clean it. It was a Mitchell Avocet II, which I purchased from Bass Pro for less than $50. I remember buying this reel after testing a half dozen other reels including  a line up of Abu Garcia, Browning, Pflueger, and Shimano. It wasn't the price that sold me, but rather the smooth and consistent retrieve. It was slightly heavier than the competitors but I was willing to give it a shot. I had paired it with a St. Croix Mojo bass rod, but had broke the tip of the rod during a kayak trip late last spring. Since then my little brother had been using it on the tipped rod whenever he joined us on the water. I quickly went to work dissembling the reel and re lubing all of its gears and bearings. I began with a complete cleaning with alcohol, both inside and out. I removed all of the old grease, dirt, and sand that had built up during its use last year. I then added grease to the gears and oil to the bearings. See pics below. 

Loosen drag to remove spool

Remove spool, small plastic disk, small gear, nut on the shaft (and screw holding nut in place), remove upper half of reel including bail, and remove handle.

Remove the four screws holding the bottom half of the reel together.

Now were getting somewhere. Time to clean up that old grease.

Add grease to gears and oil to bearings. Grease is yellow and my oil is red.

Opposite side of the reel also has a gear and a bearing. Clean them up and lube them.....oil on the bearing, grease on the gear. Apply lightly.

Just a little bit goes a long way. Too much grease is a BAD thing.

Add a couple drops of oil to the bearing seen just above the tip of the oil bottle.

Yep....oil that handle too.

Why not give it a shot too.

Now for the hard part....the spring that opens and closes the bail arm. I wouldn't recommend taking it all the way apart, but if you do make sure that you note which rod goes into which grove. Clean it up and lightly coat the rod and spring with grease. If you don't put the rods into the right groves your bail arm will not open and shut correctly.

Just need to get that rod into that hole......a small screwdriver does the trick.

I then went over to the rod rack and pulled off one of Amanda's spinning outfits. Her outfit was slightly more expensive than mine...... she was using an Abu Garcia Orra S paired on an Abu Garcia Vendetta Rod. I quickly dissembled, cleaned, and re-lubricated it as well.

I then spooled each spinning reel with the 10lb Suffix Siege that I had purchased from bass pro shop Saturday evening. I went over to the rod rack and grabbed my baitcasting combos, Shimano Curado G on a Shimano Compre Rod and Shimano Chonarch on an Abu Garcia Vendetta Rod. I had recently cleaned them so I just gave them a wipe down and placed them next to my pile of gear deemed "trip ready."

We leave out Wednesday evening so I still have a day and a half to prepare even further. Once the time comes I will be as ready as I can be. With reels cleaned/spooled, tackle organized, trailer ready, etc. I'm ready for battle,  I sure hope the redfish and speckled trout are ready for us too.