A Mixed Bag Kind of Day

My day started at 6 a.m., when the alarm went off, reminding me that I had an appointment with my boat mechanic. I had agreed to have the boat at his place sometime between 9 and 10 o'clock. As it worked out, I arrived there about 9:30.

Nothing major was on today's agenda. I'm just trying to get all the little things done before this nice weather all disappears and we get hit with a giant dose of reality.

The day was centered around Wayne installing these new tie-down straps (at right) for my rods. I've never liked those bungee cords because they always lose their elasticity.

I first saw these straps the day here a couple weeks ago when I went fishing with Wayne in his Ranger. He told me I could get a pair just like them from Tackle Warehouse, and since the Black Friday sales were on at the time, I went ahead and placed my order that night when I got home from our trip on the water.

Wayne also replaced the foot-rest under the trolling motor. My old one was a short model that rested on the gunwale. As you can see in this photo, the new one rests on the deck.

Anyone familiar with my boat probably notices something missing from this picture, namely the Lowrance HDS-7 fishfinder. I had Wayne take that off a week or so ago. It's now for sale at Motor Tech in Suffolk. I haven't used any electronics on my front casting deck in years, and I found this one in my way more than anything else. I was in constant fear I would trip over it one day and take a nose-dive off the bow.

While at West Neck hooking up my boat this morning, I ran across my friend, "Doc," who was getting his rig ready to go fishing for a while. As it worked out, he came off the water about the same time I was putting my boat back in the shed this afternoon.

"Doc" scored a couple of bass while fishing a lipless crankbait along one of his favorite stretches in West Neck. His best was the 2-15 in this photo. He also had a 1-11. The reported water temp today was 54 degrees.

Before leaving to start home this afternoon, I asked "Doc" how much longer he plans to keep fishing this winter, and he indicated it depends on what the weather does. He's also got some plans for doing a little work on his boat before buttoning it up for good this winter. While none of us know for sure how much longer this nice weather will last, "Doc" feels pretty certain the day of reckoning is very close.