SportSr^-

nutdoors with Lou Rodia t Now's Time to Refurbish Fishing Gear

It's January. Fishing season has closed down for most anglers. The fishing interest in on hold. It won't be long. Mackerel will start to show up. Winter flounders may or may not arrive. Blues, weakfish, sea bass, blackfish and fluke are four months away. ^ Will you be ready? For some, ready is relive. They put their gear into-a corner of the garage after the last fishing trip. Come spring, it will be taken out again and used as it is. For those anglers, reels will freeze up. Guides with grooves in them will chafe the line. Fish and fishing time will be lost y EACH YEAR we write about winter projects to make your fishing better. Each year we meet anglers who heed the advice, and unfortunately, many who do not. We all succumb to the pressures of time. It is easy to put things off. But it is also easy to see that utilizing this down time for fishing can produce lots of results in a few weeks. One night last week, we had occasion to look for something in- one of the many boxes of odds and ends we use for fishing.

We came across a jelly jar half-filled with an assortment of old beads. These came from flea market jewelry and discarded and broken bits of costyme finery we collect from the family at fimes. 1 IT REMISED US that there were a couple of deer tails in the freezer to be boned out and salted and dried. The jar reminded us • that we had to dig out the scrap and the bucktail molds. That led to a nudge that we had some bluefish lures to make up and some torefumsh. Rusty hooks hatfto be removed and new ones put on spoons and chrome jigs. Some of our trolling rigs were a little ratty from sharp bluefish teeth and skirts had to be changed. A few needed rerigging with new wire to replace the kinked stuff. Some needed new hooks. That led to a check of the leaders we use. Some of the leader boards were empty, and that means they were lost, borrowed and not returned, or left on someone's boat during last season's fishing. In any case, leaders have to be remade. THE FURTHER we dug.

' ■ • * the more apparent it was that we have a lot to do before spring. That means setting aside the luxury of idle watching of TV aDd replacing that down time with effort at getting some or all of the above things done. And, that does not come close to addressing all of the needs. * v My garage, my workshop, my desk and my attic are all in disorder most of the time. Organized, I am not, except for my fishing tackle and hunting stuff. I tend to overpack for hunting and fishing trips on ^ the premise that it is better to' have it with me than to need it on the boat. That means carrying a lot of gear and knowing where things are when I peed them. MY LIFE always has been one which I liken to the recipe for tiger soup. A noted sportsman once offered his recipe for tiger soup. It starts with the instruction to first go get the tiger. To tie up a few fluke rigs, first I have to get the bucktails r£ady, or I have to pour the lead heads for the bucktails I plan to tie next week. But, each step is one more that takes time and it helps fill in those

hours in the off season when I am not fishing. And, it adds a dimension to my fishing when I catch a fish on a lure I created. A half century of fishing has not dulled the enthusiasm for it. Puttering with my fishing tackle adds to the excitement. It fills in a lot of gaps. Oftentimes, time spent in making something might not really wash out when you look at ) what it cost to buy one. IT REALLY didn't make sense to buy an inexpensive wood lathe to turn out a handful of plugs to surf fish wth. But it did mbre than pay for the lathe in pleasure when the first marlin came up behind the teaser I made on the lathe. And, no one could quite afford to pay for my time when the plugs I made worked so well on Crisfield stripers one day when nothing else would excite the fish we knew were there. Here are some things you can do to start to/fet your fishing tackle onArack : Clean, greas^and reload the fishing s with new line. If yOffare not too sure • how far togo in field stripping the reels, get some professional help. Take your

reels to a reel service. Some tackle shops works on reels. IF YOU WANT to do your own, here's some good advice. On revolving spool reels, take out ONLY the screws in the outer rings which hold the reels together. Don't try to take all of the screws out of the reel which hold the working parts together unless you have done it before. There are little springs and parts which tend to go flying if you are not careful. If you remove the left side plate (on right handed reels) generally you can remove the spool from that side. Having stripped -the reel that far, you can then clean the interior' of the reel and repack it with a good reel lube. As for cleaning (do this out of doors of course) we like a solution of one part motor oil and four or five parts kerosene. Wash the parts well in this mix, using a half inch round paint brush and an old tooth brush. Let the parts drain well and wipe them down with a rag before repacking with grease and reassembling. BFORE STARTING the reel cleaning job, you can strip off all thfe old line. Make sure it is discarded carefully so birds do not get into it. After getting the reel back together again, you can refill the reel with new line for the upcoming seakm. Drag washers tend to wear. If you have had drag problems with a reel, perhaps the washers are worn and need replacing. Or, the drag may be frozen from lack of lubrication or corrosion. Either way, the reel needs work and failure to do so will mean losing fish when the drag malfunctions under pressure at sea.

THE KEY to reel repairs— whether you do them yourself or whether you take the gear somewhere to have the work done— is to start NOW. Over the years, reel repair parts have become increasingly difficult to come by. Many tackle shops have abandoned efforts to keep reel repair parts in stock. First, they are difficult to get from the factory. Second, there are so many models of reels and so many model changes, the store owner has a difficult time stocking parts for all of the reels . Imported reels are difficult at best to get repaired. Try local shops before sending reels away for repair. It is a wise angler who has back-up equipment. Having more than one rod and reel makes a lot of sense. Carrying an extra reel or two along on a trip also is a good decision. ONE ANGLER friend of ours prided himself cm the fact that he fished exclusively with a single reel. He said all he needed was one reel. One day we located a school of weakfish just inside the Cold Spring Inlet Jetty. Two or three casts into the fish, his bail spring went and his reel stopped working. None of the other rods and reels on the boat were usable for him. He was left handed, and his broken » reel, suited for a left ; hander, was all he could fish with comfortably. Did ; he learn? He now has two reels. But, most of the time i when we fish with him, he leaves one outfit home. ! Be prepared. It served ; the Boy Scouts well for [ many years. It can work ! well for you. Start now to get ready for 1985's upcoming season. It won't be long.

ft RACE FOR J fb VALUES M Jfj in Stock! On Quality Used Cars and Trucks!

1983 Chevette I 4 Door I It. Imr* «/Dt lm« CM I 4 cvi 4 if I* >o6c Slock #1014 B 76.744 «Mt$ 17/12 foky P i Was ^ *OW | I S<29< $3995 I 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo l*ifa w/Miriu CM lirtenw - fan n. n *£. m mi «w am/is time n*r eWt W Sled #1041 IS (43 Miff C/II S*mu rekf Was . MOW $10,695 $10,295 9.

4983 Buidt Regal Limited Coupe I D« ■ U m/Bm— CM Mn» II ome PS n . Ml aim u> mi AC stmt tmuif lonisL myi noi Sied (SMI 74 400 "Met 171? S*m"r-0' NOW stfe $9495 1981 Ford 4 Door Crown Victoria Om*#>/UCMWiri> hm . «. rs n. *c p men. r lodt aim antral. ddand «nmn mu none Sled fUM H.ASO mitt Gwanlmd *J Intftdite W(K NOW $6495 $6295

Celebrity 4 Dr. Sedan light Bm mftkm Vmy\ UiW U nine PS PI AC nor ntiot ieta mi. ante ranird. AM redo Siod fS0(4 76 8 30 win 17/17 Stmn Was ^ "O* $7295 $6995 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo light (ram w/(rwwm CM hrttritr VI am PS. PI. AC. P*. Ml Mwi. AM h SMne rMh MM tinted Moss Sltd IS044 14.597 mht 17/lflar *tP*r Was . MOW $10,295 $9995

1982 Ford " ■ Bronco 4x4 I CM Mm mtUm Vinyl Inttrinr ■ AM/F (""tWteTiod' 3s0?l AO 16 sE Mr 17/17 SmuPeky E Was MOW I $9695 $8995 1 rrfil ' i ' l iTrEil t'it'lMlfl - Li* I 1984 Chevrolet I Monte Carlo I Mg. Vlrrm CM Motor ■ n. m* es pi. ac. re. mi ■hai.E IM/fU ami ndtr iM imtad Matt E SOtd eStW is./a3 Mr I7/I7S* ■ Wis NOW I $10/495 $99951 r v

1981 Chevrolet j Citation 4 Door Slmr •/Into CM Mriw 4cyl.wtt.PS AH rede Siod #S07fc St 373 oMn Guanrited II) iMpclfe L4J-, NOW $3396 $2995 1981 Cutlass LS Sedan, 4 Door ■Mgt wflm Ymyt hrtortor VI. «te. PS. PI. P lodt AC. n*rl raof mn MM emery atm antral. Ml Mmi Sled #&4. 40.497 ales. 17/17 PMcrV WAS "OW $7495 $6995

Burke Motors — Home of Top Quality. Low Mileage. Clean Used Cars and Trucks!

[?]

Open Evenings Till 9 P.M. 1522-1475 CHEVROLET » OLDSMOBILE • CADILLAC

Exit 4B I Garden State ' ||T. I ParlrrrtT ...iilt|TT|[ |J|rn ■ I Q I I I L .

, . Cape May County . ALMANAC JANUARY 1985 . MOON PHASES/POSITIONS

j The Moon i affect on the Tide is greatest when closet f to Earth (in perigee) and whfn in direct alignment with Sun tr earth I full 4c new moon phases) On and about these dates. low pressure systems and/or strong winds (depending upon direction) mayresult in flooding, and extremely low- tides Moon Phase* Fall Moon 8 Last Quarter 13 , New Moon 21 First Quarter 28 Apogee 11 Perigee ...Z7 I TIDE TABLE Computed for Cape May City beachfront: for other areas, tee Correction Times. DA»E __ HIGH LOW " ^ a.m. p.m. ,.m. D.m. 16 1 3:30- 3:57 $:♦♦- 9:54 17 Thu 4:34- 5:01 10:43-10:50 18 Fri 5:32- 5:58 11:36-11:44 19 Sat 6:22- 6:48 -12:31 20 Sun 7:07- 7:34 12:36- J:21 21 Moil 7:52- 8:16 1:26-~2:0S 22 Tue 8:34- 8:59 2:12- 2:46 23 Wed 9:15- 9:39 2:54- 3:24 24 Thu 9:56-10:20 3:34- 4:01 25 Fri 10:35-11:01 4:14— 4:37 26 Sat 11:16—11:42 4:53- 5:14 27 Sun 11:58- 5:38- 5:55 28 MOD 12:25-12:40 6:29- 6:42 29 Tue 1:12-1:31 7:30-7:36 30 Wed 2:03- 2:27 8:33- 8:33 31 Thu 3:01— 3:35 9:31— 9:27

CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate time. of high & low water for your area by adding or subtracting the following number of minutes for each tide phase in ' the Tide Table. LOW HIGH Great Egg Harbor Inlet Plus 12 pluslO Ocean City (9th St Bridge) plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet (bridge) plus 21 plus 7 c Sea Isle City ( Ludlam Thoro Bridge) plus 66 pluses Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus21 Townsend Inlet plus 21 \ plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus 15 0 Stone Harbor (Great Channel Bridge) plus 43 plus 40 Hereford Inlet (Anglesea) plus 19 ' * ' 0 Wiktwood Beach Minus 2 1 minus 17 West Wildwood (Grassy CTiannel bridge) plus 46 plus 43 Cape May Harbor plus 1 minus 4 Five Fathom Bank plus 11 phis 1 Cape May Point plus 46 plus 34 McCrie Shoal plus 28 phis 22 Delaware Bay Bayshore Channel (Bay-Canal Junction) plus 47 plus 36 Miami Beach | plus 75 pius61 Dennis Creek Entrance plus 114 plus 97 Brandywine Shoal Light plus 77 plus 52 V