My new boat arrived early this year. It usually arrives just before the Classic, but it rolled in last Sunday. That’s great because it gives me a head start on 2015. I thought it might be informative if we go through what I do to get everything ready. You can do whatever applies to your rig and your fishing. That’ll give you a head start on 2015, too.
Prepare the outboard
The outboard is the heart of a bass rig. The new ones will last forever if they’re broken in properly and if they’re maintained according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Mine is a Yamaha 250 V Max SHO Four Stroke. It takes about 10 hours to break it in right. I follow the recommended procedure to the letter. No matter what brand of motor you buy, I strongly recommend you do the same thing. It’s the life of your motor.
And, even if your motor isn’t new you might want to review the recommended maintenance procedures to make sure you’re up to snuff. Now’s the time to get it done.
Adjust the electronics
I also spend a lot of time with my electronics. Everything has to be just so for me to fish competitively against the Elite Series guys. That takes a while. Every year I get new stuff from Lowrance. It’s all sort of the same but different at the same time.
Again, you can do the same thing even if yours isn’t new or if you have a different brand. Make sure you know how to work everything, you can adjust everything for different conditions and you have the overlays you need set up correctly.
Don’t forget placement and visibility. Sometimes moving a unit one way or the other a little ways will make a huge difference in how well you can see and use your equipment.
Organize storage areas
Another thing that I spend a lot of time on is tackle organization and storage. I always pack and repack a new Bass Cat several times. I want to know what I can do with what as the seasons change and as I move from one body of water to the next.
You can do the same. Take the time to know what fits where and how to distribute weight when you’re carrying different types of tackle.
Take a test drive
The last thing I do is run my boat so that I know how it performs at different speeds and under different circumstances. Lots of questions need to be answered. How hard can I turn at 3,500 rpm? What about 5,000 rpm? How fast will it go? What’s my fuel usage at different rpms? How sensitive is the trim? How much do I want to change it as I increase speed?
Depending upon where you live you might not be able to do this. (I know that it’s hard to get a bass boat on plane when it’s sitting on ice.) If you can, however, I suggest you do so. Know what you can, and should, do with your boat.
If you do these things, you’ll be ahead of the game come spring. That’s a good thing.
Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter or visit his website, mikeiaconelli.com.
