Between work and jaunts into the deer woods it's time to clean up and fix all the fishing gear and boat. So what upgrades are everyone looking to make to their fishing equipment ?

As soon as I find a job I'm going to buy a small boat and start rigging it. Tom
Fishin' fool in N.E. Illinois

same here.... but a nice boat (well when i get back from iraq i'm buying a bass boat and a boat for the river/bay for trolling) downriggers gps/fishfinder so i dont get lost cause i'm known for that.

Just heard from my fishing partner, and does he have a list for the winter! He is building new seat supports for the helm and passenger side to incorporate tackle storage so that we don't need to go below to get a different lure, I get to rewire the fuse panel and rewire the power supply to the radios, GPS and both depthfinders to try and eliminate some noise. I am also hoping to find and repair an aggravating freshwater leak in the head. Tom
Fishin' fool in N.E. Illinois

I'm gonna continue to "window shop" for something I can't buy yet. I want a newer used Lund Tyee but the Mrs. says not just yet. So, I upgraded my son's snowmachine instead. He threw in some bucks (very few of course ) but it's all good!

Well im working on my 1975 larson lapline new seats hopefully new fish finder new stererio, all new carpet new seats but wont do much till spring but will be collecting stuff over winter BILL Life Member Since 09-01-09

Bill: Sounds like you store outdoors. My bud stores his boat inside(heated to about 55*) and we can pretty much work on it all winter. Gotta get something for the 3K he spends to store! It's nice that he has a key to the building so that we can work at our convienience. Tom
Fishin' fool in N.E. Illinois

Yeah I gotta shoe my boat into an already crowded garage so I can add storage. I'm leaving the respooling for mid February. Anyone make jigs or lures during the winter?

I usually cast up some ball head jigs and bottom bouncers if I need them. Turnip is very big into luremaking, watch for his posts. Tom
Fishin' fool in N.E. Illinois

I pour jigs also, have been looking into maybe pouring some soft plastic swimbaits but I'm still on the fence about it.

No Tom i dont store outdoors i just had this 1975 larson lapline boat motor 50 hp merc and trailer gave to me bout a month ago yes its been stored outside this is why im redoing it over the winter the motor was completly overhauled in 2000 just before this guy bought it he said he ran it bout 5 hrs and just lost interest in it and it had been parked since 2000 and he drove in here one day said he heard i was looking for a boat and said i could just have it if id go gets it well i went looked at it and took air tank blowed tires up and yes they even held air lOLOLOLOLO brought it home cleaned carbs put water to it and poof it fired right up sounds great so motor will gets a new water pump over winter and all the other stuff it needs after i gets this shoulder fixed BILL Life Member Since 09-01-09

The wife and I just got done cleaning out/up the garage and found the world's biggest shoe horn. So tomorrow looks like a lot of swearing and finaggling.

Hope to "Hand Craft" spoons, plugs, spinners, jigs, flies, this winter!!  I like to build from scrap, thou, i am not against using parts that are store bought punch press made. Searching for fresh shot feathers from the hunt. I have dowel/broom stick, cooper pipe, chrome plated brass pipe, aluminum tube, now searching for sheet metal for spoons & spinner blades. TSC  has small sheets 12"x18", but i will buy the cut blanks unless i find a supply from scrap.  Yea i know i am cheap, but it is also the principal of using scrap!!!   Anyone care to trade some used brass from their deer rifle?  Sheet steel from an old car or frig might work!! Someone suggested bike spokes for wire, but i have had trouble bending it. Any suggestions?   Chuck Harrington

Chuck: Your best bet for wire might just be to bite the bullet and buy piano wire at the hobby shop. The bicycle spokes are too hard and break when bent too far. They also lack fatigue strength. Best of luck, looking forward to some pics of your lures. Tom
Fishin' fool in NE Illinois

Chuck try some local music stores specializing in piano repair for the wire. Heavy gauge guitar strings might work in a pinch.

The problem with guitar strings is that the heavier guage strings are wound around a core wire that is at best .025 inch which is not thick enough to take and hold a bend. I think piano strings may have the same problem. I don't know why they call that steel rod/wire they sell in hobby shops "piano wire" as it doesn't bear any resemblance to anything I have ever seen in a piano. Tom
Fishin' fool in NE Illinois

Stainless wirefeed welding wire works great.If you can find someone to give up the end of the roll leftovers.LOL

I'm thinking the stainless wire might be hard to find unless you have a specialty welding/fabrication shop in the neighborhood. I was about to suggest an auto body shop, but I doubt they would spend the money for stainless wire. Perhaps a tool and die shop? Tom
Fishin' fool in NE Illinois

The maintainence guy at work said unless you can find a fab shop willing to give spare wire, you're outta luck. Said the best bet is tacklecraft catalogs for getting affordable wire. Here's two, www.lurecraft.com has the wire in straight sections and some prebent wire. The second is www.jannsnetcraft.com which carries the straight wire along with preform for spinnerbaits and bottom bouncers just add lead. They also carry the wire with the lead attached, you just add color and/or the rubber skirt (on the spinnerbaits).

hey guys, i like to make my own fishing lures also, have been doing it about 30 yrs. i make a lot of spinnerbaits and have used both premade, prebent wire forms and bulk wire cut to length. in my opinion, i like the bulk wire better cause it allows me to think 'out of the box' and create lures of varying length and wire thickness. sometimes a thinner diameter wire, or a longer blade shaft has made the difference between a good day on the lake and a o my gosh, look what i caught!