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As the old saying goes..."an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Just came back from a 2500km road (round) trip towing my tinny. Through a blizzard to t-shirt weather...all perfectly trouble free. I'm religious about maintaining my bearings...just seen too many roadside mishaps that leave me sayin' "glad I'm not that dude". One of the things, that I've got into a habit of doing over the years...at every gas, coffee, or pit stop, I'll put my hand on the trailer bearing hubs...if they're a little too warm, I know there'll be trouble down the road. On long remote trips like this, we always take spare bearings and grease. Another habit, is to let the bearings cool down before splashing the boat...warm bearing caps and cold water can add up to problems. This was our annual Steelhead trip up the east and north shore of Superior. For the first time in 23 years of doing this trip, we decided to tow a boat. We wanted to run up some of the bigger Trout Rivers (like the Michipicoten) and also access the mouths of some tribs that you can only get to by water...not many roads in this part of the world. We also planned to fish ice out Lakers on an inland lake on the way back. No shortage of fresh chrome fish up on Superior this time of year...although they're smaller than their Lake O and Huron/G Bay cousins...every year they do seem to get bigger...and maybe it's because of the environment they live in (high gradient rivers), but pound for pound they battle like nothing else. After getting our fill of chasing Steel, we spent a day or so at a lake in southern Algoma with the intent of hunting down some Lakers. Well, after reeling in a few Trout, we soon figured out that some of the bays had warmed up to 50f and the Smallies had the pre-spawn feedbag on...we quickly switched gears...not that we were planning on it, but we all had some soft plastics that we scrounged and shared from the bottom of our bags..This was a Smelt lake, so the Bass were particularly porcine ! It turned into one of those epic days...beautiful weather, still too early for bugs, and double headers of hungry 20" Bass...just crazy ! The number of Smallies jammed into relatively small staging areas was something none of us had experienced before...they looked liked wolf packs cruising in the clear shallow water. Although, they definitely preferred a smaller snack...Ned's ruled the day... Yep...it's been a great spring so far !

I think you should give the regs an even more thorough once over for bass, youd be shocked at the opportunities available to you closer to home than you think! Crow we were talking to one of the scientists from Queens University last week at the NGTA bass anglers meeting and he described seemingly what you came across with those smallies. They have done tracking studies and have noted that on one of the first calm hot days of the year seemingly the majority of the largest bass all go shallow together at the same time to the same place. Pretty neat stuff.

Check the tires, fill the EZ Lube hubs with new grease. Grease both motors, change the water/fuel separator, that's about it. Spring has been good so far.

Since I filled my turkey tag yesterday, today was my day to pull the boat out and give it the once over. New air in the tires, check. Motor turned over just like always, check. No signs of critters. Hookup the batteries to top-up the charge. Bit of tidying up and check the trailer lights and the one side won't light (Insert Grinch joke here). Looks like it is just the bulbs so off to CT to get new ones. Fourteen bucks later and we're road legal again. This now brings the total money I've spent on replacing broken items on this used boat I bought from a member here 10 years ago to..... $27. But if we figure I bought 2 pairs of bulbs when I only needed one, we can round down to $20. The trailer winch strap busted (in may driveway) about 5-6 years ago. Nothing on this boat has given me a moment's grief and while I'd love to upsize a bit I don't think I could give this one up. Tight lines... after we get my brother a turkey.

I wonder if it's some kind of pre-spawn mating ritual....they all get together in one spot to mix it up and keep the genetics strong by selecting the best partners. Just like a high school dance...all the boys on one side of the room, the girls on the other...figuring out who's gonna hook up with who...quarterbacks and cheerleaders get first pick. ..or I guess these days it might be the equivalent of swipe right, swipe left...lol

Our last one, Pyrenees and yellow lab, Harvey I named him as he reminded me of Harvey the Hound, the mascot for the Calgary Flames as he was always into mischief, had him since he was a pup, never chewed a thing. A couple days after my wife brought him home was sitting outside with him rhyming off different names. As soon as she mentioned the name Monny he came running right to her, (hence the pronunciation of E at the end of his name) short for Monster, and he was a monster. Even the vet upon our visits said that dog should not be any where's near that big. So the name stuck. The purebred we have now, Trooper, doesn't chew any thing except the toys we buy him. The toughest toys on the planet, supposed to be chew proof, yeah right not to mention the cost. He thinks they are to be ripped apart and eaten. He's a power house. In some cases it is a result of boredom, or displaced aggression, in others it's just what they like do. My wife and I have a combined of over 60 years of working with dogs, myself, just off and on and my wife has been doing it for 40 plus years and is doing it as I am typing this, every thing from obedience to training the best bred gun dogs in North America and we have never came across a dog as muscular and powerful as Trooper. Yeah I guess I'm bragging about my buddy but we need a dog like him in our crime riddled neighbor hood. He doesn't miss a thing. Speaking of boredom...sorry for such a long post guys.

I think it's called "the one more short trip" syndrome. I don't put my wife away wet and moldy, or the trailer wet and rusty bearings either.

My buddy lives on a hwy that always seems to have stranded boaters with bad bearings. He isn't the only house but they seem to see his place as somewhere to get help. Boat trailer bearings are dunked in water and they really should be checked when you winterize to avoid wrecking them completely.. rear seals can't be re-used either..

You guys are making me sad, something on my 06 seemingly breaks every trip I take lol my spring routine is simply blowing out the engine fogger letting the motor run for a bit to clean it out and then putting new plugs in, checking my tire pressure everything else was done back in the fall. I did an electronics overhaul this winter but that was finished in February, but I have some tweaking to do, small gremlins with my trolling motor transducer not appearing on my marine network. ive been out twice this year, I’ve had to completely replace my drain plug, one of my taillights literally vanished somewhere between Virginia and New York Replaced all of those and noticed that left rear corner marker is toast, not to mention my trailer brakes need a total clean out and bleed, maybe more…and then noticed my bunks need replacing. I mean it’s all minor stuff at the end of the day, as long as the hull and more importantly the outboard are singing, I don’t complain! Saturday was a gem

Check the bearings if you haven't. Can count the number of boats/trailers parked on the side of the hyws with a wheel missing. Can't imagine that being much fun. Upgrading the LEDs is a great idea and new wires, connectors as well - I'm assuming its over 10 yrs old.

You did really well with that boat Rob. I will be getting the green machine prepred for next weeks opener. New 50 ah battery is already on charge,new motor just needs ft extension on the wires to reach the battery to balance out the craft. Finder chip swapped from the ice machine to the large tv screen one. Might need some new air in the tires as well. Maybe hit the car wash and give it a shine. LOL

I put led lights on about 15y ago and I don’t unplug them when launching and never a problem.

So did you get out again? The rain finally slowed down here late afternoon so I headed out to that other creek in full rain gear. Someone had been there already but there was enough new growth there and across the road that I got a good pick in. Over two hours it never rained and I got close to 7 pounds so that should do me for the season and I'll freeze some too. They were real wet obviously so I'm letting them dry overnight before I bag them back up and into the fridge. I gave my neighbour who loves them close to pound but that still leaves me plenty.

Gordie came to my attention as a 10 month old pup in need of a new home by way of OFC member and friend John's wife Barbara ( thank you Barbara 🥰 ). After our first meeting I knew he was the right dog for me and a few days later I brought him into his new forever home, which will have been two years already in mid May. He hates the van but boy he sure does love the boat.

Roloff was in just before him, poor dog is very much the n his last legs though.