February Newsletter

Is it Spring yet????

OK Boys, February is almost over and this winter weather should be moving on so we can blow the dust off the boats, lube the reels, change the line, and organize the tackle. Ok, I know most of you have already done all this and just sit in the boat on the weekends day dreaming, keeping the seat warm but don’t forget a few important things.

1. Wheel Bearings – Grease and adjust them, and if you have not changed them in a couple of years you should. And don’t forget the races in the hubs.
2. Lights- Make sure they all work. Brake lights, turn signals, running lights. Bounce on the trailer with them on and make sure they don’t flicker. And clean your ball and hitch.  On most trailers this acts as your ground for lights.
3. Tires – Look for cracking on the side walls, run your hand both ways over the treads looking for lumps (possible Belt issue) and if you see steel belts showing go get new tires. Check your air pressure. For most 50 psi is standard but look at your side walls for correct pressure.
4. Springs – Look at the mounting bolts for the spring shackles.  They wear then break.  If the bolt looks grooved it should be changed. Look at the spring for cracks on inside and out. You can have a crack on the backside but not show on the side closest to the tire, if you have a crack replace the spring.
5. Boat Batteries – If you had your batteries on a float charger all winter that’s great, but be sure to check the level if you have liquid filled batteries.  If so use distilled water. Check your charge with a volt meter after unplugging your charger. They should read 12 to 13 volts.  If not check fluid, if OK battery is most likely bad but check your charger first.  Plug it back in stab the batteries. Volts should be over 13V.

These are just a few things to keep in mind before we travel and put the boat in the water for the first time this season. If your not sure of any of these things give me a call I will help if I can.

The February club meeting is coming up and a few hot topics will be brought up. The first topic is club dues.  A few people still owe the entire amount and please remember the club has already paid for this years Ma BASS dues and IBFN dues for you even if you have not paid your dues yet. If you have a balance left please clear that up.  All dues are to be paid before you can enter a draw, and the first draw is this meeting for Braidwood March 20^th.

The second topic is that State dues are going up by 10 dollars. At this years Presidents meeting, a discussion of state dues increase came up to help further the state team representing us. Every year all other states send teams with out worries of money, all accommodations, gas money and various needs are taken care of.  Then there is Illinois. We scrape together what we can to help and send the team on there way. This makes a difference in the team when a guy can travel with out basic worries and feel proud to have earned this privilege, the motivation is greater. This also creates a greater incentive to want to make the state team for the individual and the club. We have money invested in the team and we have the anglers, now we need to qualify. So what does all this mean?  Well I’m going to have to ask each member for $10.00  This means our yearly dues will also rise a bit with Ma BASS increasing to $30 and now the state dues increasing to $30.  Our yearly dues will increase another $10.  Just a little note to all, compared to other states our yearly dues are low in comparison.  The Midwest average is $50 and some as high as $60.

February 23^rd we will draw for our first local tournament at Braidwood.  Every year the draws are challenging for the tournament chairman trying to arrange enough non-boaters with boaters.  If you want to go please inform the tournament chairmen, Mel Hedrick if you will be attending as a boater or non-boater and can’t make the draw meeting.  If Mel is unreachable please call me or leave me a message with your choice.  Now remember if we have too many boaters and not enough non–boaters the first person out of the hat will be the boater and the next person out of the hat will be the non-boater.

I hope we have an exciting and competitive season. I also want to send a minimum of 3 club members to the State Team.  We can do it, I know we can!  Good luck to all and good Fishin.