It's a sad thought but old man winter is on his way. Don’t give up to early on your open water fishing.  I've caught a lot of bass around here in October and early November and the walleye fishing can be great up until the water freezes. Below the dams on the Mississippi river the water doesn't freeze but that takes some extra attention to boat and engine preparation.

For most people their boating season ends within a week or two of Labor Day. This is when you need to take extra care when you put away your boat for winter storage. Winter can be very hard on a boat and outboard engine. A proper winterizing could save you a bunch of money next spring.

There are several things that I like to do to my Nitro boat before I take it to Waterloo Boats to get the engine winterized. I start out by removing all of my rods and tackle. This all goes into the basement of my house, that way when I'm driving my wife crazy in the dead of winter I don’t have to go outside to the garage to get my fishing fix. It's kind of a “Zen” thing.

Next is a good cleaning. Wash and wax the outside, vacuum the inside and clean the livewells. Cleaning the livewells of any fish scales, crawdad pieces and just general fish crud is very important and easy to do. I don’t use any soap or other chemicals for this, just a garden hose and a clean rag. This should actually be done several times throughout the season. This helps keep the foul odor down but also keeps bacteria out so that it stays a “live”well.

My next winterizing step is to make sure that all of my batteries are fully charged. I know a lot of people that take their batteries out and put them somewhere heated all winter, but a charged battery will not freeze.

My winterizing work is over, now it’s up to the pros at Waterloo Boats to check out my outboard, literally from top to bottom. They put fuel stabilizer in the gas tank then run the engine long enough to make sure that all the gas lines have stabilized fuel in them. While the engine is still warmed up from the gas stabilizing process they do a compression check of each cylinder.  This lets the mechanic know if there is any internal engine problems like excessive carbon build up or a stuck piston ring. Before they fog the engine, to prevent rust and oxidation, they check the charging system and starter for proper operation and check all the fuel lines for deterioration both externally and internally.

Working their way down they test the steering for full smooth travel and excess slack. Continuing down they grease all the fittings and check the power tilt and trim unit for proper operation and inspect the hoses, bushings and oil reservoir level. Making their way to the lower unit, I have them change the lower unit lube rather than just check the level - this is good preventive maintenance.