How soon do you put the boat away?

Early to mid Nov for me. I’d like to have it out longer but living in the city, I need to put the boat in storage before the snow flies cause I don’t have enough off-street parking otherwise.

I try to make it to Thanksgiving week each year, some years I make it, some not.

Just getting ready to transition from Muskie back to the Croix …

Paulski

THANKSGIVING

You put your boat away?

With the new dock I’m hoping for Turkey Day.

I take my boat out labor day thru Thanksgiving. I winterize it, then dust off the Ice gear until late March and fish April through May then I hibernate until September. This spring was un fish able with all the flooding on pool 4 so my season is really just beginning!

Crowded landings suck
Jet ski’s suck
The sun sucks
Work sucks too!

My boats 20 yrs old and never been winterized. I run sea foam starting in late fall , and leave it plugged in all winter. Might sit Jan and feb without being used .

gimruis wrote:

I admire the amount of people on this thread that continue to use their boats basically into the winter months on rivers and such. That’s dedication. I’m not one of those people. I don’t store my boat at home either in the winter so I have to get it into a storage facility sometime in October, and that includes getting it winterized before hand.

Given the choice between fishing a river and ice fishing, I would select the river in a boat every time if I had the opportunity to do so.

I’m in the same boat as you (if that’s a pun…it was intended)

My boat stays at Mille Lacs all season and come winter I store it up there too, in a nice rented garage. Once there’s any measurable snow on the ground, there’s no way to drive it across the field to park it in the garage.

I’m fine with that, bringing it home for an occasional river trip just doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe because I’ve become an old man I cringe at the thought of towing a boat in winter driving conditions, icy roads, salt, icy boat landings.

I suppose where we differ is that I’m more content to spend winter fishing hanging in a heated fish house with 2 lines in the water and a pot of chili on the stove.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

I’m in the same boat as you (if that’s a pun…it was intended)

There are definitely days in late October/early November some years where I wish I hadn’t winterized my boat and could still use it. But winterizing it is necessary and with a specific date to store it, I don’t have a choice. Not until I have a place to store it in the winter.

Never. Its open season year around on the big muddy.