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Long cold winter nights offer time to sit back and rehash stories about the one that got away this season, but now with the open water freezing over, if gear hasn't been stored someplace cozy and dry, there may be another similar story told next winter.

There is no end to the season for Paul Tornow, a Kenai Fishing Academy instructor and freshwater and saltwater guide.

Just this week he was enticing prowling lunker musky for a bite in his native waters of Wisconsin.

Tornow, however, said he can be as much of a nut about fishing as he can of taking care of and organizing his gear, and the end of the summer season is a good time to make sure everything is in good shape for the next year.

Tornow said at the end of the season he'll start by breaking his rods down and cleaning them with a damp soft cloth to remove egg gunk and other grime that's accumulated on them.

"Really just soap them up and scrub them good," he said. "It's the same thing with the cork. Use a rag, something soft, and spend some time with it. Any kind of nice rod, you want to take care of; it's got sentimental value."

Once the rods are cleaned, he'll wax the ferrules of each segment and put them back together.

Tornow said in the past he would leave his rods broken down and store them in tubes.

While this is convenient if space is at a minimum, inevitably he'd find at least one or two damaged in the spring.

What he instead recommends is keeping them assembled and stored in racks.

"The more you break them down the more you're breaking them apart, that doesn't even sound good," he said.

Tornow said ceiling racks are a easy way to store a number of rods in an out of the way location.

"It can be as simple as a couple 2-by-4s mounted to the ceiling," he said.

Indoor storage is critical though, especially given peninsula's ability to reach sub-zero temperatures, as was the case this past week.

With higher-end reels, Tornow said maintenance is more of a regular activity, keeping the equipment lubed at all times and covered when not in use.

At the end of the season though, he said he'll also scrub his reels down before he sticks them someplace safe.

It's also a good time to straighten out the line of twists it's developed.

The best bet is to find an open space, peel off the line and wind it all back in.

It's also a good chance for anglers to examine their line and make sure it's in good shape.

Tornow admitted that his biggest pet peeve was keeping his terminal gear in tip-top condition.

He said he detests tackle boxes, and instead uses a large, 2-inch-thick sheet of Styrofoam insulation.

"Any flies, lures or plugs I'll hook straight on that board," he said. "You don't want to put that stuff back in a tackle box."

Tornow said he has a sheet at home with around 1,200 flies on it.

There the tackle can air dry and won't rust in boxes.

While this might not be conventional for everyone Tornow recommended that anglers take some time at the end of the season to go through their boxes and clean out any residual rust or grime and give their tackle some time to air out.

Dante Petri can be reached at dante.petri@peninsulaclarion.com