Tackle Box

[Laggyman]

I'm wondering what you guys use to organize your tackle??  I'm looking at PLANO 777 series but am not sure if it's a tad too big or not. I went to a store nearby and found one of them and tried openeing the lids and such and was pretty impressed by it's storage capability.  I sure don't have to worry about it being too much for the tackle I have right now!  I'm sure the baitmonkey will fill it up for me in the blink of an eye if it finds some space left open...

I'm a bank fisher, but because I fish tiny ponds where the tackle is always within sight, I tend to bring the big box down to the bank and set it right down and work around the pond with only a rod in hand.  Sometimes I keep the rear hatch of my car open with my tacklebox inside if I'm too lazy to unload everything  ;D

Any suggestions??  I've only taken a look at PLANO series. Any other alternatives??

It would be great if I can see photos of how you manage your tackle!!

[RoLo]

There are at least two separate approaches to toting fishing tackle.

One approach is to haul every lure for every species in a humungous carry-on,

another approach is a small hard box of selectively chosen tackle for one target species.

      For most of my life I've been hauling the big suitcase, sometimes two (the 'ready for anything' approach).

Lately though, I've been gravitating to the latter. Now however, I usually create a "Day-Box" of selectively chosen tackle

for one target species or one type of fishing.

The tackle box I use for target fishing is the Plano Double-Sided Magnum Hard Box.

Currently I have several double-sided plano magnums setup for various species and types of fishing:

Largemouth Bass - Lures <> Largemouth Bass - Shiners <> Northern Pike <> Crappies (also saltwater species)

Roger

[Guest avid]

Roger really nailed it.  Once you have been at this sport awhile, you will have more tackle than you can carry.  You will try.  But after a couple of hernias you have to face reality and carry a sufficient but reasonable amont of takcle with you per trip.

You basically need a sort of triage system.

In the following order

1. Take the lures that you have the most confidence in for todays outing

2. Take an assortment of the lures that you believe should work today

3. Take only a couple of lures, that you think might just maybe work today

4. Leave everything else.

This applies to accessories as well.

Good luck and have fun.

avid

[dodgeguy]

cabela's tackle bags are the best.they come in 3 different sizes.i use the super magnum.get plano boxes for it.the cabela's boxes warp with soft plastics.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20166-cat20327_TGP&id=0036306120772a&navCount=2&podId=0036306&parentId=cat20327&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IG&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20327&hasJS=true

 

[NEBassMan]

i use the Plano 7592...i like it a lot, but it's full.  I have all my hard baits in the bottom storage trays, and my soft plastics on top, but as you can see, there isn't much room for the soft plastics in those small trays.  i'll be buying another tackle box of some sort to use for my soft plastics and this one will be used for hard baits and wire baits.

Jason

http://www.planomolding.com/content/index.cfm?siteaction=product&lineid=4&groupid=11&sectionid=30&partid=164#

 

[The_Natural]

I had a Cabelas bag, but returned it when all my worms became permanently bent due to the boxes standing on end.  I went to two smaller Cabelas bags and only carry one when I fish.

[Grey Wolf]

When I bank fish , I use a fishing vest with differant size pockets in it. I use small plastic boxes to put all my lures in the vest.

I carry cranks , spinner-baits , plastics, extra spools of line and everything I need to rig my plastics with.

All my big tackle boxes stay at home. It works for me.

[.ghoti.]

dodgeguy is right, that's the best bag on the market now. I have one of the 3600 size. It appears to be nearly indestructable. A more affordable alternative is the Okeechobee Fats bag. I have one of those in the 3700 size. It's pretty tough too. I think the Cabela's bag is better made. The Fats bag is 10 bucks cheaper, with all the boxes than the Cabela's bag is without the boxes. Either one will hold a ton of stuff.

For individual boxes, to put in the bags, the Falcon, application specific boxes are hard to beat. Particularly the terminal tackle and spinnerbait boxes. The crankbait boxes are pretty good too. The only problem with them is the size. They're too big to fit into a 3600 size bag, and too small for the 3700 size bag. I wish they had went with a standard size. Nothing wrong with putting them in a 3700 bag. That's what I do, it just seems to me to be a waste of space.

For next year, my main goal is to cut down on the amount of stuff I'm carrying around. Like Avid said, the longer you play this game, the more stuff you accumulate, and you have to take all of it with you. Don't you? I don't have a complete plan yet, but I know a big part of my new scheme will be to cut down on the number of different colors I carry. I already have things organized by species. One 3600 bag has all my fly stuff. Another has all my crappie/panfish stuff. A big 3700 bag has all my muskie stuff, and another has all my wallete stuff. That's all good. It's the bass stuff that is totally out of control. I'm not gonna tell you how many bags and boxes that stuff takes up. You can't make me tell you, I plead the fifth. I'm working on it. I'll get better. Really, I will.

Anyway to answer your question, no, that Plano box is not too big. You'll fill it up soon. And, anything from Plano will last for years. If you ever find a defective one, they'll replace it. No questions asked. I sent back two 3700 boxes, a couple of years ago. I'd snapped off one the latches on each one. They sent me back four new boxes to replace the broken two.

Laggyman, I just saw you were from Japan. I don't know what's available on your side of the pond, but if Falcon boxes are there, you owe it to yourself to check those out. If you're going in a modular direction, those Falcon boxes are, by far, the best thing out there for organizing your tackle. You'll almost never have anything tangled when it's stored in the correct Falcon Box.

Good luck,

GK

[Laggyman]

Ooo lots of suggestions to look into!! Thanks guys!

The only gripe I have about those bags is that I'm worried about getting all the dirt and other "stuff" smeared all over. I certainly don't like washing stuff, and I love hard plastic boxes because I can swipe all the dirt n' grit right off with a towel or anything within reach.

Another gripe I have for those 2-sided boxes is that I'll probably forget to close the lid and dump all the lures when I flip the box over to the other side  

I only had a small collection of hard lures until halfway into 2006. I was originally a worm guy. I have a huge box filled with plastics which I carried along with a small box containing everything not "soft".

How do you store your worms?? Do you stuff them into the containers, or do you keep them in the bags??  I was planning on stuffing both hard and soft stuff into 1 big box, but I don't think it would all fit  :-/

I like that 7592. Ill check it out.

I'll also look for those Falcon series. We have a Japanese equivalent to the Plano called "Versus" but it costs about 30% more than any Plano of the same storage capacity....

I still don't have enough lures yet to choose from so I'm thinking of lugging them around.  Just outgrew the capacity for my current storage and am looking for something with ample growth potential..... And the 777 looked good, but a bit tooo big.  Didn't want to look rediculous lugging it around  ;D

1 last stupid question.  Are there any "floating" systems that would float in the event of uh... a disaster??  :-?

[dodgeguy]

I had a Cabelas bag, but returned it when all my worms became permanently bent due to the boxes standing on end. I went to two smaller Cabelas bags and only carry one when I fish.

what kind of worms were they?mine bunch up but straighten right out when removed from the boxes.i use zoom,berkley ,yamoto and yum.

[Black Bass]

For individual boxes, to put in the bags, the Falcon, application specific boxes are hard to beat. Particularly the terminal tackle and spinnerbait boxes. The crankbait boxes are pretty good too. The only problem with them is the size. They're too big to fit into a 3600 size bag, and too small for the 3700 size bag. I wish they had went with a standard size. Nothing wrong with putting them in a 3700 bag. That's what I do, it just seems to me to be a waste of space.

GK

Falcon makes two bags, the Falcon® V12 and V6 Speedbags. They claim that both of these new bags give you the ultimate home base for Falcon's innovative, technique-specific FTO utility cases. Cabelas has them for sale http://www.cabelas.com/hprod-1/0031015.shtml.

I'm thinking about asking for the system for Christmas. I'm going to post a question asking if anyone is using the complete system on this forum.

[Catt]

I must be weird cause only I carry   :

4 rod-n-reels

1 Plano Double-Sided Magnum Hard Box with worms, lizards, hooks, and weights

1 Plano Double-Sided Magnum Hard Box with jigs, craw worms, and creature baits

1 Plano Spinner Bait box with12 ea. Spinner baits & 12 ea. Rat-L-Traps

Fun fishing or tournaments it don't change   8-)

The bait monkey don't even know where I live  

[Plastik]

Grab a backpack and some organizers.  Easy to use when using your feet boat.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4127996

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=62287&hvarDept=100&hvarClassCode=11&hvarSubCode=9&hvarTarget=browse&cmid=PP_P1_2&cmCat=CROSSSELL

Enjoy.

[BASS fisherman]

Thanks for the comment Laggyman.  It did take me a while to take those pics.  

Maybe I should have stated that I tournament fish, and I must have every weapon at hand when out on the water.  When I practice fish, I still take everything with me.  I am not to the point yet where I can look outside and say "hhmmmmm, today looks like a good spinnerbait day. With a black skirt, and a willow-leaf blade." So I just take it all with me.  The bad part is that I weighed the bag and it is around 27lbs.  I have carried that bag over a mile some days when I beat the bank looking for fish.  That is why I am so impresed with the Okeechobee bag.  The room is excellent, it comes with the boxes, and the strap has a good shoulder pad.  The last bag I had was really bad, so moving up to this bag, it was really nice to have that pad on the strap.

[Laggyman]

I have the same feeling. I MUST take every lure I have.  ;D

Do you have any problems with the bag getting dirty?? Do you wash it?

[RoLo]

In my post above, I advocated one or more small hard boxes like the double-sided Plano Magnums (I prefer that approach today).

If on the other hand, you're determined to take along every lure in your arsensal, on every outing, you might be happier

with a large soft bag with several hard boxes within. The following is copied-& pasted from a former post I made

listing the Pros and Cons of a large SOFT tackle bag that stores several HARD boxes (hybrid storage):

My soft angling bag happens to be a Cabela brand, but I'm sure there are other brands today that are equivalent or even better.

SOFT ANGLING BAG CONSTRUCTION (Cabelas)

TOP-ENTRY Side entry is less accessible, especially from an upright position

CAPACITY:      Six Plano 3600 Storage Boxes (1-3/4 x 7-1/4 x 11)

PERIPHERAL: Three External Pouches Shoulder Carrying-Strap

EXTERIOR:      Waterproof Nylon (600-denier)

INTERIOR:      Low-friction Taffeta Nylon

LINING:       1/4" Closed-cell Foam

My trump suit is soft plastics, which occupy the most tackle space. I labeled the storage boxes as such:

PLASTICS (Active-Tail) - PLASTICS (Inactive-Tail) - JIGS - PLUGS - METALS (spinners/spoons) - TERMINAL TACKLE

ADVANTAGES OF SOFT BAG OVER HARD BOX

1. Space Conservative

Top loading angling bags require less cockpit area. Hard tackle boxes with double cantilever trays are deck-space hogs

2. Lighter & Smaller

Given equal dimensions the angling bag holds more tackle than a hard tackle box.

The empty angling bag alone weighs less than an empty hard tackle box of similar dimensions.

3. Custom Storage

Six independently adjustable tackle boxes with 6 to 21 compartments is a major plus.

4. Quieter on the deck (particularly in an aluminum boat)

Soft bags do not make scraping sounds on the hull and have no hard lid to bang the deck or gunwale

5. Convenient Access

Instead of hovering over an entire tackle box, you can simply cherry pick from one small box

placed in your lap.

6. Spill Proof

There are no latches to forget which have resulted in some major spills with my hard boxes.

7. No-Hands Toting.

If so desired the angling bag can be toted via the shoulder carrying-strap, leaving both hands free.

8. Scramble Proof

The lids of the small tackles mate with the tops of the partitions. This prevents small tackle

such as hooks and split-shot from shifting compartments during transit (a distinct advantage).

Roger

[Laggyman]

Great post!!  

I might be leaning more towards a soft bag now.

I'm not sure I understand #8.  Do you mean the lid of the boxes will shut flush with the rest of the box thus cutting off any space a hook or 2 can slip around and mess up an otherwise organized box?

I like the versatility of the bags. Im going to check a few out and see what there is.

Thanks!

[basser89]

Hey BASS fisherman,

I have the same tackle bag as you. I like the room it has (I can almost carry everything I want to in it) and the strap is comfortable even though mine weighs somewhere around 45lbs. When did you get your bag? Mine claims to have a waterproof compartment for maps n such, but I'd have to say its more water resistant than water proof. A couple of the outings I was on this year, the rain really came down hard! Thankfully, all the maps I have in my bag are waterproof because mine was less than water proof.

[BASS fisherman]

I have not washed it yet.  I've had the bag around 5.5-6 months now.  Just don't set it in a mud puddle, or in mud and you shouldn't have a problem.  The bottom of the bag is made of some type of tough rubber, with a peice of hard cardboard in side of it.  I have fished with it in down pours, and never had it get dirty to the point where I noticed that it was dirty.  If it would get dirty, you could take a damp rag to it, and clean it right off of the surface.

I think you are right about what ROLO said in #8.  

[BASS fisherman]

Hey BASS fisherman,

I have the same tackle bag as you. I like the room it has (I can almost carry everything I want to in it) and the strap is comfortable even though mine weighs somewhere around 45lbs. When did you get your bag? Mine claims to have a waterproof compartment for maps n such, but I'd have to say its more water resistant than water proof. A couple of the outings I was on this year, the rain really came down hard! Thankfully, all the maps I have in my bag are waterproof because mine was less than water proof.

I've had mine around 5.5-6 months now, and have fished with it at least 3 times when it was raining hard.  I keep paper towels in the waterproof pocket that have never gotten wet.  

You are right about the water resistant part though.  If you would drop it into the water, it would get the inside wet, but so far I have never had the inside get wet when it was raining.  Now if the compartments are open, that is a different story.  But I always take everything out of the bag and get it all good & dry when I get home after a day when it is raining.  I have a habit of leaving the boxes open and all the lures get wet.  I don't like to replace hooks when it isn't needed, so I make sure to let everything dryout before I close the boxes back up and put them back in the bag.  I have never had anything in the pockets that I don't open get wet. Basically what I mean by "waterproof" is that if it is raining, you could set the bag outside in the rain, and the inside would stay dry.  That is my experience though.  Maybe because I am soak and wet anyway I just never noticed the inside of the bag being wet.  :-/

[RoLo]

I'm not sure I understand #8. Do you mean the lid of the boxes will shut flush with the rest of the box thus cutting off any space a hook or 2 can slip around and mess up an otherwise organized box?

That's it exactly.

The lids on some of the early hard boxes did not mate well with the tops of the partitions.

I was forever re-sorting loose hooks that migrated into other bins, in fact, some of the old hardboxes

were so sloppily constructed that I've had BB-shot sneak through the top slot!!! Anyway, the lid on the Plano 3600 box

mates pretty well with the grids, about as good as you'd expect without using a pliable gasket.

Bottom Line:

You can stand the soft bag upside-down without incident...Try that with a hard plastic or aluminum cantilever tackle box  

Roger

[Laggyman]

Great!! Sounds like a tackle box good for my needs.

And I won't have to worry about forgetting to close the latch or anything like that anymore  ;D I've done that too many times now it's not funny anymore