Soft Plastic Storage

[BaitMonkey1984]

Ok, so as my Bassfishing name and avatar evidence I have an issue with buying more lures then I could ever use in a lifetime. I was always a crank bait/jerkbait/spinner bait type guy until say 4 years ago. First got deadly with the senko, and that led to all soft plastics. Over the past 4 years, I have no idea how many soft plastics I have accumulated. I have 3 big tackle boxes full, roughly 15 plano 3700 boxes and lots more. 

The tackle boxes and the plants I can access quickly and move to and from the boat without issue. Great. My issue is, how does everyone here store the 100s of extra plastics that are eiter additional packs of favorites or those baits that you don't use very often. First. I had all the baits in ziplock freezer bags according to type (beavers, curly tail worm, grubs) in a huge Plano Sprotsman Trunk. That worked for a while, then I outgrew those sportsman trunks. Also, accessing those baits quickly was to effective. I recently purchased four 3-draw plastic filing cabinets from Walmart that are super deep. They can hold the majority of this extra plastic baits pretty well, but not super. I do not want to do the peg board system as I am afraid of light effecting the baits over time, and B everyone seeing how much lures I really have and having me committed.

 

So any advice or pics of how you go about storing mass quantities of the soft plastics that you do not utilize regularly throughout the season would be appreciated. 

 

[Fishinthefish]

Mainly what I do is I keep all of my plastics in the bags they came in and take those and put them in writeable gallon sized ziplock bags. I organize my bags by type, flukes, craws, worms, all have their own individual bag with large sizes on one side, and small on the other. I keep them in small zipable bag all to themselves away from any hard baits. Everything has writing on it so I just pull a bag and at the top it'll say worms light color, worms dark color etc.

[Fishinthefish]

Mainly what I do is I keep all of my plastics in the bags they came in and take those and put them in writeable gallon sized ziplock bags. I organize my bags by type, flukes, craws, worms, all have their own individual bag with large sizes on one side, and small on the other. I keep them in small zipable bag all to themselves away from any hard baits. Everything has writing on it so I just pull a bag and at the top it'll say worms light color, worms dark color etc. http://www.fieldandstreamshop.com/p/spiderwire-wolf-tackle-bag/15spiuspdrwrwlf37tbx?camp=CSE:GooglePLA:15SPIUSPDRWRWLF37TBX:15568856:Bags&CAWELAID=120226720000019865&CAGPSPN=pla thats bag type I use to hold my gallon bags, different size though.

[papajoe222]

All my extras are kept hanging on long hooks on pegboard, similar to the way they are displayed in the store.  For the baits I use a lot of, I'll use one peg for each color, and for others, one peg will hold multiple colors of the same bait.  Makes it easy to keep track of inventory, when I'm low on a particular bait, what colors are hot and more importantly, which baits I don't need more of. 

That peg-board started out as a half sheet and currently is three times larger. For the boxes themselves, I have this http://www.basspro.com/Organized-Fishing-Large-Utility-Box-Wire-Rack-NFR014/product/1202231129/ 

[BaitMonkey1984]

32 minutes ago, Fishinthefish said:

Mainly what I do is I keep all of my plastics in the bags they came in and take those and put them in writeable gallon sized ziplock bags. I organize my bags by type, flukes, craws, worms, all have their own individual bag with large sizes on one side, and small on the other. I keep them in small zipable bag all to themselves away from any hard baits. Everything has writing on it so I just pull a bag and at the top it'll say worms light color, worms dark color etc.

Tried this. Kept the ziplock bags in my plano sportsman trunk .Took a while to locate the bag, and the ziplock bags  when full would bend the baits for flukes etc. Didn't work for me. 

[KDW96]

I was in the same boat at one time. I spent last winter going through all my plastic and realized i didnt need 100 bags with me. I kept about half of it,put the rest in a couple storage boxes. What i kept,i sorted in bags,labled. From feb.thrudec. i never did have to get in the storage boxes,and only carried about 1/3rd the wieght. Out of that i only take certain baits,depending on what time of year it is and how the weathers been. Good luck in your search:)

[buzzed bait]

i too store all my extras on the peg board.  i'm not worried about them losing color from the light, no more than on the shelf at some retailer. 

[Fishinthefish]

If you're talking about storing them at home you can't go wrong with filing cabinets. But as far as bringing more than a dufflebag with you on a boat, i have no idea. Get a pontoon, fill it with filing cabinets? Lol I have no idea.

[BaitMonkey1984]

3 hours ago, buzzed bait said:

i too store all my extras on the peg board.  i'm not worried about them losing color from the light, no more than on the shelf at some retailer. 

Lots of windows in my garage so it gets a decent amount of light. I am sure it would take quite a while for the sun to wreak havoc, but I am sure it will eventually do its magic. I just havent been a big fan of the pegboard- if anyone has some pics of pegboards that look decent, please post them up here. 

[blckshirt98]

Ziploc Gallon Freezer Bags, and, Sterlite plastic containers from Target.  You can fit a ton of plastics in the 56 quart Sterilites.

[Evan K]

That is a lot of plastics. Maybe sell off a bunch?

I have been using 3 ziploc gallon bags, one worm-type, one trailers, one other. Got 3 of the deep flambeau boxes on the way from TW that will take the place of those.

[atcoha]

I keep them in original bags....BUT, I will take out a few of each that I want to use and put in a plano box, or a zip lock to take with me when I go fishing. I got tired of lugging around 10lbs of plastics, 3/4 of which I never even pulled out to use. 

[roadwarrior]

I carry two Plano 3700 boxes in my bag ready to go. The rest of my 5 year inventory is kept in original packages on a peg board in the Man Cave. Well...then there are a few cardboard boxes with my "spares".   

[BaitMonkey1984]

2 hours ago, Evan K said:

That is a lot of plastics. Maybe sell off a bunch?

I have been using 3 ziploc gallon bags, one worm-type, one trailers, one other. Got 3 of the deep flambeau boxes on the way from TW that will take the place of those.

Not interested in selling off anything. When it comes to lures I may be a bit of a hoarder. I  figure, a friend, family member, or some kid on the bank when I am launching my boat will get them some day.

Also, not interested in the hassle of selling plastics for say $4 a bag. Even with $4 per bag  * 500 bags of "extras" = $2,000.00 not worth the hassle for me. If anyone here is interested in the entire lot sale let me know. 

Probably 30+ big gallon zip lock bags ready to burst, so yea a lot of plastics. 

[iabass8]

Everything being used is in Planos in the boat. Spares and extras are left in their packaging and put on a pegboard in the man cave. Pegboard is far and away the most simple solution to avoiding lots of clutter. If your garage has a lot of sunlight, buy some "blackout curtins" that cut out sunlight. 

[Evan K]

52 minutes ago, BaitMonkey1984 said:

Not interested in selling off anything. When it comes to lures I may be a bit of a hoarder. I  figure, a friend, family member, or some kid on the bank when I am launching my boat will get them some day.

Also, not interested in the hassle of selling plastics for say $4 a bag. Even with $4 per bag  * 500 bags of "extras" = $2,000.00 not worth the hassle for me. If anyone here is interested in the entire lot sale let me know. 

Probably 30+ big gallon zip lock bags ready to burst, so yea a lot of plastics. 

Sounds like you ARE a bit of a lure hoarder.  Nothing wrong with that!

[Mike L]

18 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

All my extras are kept hanging on long hooks on pegboard, similar to the way they are displayed in the store.  For the baits I use a lot of, I'll use one peg for each color, and for others, one peg will hold multiple colors of the same bait.  Makes it easy to keep track of inventory, when I'm low on a particular bait, what colors are hot and more importantly, which baits I don't need more of. 

That peg-board started out as a half sheet and currently is three times larger. For the boxes themselves, I have this http://www.basspro.com/Organized-Fishing-Large-Utility-Box-Wire-Rack-NFR014/product/1202231129/ 

Whew...You're my hero

 

Mike 

[buzzed bait]

I don't have as much in the extras dept as I'm sure you do, I'm a minimalist in a sense. The peg board works well for me though. Much easier to see what I'm working with.