One box, any lake

[Cgideon]

Hey all, so I'm working on a single tackle box that I can keep in my car throughout the season that I would hopefully be able to take to any lake or pond and catch bass.

 

I'm primarily looking at hard baits as they won't melt in the hot Iowa summer months. I would definitely love some input! All this would be on a Dobyns Fury 7' MH-F with a Shimano Curado 200K CU201XG K reel with 12lb Fluro. 

 

Please let me know if I should add or remove anything from the list. Thanks in advance! 

 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/wishlist/wishlistdetails.html?e_l=2zlEZjrMRq0RoEid

 

[Catt]

No plastics? ?

[BigAngus752]

I have lots of tackle but if I'm going to be honest with myself I catch 90% of my fish with lipless crankbaits, Trick Worms, and frogs.  That's the whole water column and two of them I can fish from one foot to the bottom.  I love my Zara Spooks and spinnerbaits and the Shad Raps are good producers but for sheer volume it's the first three.  

[TnRiver46]

Hardbaits can melt too!

[GReb]

If you keep plastics in the original bag and out of direct sun they should be fine. 

 

Spinner baits, spook, frog, square bill, medium diver, lipless, jerkbait, wire wrapped jigs, and some terminal tackle. That would be my box. Maybe go for a deep 3700 size box. Worm binders are small and hold a good amount of plastics. They’d also keep a lot of the heat out. You can use one of the sleeves to hold hooks and weights

[Derek1]

I don’t have much to add, but I woul live to see all that go in that box. 

[burrows]

Probably catch more on jigs and soft plastics than with any or those baits you have. Get some terminal tackle and some plastics. 

[Mobasser]

Lots of times I fish out of a smaller box. I like to keep it simple. If you add some soft plastics and hooks/ weights you should be fine, along with the other things you've mentioned

[scaleface]

I  use to drive a panel van with rod racks installed .  I carried four rods  all the time and one box .. It was filled mostly  with soft plastics   and jigs     . Also jars of pork rind , buzzbaits ,spinnerbaits , llipless cranks , Bomber long A's  , beetle Spins and H&H spinners .  I  caught a lot more big bass in those days  than I do now . If the weather was good I fished   most days  after work . I had a milk run of Mississippi back water that was protected by levees that had lots of big bass . Also fished river banks , small  streams , ponds, anywhere and everywhere .    Soft plastic baits  didnt melt .

[Cgideon]

I have a worm wallet with Yum Dinger's, Zoom Speed Craw's and Zoom Trick Worms along with a Bass Mafia Terminal Coffin. I just don't like to carry a lot of stuff, but I should find space for some terminal tackle in my box and carry a pack or two of plastics. 

[Derek1]

I keep my bpack in my truck at all times and plastics don’t melt. I once even forgot a ziplock back full of bags of soft plastics on the dash of my truck with the windows up in July and they didn’t melt, don’t recommend that though. I think you have most problems when you mix different plastics together. 

[slonezp]

Dissimilar plastics stored together can react with each other and melt. Keep your plastics stored in their original packaging in ziplock bags rather than mixing them in a box

[NittyGrittyBoy]

X2 on original packaging, don't put them in a plastic tray box, ruins box and soft plastics if not used frequently.

 

But I would invest in soft plastics over hardbaits

[Boomstick]

Since you have a MH/F rod, I would do something like the following:

• 3/8oz spinnerbait with a small colorado and large willow blade either white, white/chartreuse or sexy shad color. I like the War Eagles with the super sharp Trokar hooks personally.
• 3/8oz double colorado spinnerbait for darker days in white/chartreuse or sexy shad colors (brighter colors not white)
• A brown colored chatterbait and some flukes for a trailer
• 4/0 EWG hooks (I personally like the Trokars), 1/8oz weights and 5" senkos
• 2/0 EWG Hooks and soft plastic craws
• At least two 2.5 (or perhaps larger) sized crankbaits as smaller ones don't fish well on a MH/F rod (If strike kings, I'd go with a DB Craw or Chili Craw and a Yellow Perch for colors)
• A 3/8oz swim jig (I'd probably go with sexy shad or chart sexy shad for my first choice of color) and some NetBait Paca Craws for trailers
• Some football head jigs and grubs.
• A couple of jerkbaits - Rapala Original floaters work. I'd suggest a silver or live smelt and a shiner color)
• A 2 1/4" LiveTarget frog or two (Booyah Pad Crashers if you're short on money) -- much better than the Spros imo
• Some poppers. I usually use the Rebels but the Ima Finesse's you have should be fine.
• Might want to add a black and blue chatterbait and black spinnerbait with colorado blades for night fishing.

Of course, I'm no KVD, but that's what you'll find in my arsenal. You could also try an extra deep box for more storage, or just get two if needed. You can rotate lures in and out should you only want to bring one depending on the time of year as well.

1 hour ago, NittyGrittyBoy said:

But I would invest in soft plastics over hardbaits

Why not use both?

[jbmaine]

I can only comment on what I catch most of my bass on ( both LM & SM ) so my list is.

1) senkos and swim Senkos , weighted and un weighted.

2) soft plastic paddle tails , I like swimming caffeine shad

3) ned rig ( Z-man TRD)

4) tubes , I like coffee tubes

5) spinnerbaits

[WRB]

You are fishing from shore....right?

When I fish from shore my choices are very different then fishing from a boat.

1. I don't use any of the lures you have selected and I consider myself a very good jig fisherman and don't use jigs.

2. As Catt ? Where are the soft plastics? My go to lure is a Texas rigged worm or creature with sliding bullet weight and glass faceted bead. I can fish this as a traditional T-rig or peg the bead and have a C-rig. 

3. The only other lures I use are wake baits from shore that float at rest and dive maybe a foot.

My box would be bullet weight from 1/8, 3/16 and 1/4 oz. Selection of 3/0 to 5/0 worm hooks, beads and Peg-It's, As many worms and creatures that my bag will carry a wake bait my jig/ worm rod can handle, 2 ea  4 MS Mini Slammers. 

No FC line for me, from shore 19 lb Defier mono or 15 lb Big Game mono, 1 rod/reel and and a fanny pack or small tackle bag.

Tom

[Cgideon]

First off, thank you all for your input! It's greatly appreciated. I took your advice and I now have a Rubbermaid tote full of bags of soft plastics in my trunk. Stocked up in Flukes, Yum Dinger's and Swim Dinger's, Zoom Speed Craw, Zoom Trick Worms, a bunch of Rage plastics and Keitech's in different sizes, plus all the hardware for everything loaded up in my Terminal Coffin. 

 

Now I'm just going to save up and buy a second combo to keep in my car for soft plastics and hard body lures. Man, Spring can get here any time!

 

Also, if you don't have a Gamakatsu G-Box, in any of their three sizes, I can't recommend them highly enough! I have one of their small ones I've started just loading up terminal tackle into for the day, and since you can put the dividers anywhere in the box it keeps things nice and tightly organized. 

 

Thanks again everyone!

[fishwizzard]

I travel a lot for work and have a combo and small hip pouch I take with me.  I have my tackle limited to the following:

 

1) One bag, Senko, GP w/ Red Flake

2) One bag, Zoom Super Fluke, Pearl

3) One bag, Culprit 7" Fatmax, Red Shad

4) Two @ 1/2oz Red-Eye Shad, Sexy Shad

5) Two @ 1.5SK Squarebill, Chart Black Back

6) Two @ 3/8 spinnerbait, Sexy Shad skirt

6) Micro Plano box with 3/0 offset round bend hooks, a few sinkers, and some pegs.  

 

A lot of these choices are informed by the rod I bring, a ML-M/ModF telescoping casting rod.  It's not amazing for plastics but it works well enough.  If I ever move on to a stiffer and more powerful rod I would lose the flukes and add a few jigs.  

 

 

[KickingFish]

Booyah lipless crankbaits, x-raps andsome sort of popper/frog

[LxVE Bassin]

It gets that hot in Iowa? That list is super expensive and repetitive. Spy baits aren’t made for shore fishing anyway. But I’m glad you took the advice of the guys and I’m sure it saved you a bunch of money.

 

[Maxximus Redneckus]

I can do one box any pond and add saltwater also...cheaspeake bay 5 mins away and farm ponds 10 mins away...flukes, lipless, rapalas,mepps,manns jelly worms, spooks,

[Cgolf]

My go everywhere box in my truck for shore fishing has a small selection of tubes, yum crawbug, and 5” Kalins grubs rigged on slider heads and of course some Ned rigs. For cranks I carry Bandit 100s and lipless baits and likely a plopper or some other kind of topwater. 

 

Plastic rod has 10lb fireline to easily break off plastic snags and the cranking rod has 50 lb braid so that I can pull cranks off snags without losing them as often. 

 

Homestly though if I had to chose 5 lure styles for the rest of my life to catch fish anywhere those would be it after I took out the topwater bait. 

[thinkingredneck]

Sometimes I just take a couple packs of worms and terminal tackle.

[burrows]

On 10/19/2018 at 7:10 PM, Cgideon said:

Hey all, so I'm working on a single tackle box that I can keep in my car throughout the season that I would hopefully be able to take to any lake or pond and catch bass.

 

I'm primarily looking at hard baits as they won't melt in the hot Iowa summer months. 

 

From my understanding hard baits expand over time wile being stored in a hot car over the summer months ? Just saying.

[kenmitch]

On 10/19/2018 at 10:12 PM, Derek1 said:

I don’t have much to add, but I woul live to see all that go in that box. 

That's what I thought also. Bouncing around in car getting road/hook damage to the lures finish.