Building a box for a buddy.

[Weslewis]

A good buddy of mine and i were tossing around the idea of if a friend with little to no bass fishing experience came up to us and asked if we could help him build a tackle box. We compiled everything down to 1 3700 plano box and maybe 6 bags of soft plastics give or take a few all in a backpack for portability and ease of choice keeping in mind that they only had 1 baitcaster (med or medhvy) and a spinning combo (med). We had fun with the idea and actually had a few differences in choices. I was just curious to hear your guys response on the topic and what you would choose for your area of the country. 

[Hartwood71]

Funny, I just had a buddy ask me to help him with the same thing.   We live in Northern New Jersey and we geared him for summer/fall.  He has a good feel for fishing (fly fishing), but only limited experience with conventional gear.  We decided on:

 

Soft Baits

  *Senkos: Green and White, Watermelon, Motor Oil

  *Ribbon tail worms (T-Rig or unweighted):  Black, Red, June Bug

  *Underspins

Jigs

  *Football and Swimming:   Various trailers- June Bug, Watermelon, etc

Hardbaits- keeping' it simple for 1-6 feet of water

  *Jerkbaits:  midsize Perch, shad

  *Crankbaits: Gill and Perch - squarebill for 1-4 feet, and a crank for 4-8 feet.

Topwater 

   *Popper

   *Frog

One Spinning set-up: Braid to leader or Flouro

One Baitcasting set-up: Braid to leader

[roadwarrior]

Start off simple: Zara Puppy (topwater); Senko & Fat Ika; RES, Bandit 200 & Norman Fat Boy;

Spinnerbait (white).

 

No jigs, they are too much for a newbie.

 

 

[Johnny Falls]

4/0 Owner Beast hooks loaded with a Keitech Fat Impact in Blue Gill Flash

 

Wacky Rigged Senko, Black with Blue Fleck, Pumpkin

 

Chatterbait White and Chartreuse with Keitech Fat Impact Trailer

 

Zoom Horny Toad, Black maybe Green Pumpkin

 

Hope this helps.

[NJBasstard]

I'm in Southern New Jersey. If I was putting a box together for someone new it'd look something like this.

 

Soft Baits:

-5" Senko (Junebug and/or Black & Blue)

-TRD Ned Rig (Black or Black & Blue)

-Fat Ika (Junebug)

 

Jigs: 

-Arky Jig 3/8oz (Black & Blue and Red Craw)

-Bitsy Bug 1/4 or less (Black & Blue and Watermelon)

 

Hard Baits:

Squarebill 1-5ft (Shad pattern & Chartreuse)

Crankbait 5ft+ (Shad pattern & Chartreuse)

Suspending Jerkbait (Shad & Bluegill)

 

Top Water:

Jitterbug (Black)

Buzzbait (Black)

Frog (Dark & Light bellied)

 

Additional:

4/0 EWG hooks

1/0 or 2/0 Wacky hooks

1/10oz Ned head

Craw trailer

Paddletail trailer

 

 

 

[DitchPanda]

Soft baits: 

5 inch stick bait (senko or yum dinger) black and blue & green pumpkin variant

7.5 inch culprit ribbontail ( junebug & green pumpkin)

Missile baits D-bomb (superbug)

Hard baits:

Kvd 1.5 (sexy shad and chili craw)

Bandit 100 (baby bass)

Cotton Cordell super spot (gold black back)

Spro Aruku shad jr (old glory)

3/8ths double willow spinnerbait either Nichols or war eagle any shad/ Baitfish color will do

Jigs and trailers:

1/4oz boss swim jigs (bluegill and shad)

  - trailers:3.8 eco pro swing shad ( bluegill flash & sight fish)

     Zoom ultravibe speed craw (green pumpkin)

5/16oz siebert sniper jig (green pumpkin) green pumpkin                       Ultravibe speed craw trailer

3/8oz Gary Klein BOSS arkie jig (black&blue) black and blue                        Yum christie craw trailer

Topwater:

3/8oz black with black blade buzzbait (war eagle or cavitron)

Standard size rebel pop r w/ upgraded hooks

Terminal tackle:

3/0 round bend hooks

4/0 wide gap hooks

3/16th ounce tungsten bullet weights

Setups :

1- 7ft medium fast baitcaster 7 to 1 gear ratio

    12 lb copolymer

1- 7ft medium heavy fast baitcaster 7 to 1 gear ratio

    15 lb copolymer

[JediAmoeba]

7 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

Start off simple: Zara Puppy (topwater); Senko & Fat Ika; RES, Bandit 200 & Norman Fat Boy;

Spinnerbait (white).

 

No jigs, they are too much for a newbie.

I agree on the jigs but on the same note a xara puppy is a nightmare for a newbie.  I would go with a jitterbug or a popper.

[roadwarrior]

20 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

I agree on the jigs but on the same note a xara puppy is a nightmare for a newbie.  I would go with a jitterbug or a popper.

I don't fish the Puppy simply because it catches too many little fish...ALWAYS. 

But for a newbie that might be fun.  It might be a slight exaggeration, but as I

recall  the last time I fished the lure, caught about 10 fish on 30 casts.  

[Cgolf]

Some pro classic slider spider heads Beefier 3/0 hook 
Kalins 5” grub Ron’s craw water red 

generic tubes 3”ish Water red maybe smoke purple if clear water

rage menace Moto red and hard candy

all soft plastics would be rigged on slider heads

 

snaps for cranks and plastics

 

Bandit 100

RES 1/2 ounce

Norman deep little N if fishing out of boat. 
Rapala DT series, size choices based on water they will fish

rapala F9 silver black and brook trout

Shad rap 5 firetiger

 

double willow spinner bait sliver blades. 
 

maybe a buzz bait. 
 

would stay away from topwaters, jerkbaits and jigs because the learning curve is pretty steep. 
 

spinning combo Medium ugly stick Spinning rod and a moderately priced spinning reel. Ugly is a good learning rod and the action covers a lot of tactics. 

[JediAmoeba]

3 hours ago, cgolf said:

 

would stay away from topwaters, jerkbaits and jigs because the learning curve is pretty steep. 

I agree.  And without the proper equipment those lures will mostly sit in the box or end up on the bottom of the lake.  That's why I would give them a jitterbug or popper - more the jitterbug because it just lazily comes along.  

[Catt]

?

 

I started today with one of my sons getting back into & more involved in bass fishing.

 

Plastics: K.I.S.S. All Zoom 

Fluke, Baby Brush Hog, Horny Toad, Ultravibe Speed Craw, Ultravibe Speed Worm, Trick Worm, Mag II Worm.

 

Senko type stick bait, he chose Yum Dinger.

 

Strike King Rage Bug & Rage Craw

 

Colors: Pick your own ?

 

Hooks: He wanted EWG, I said you'll 3/0 & 4/0, pick a name brand, they're all good for starting out.

 

Crankbaits: 6th Sense 

 

Spinnerbaits: Stanley's Vibra-Wedge 3/8 oz double willowleaf gold blades, 1 ea white & 1 ea chartreuse/white.

 

Hollow body frog: Spro Dean Rojas Bronzeye Frog 65

 

Soft body frog: Stanley Bull Ribbit 4.5" 

 

That's what we accomplished today

[t_bone_713]

Soft baits: 

5 inch Stick Bait (Black and Blue and Green Pumpkin)

7.5 inch Ribbontail (Black and Blue and Green Pumpkin)

Hard baits:

1/2oz Lipless (Black Back Gold and Blue Back Chrome)

3/8oz Spinner Bait (Big Willow, Little Colorado) (Chartreuse and White)

Topwater:

3/8oz Black Buzzbait

1/2oz Black Frog

Terminal tackle:

4/0 Extra wide gap hooks

1/8 Bullet Weight

Weight Pegs

1/0 Straight Shank Worm Hook

#7 Split Shot

Setups :

6'6" to 7' Medium Fast Spinning Rod, 2500 Size Reel, 8lb Mono

6'6" to 7' Medium Heavy Fast Baitcaster 6.x:1 Gear Ratio 12lb Mono

[schplurg]

I'd keep it simple. I have an EFK (Emergency Fishing Kit!!!) in my truck that is minimalist, though contains more than I'm going to mention here. It all fits in one backpack (including rod and reel!).

 

Poppers (one or two). I caught my first dozen bass with a popper at my dads 2 summers ago (over many visits), it is an easy and fun bait to fish. Topwater is what made me say, "Ah so THAT's why so many people fish for bass!"

 

Crankbaits - lipped. A few proper colors for your area. Say one white/shad, one dark, one chartreuse. Maybe a perch. I love cranks so I have a lot.

 

Spinner baits - inline for sure. "Regular" full size spinners if they fit in the box. If not, forget 'em.

Beetle Spins with some Yum 3 inch curly tail grubs. Get two.

 

Plastics - few bags of stick baits, bag of white Super Flukes, some kind of ribbon tail or curly tail, or both. Some kind of craw for T-rigs and trailers. There's 6. Take some out of each bag and throw them into one.

 

Maybe some Ned Rig stuff. Maybe not. Depends on how many techniques you want to throw at him all at once. My kit is small so you'll probably have extra space for it.

 

Chatterbait maybe. For simplicity sake I'd say no for now. If you have room then throw one in.

 

Terminal

Texas Rig stuff, maybe forget about bobber stoppers and beads if you're trying to keep it simple. They take little space so if the guy understands what they're for then go for it. I went without for awhile.

 

Hooks I carry many size hooks but I only use 4/0, 3/0 for most bass fishing I do. You don't need anything else with this kit anyways. I like to have a few smaller sized hooks for whatever, maybe non-bass fishing, you never know. Find a few worms on shore...

 

Pack of jig heads for the flukes, maybe. I usually T-rig them though.

 

Hooks for Wacky Rig.

 

Various bullet weights (super cheap at Walmart, or total rip-off at Bass Pro).

 

Some split shots. Quick way to add or reduce weight without retying. 

 

NOT:

Frogs. I think I'd skip the frog unless you have a rod capable of setting those hooks.

 

No jigs for now.

 

Ned Rig is optional. Depends on the water body and if you want to learn another technique (though it is simple).

 

Other items for the backpack:

- scale

- multitool (or pocket knife and pliers)

- basic "1st aid" kit (Krazy Glue, bandages, some TP, a Cliffs Bar, lip balm, headlamp and maybe a lighter).

- water

 

Edit to add:

- Reading glasses from the dollar store!

[Weslewis]

Thanks for all the input guys this is a pretty fun topic 

[Quarry Man]

Terminal Tackle

Ned Rig 1/10 oz

1/8 oz lead drop shot weights

VMC Inline Drop Shot Hooks (easy to tie up)

1/8 oz lead worm weights

1/0 EWG Hooks

3/0 EWG Hooks

1/0 Wacky Rig Hooks

3/16 oz Ball Jig Heads

 

Lures

Popper - shad color

Popping Frog - green

Chatterbait - black/blue & white

Spinnerbait - white

Squarebill - Red, Chartreuse Sexy Shad, Bluegill/Perch

Flipping jig - black blue

swim jig - sexy shad

 

Plastics

Zoom Finesse Worm - Gooseberry and Green Pumpkin

5" Yum Dinger - Black/Blue and Watermelon Red

3.8" Strike King Rage Swimmer (smaller than keitechs)

craw style bait