How often do you go into your tacklebox while fishing?

[Swamp Girl]

Many trips, my tacklebox won't be opened. I used to lug a full-size tacklebox and downsized to a utility box. Now, for about half of my trips, I only open that utility box to replace a soft plastic paddletail or Senko. Otherwise, I'm working with the lures on my six or seven rods, which are rigged and ready when I launch. I do tweak those lures before each trip, retying and sometimes replacing. I only get so much time on the water and hate to fritter it retying or replacing lures.

 

I watch YouTubers retying on the water and I think, "You could be catching a bass instead of retying."

[Team9nine]

Almost never - I formulate a game plan, rig up for it, then live or die with it, letting it play out to its conclusion. Always having a crappie rod rigged at hand on the boat saves any wasted bass outing 😎

[TnRiver46]

Right after I break off my hook on a rock 

[galyonj]

So, most of my fishing, I'm (very slow, but) foot-mobile. I take a little backpack with me.

 

In that ruck I have some extra line, my leatherman, bug juice, vape juice, daystar repellant, a gallon ziploc with bagged soft plastics, and a utility box that contains:

- hooks/weights/jigheads

- skirted jigs (finesse, swim, and arky-style)

- a small selection of crankbaits

 

If I've guessed correctly, I'm having a good day. I'll never open the bag unless I need to replace something I've tore up or broken off, or I need the pliers.

 

If I've guessed wrong, I'll have the entire contents of that bag – and the containers inside of it – spread out in front of me, frantically trying to figure out what the daggum fish want.

 

14 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Right after I break off my hook on a rock 

 

Or you reel in half a hook because it rusted through. lol

[Swamp Girl]

16 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Almost never - I formulate a game plan, rig up for it, then live or die with it, letting it play out to its conclusion.

 

Yep, ^that's^ my strategy. I study the lake depth map and the weather, think about where and when the wind will rise, and rig accordingly. Each trip, I tie one new lure onto a rod to give it a chance. 

 

3 minutes ago, galyonj said:

If I've guessed wrong, I'll have the entire contents of that bag – and the containers inside of it – spread out in front of me, frantically trying to figure out what the daggum fish want.

 

Ha! I can't say I can relate. The bass I catch are pretty predictable and reliable. They'll hit a Zoom worm, paddletail, Mepps spinner, squarebill, wacky Senko, popper, or Whopper Plopper, depending upon the morning or hour. 

[TnRiver46]

Y’all that don’t lose any lures can all kiss……. 
 

I mean I’m so proud of you 

[TOXIC]

I’ll admit,mi am a technique specific guy.  I have rods rigged for the specific technique.  I’ll have multiple rods rigged for some techniques for example, a shallow crankbait and a deep crankbait setup.  It’s not unusual for me to have 3 Senko rods rigged.  Obviously none of this would be possible if I was bank fishing.  I will then open my tackle to changes to the technique specific baits.  Crankbait and Senko colors for example.  I will also have multiple baits for specific techniques.  Like Ned’s and dropshot.  Add to that break offs or lost or worn out baits and I am into my tackle pretty regularly.

[Swamp Girl]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Y’all that don’t lose any lures can all kiss……. 
 

I mean I’m so proud of you 

 

I don't lose lures, but over the course of a year, I spend literal hours and hours pulling weeds off my lures. 

 

#TnRiver46issoproudofme...er...Ithink

[TnRiver46]

I bet I broke off 8 times yesterday, my tackle box gave me a screen time warning 

[galyonj]

9 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Ha! I can't say I can relate. The bass I catch are pretty predictable and reliable. They'll hit a Zoom worm, paddletail, Mepps spinner, squarebill, wacky Senko, popper, or Whopper Plopper, depending upon the morning or hour. 

 

That'd be nice.

 

Most of my fishing, I'm at a disadvantage because I'm on the bank, and I've got maybe an hour to fish before I've gotta be somewhere.

 

So I live or die in the water I'm sitting in front of, which, often, is about 50 yards of shoreline on a 14 or 15,000 acre lake that's basically just a wide spot in a 652 mile long river system.

[flyfisher]

Whenever I need something I don't have tied on lol  When fly fishing I usually have 3-4 rods rigged, topwater, mid column with floating line, mid column sink tip line and a bottom bouncer type bait.  Once I narrow down to where the fish are located depth wise, I then tie on various patterns on all the rods to allow for various presentation styles.  Only one that doesn't change is topwater, I always keep one tied on.

 

Conventional i follow the same type of mindset but with a couple more rods rigged up.  The goal is to not be stuck in a particular pattern or color just because I tied it on to start the day.  If I am not catching then I am switching up stuff until I am at least getting some hits.

 

[Team9nine]

On the bank, in reference to those posts, I’m even more restrictive. One rod, one reel, and a handful of baits in my pocket. If I break off enough or go through what I brought (soft plastics), I go home - end of trip. It’s still better than dragging gear around all day 😉

[Alex from GA]

When I break off and don't have extra hooks and sinkers on the deck.  

[casts_by_fly]

 

35 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Almost never - I formulate a game plan, rig up for it, then live or die with it, letting it play out to its conclusion. Always having a crappie rod rigged at hand on the boat saves any wasted bass outing 😎

 

I think the phrase is, "Having a plan is great until you get punched in the mouth".

 

I think I get punched a lot.

 

18 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Y’all that don’t lose any lures can all kiss……. 
 

I mean I’m so proud of you 

 

I'm curious what and how for you.  You're in a boat I think.  Light line and rocky stuff?

 

I can count on one hand how many lures I've lost in the past 3 seasons that weren't to toothy critters.  One was a lipless on braid where a mussel shell got me.  Two were soft plastics that a bluegill or small bass hit it and ran into a stump such that I snagged when I set the hook.  Offhand, I can't think of another.  That said, I'm fishing lakes with soft bottoms and not a ton of wood.  Any time I do snag, I can usually slide the boat close enough that it pops free.

 

 

46 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

Many trips, my tacklebox won't be opened. I used to lug a full-size tacklebox and downsized to a utility box. Now, for about half of my trips, I only open that utility box to replace a soft plastic paddletail or Senko. Otherwise, I'm working with the lures on my six or seven rods, which are rigged and ready when I launch. I do tweak those lures before each trip, retying and sometimes replacing. I only get so much time on the water and hate to fritter it retying or replacing lures.

 

I watch YouTubers retying on the water and I think, "You could be catching a bass instead of retying."

 

I normally carry 5 rigged rods in a combination of moving baits and bottom baits.  I'll give them a go until the fish tell me they don't want anything of it.  I've gotten better at predicting ahead of time and also gotten better at correcting after an hour or two, but even still there are days when I get to the water and immeditely change something I've tied on.  Most of the time our water is pretty clear so my color choices reflect that.  Then I get there and the water has muddied for some reason or there is an algae bloom.  Aside from that, I try to keep my decks clear.  Used lures go into a little tray I made until they dry out.  But if the lure has made the tray for the day, that means it didn't catch fish and isn't likely to get tied back on.  So realistically I'm dipping into my box every time I sit down and cut a lure off.

 

Get quick with tying knots and you're not losing that much time.

[LrgmouthShad]

Infrequently

[Bankc]

I'm always digging around in my tackle box.  I fish from a kayak, so I have a strict 6 rod limit, so it's rare for something to get rigged up and left alone.  And I typically choose my lure based on where I'm fishing (cover type, depth, etc.), so as I move around the lake, I'll need different lures.  And sometimes, something isn't working for reasons I don't understand, so I'll try something else.  

 

On a typical day, I'll get up early and start off with 2-3 rods rigged for topwaters.  The wind usually dictates which ones I'll tie on.  And different topwaters have a different pace, so you can experiment to find out how aggressive the fish are that day.  Then, about an hour or so after sunrise, I'll switch to squarebills, spinnerbaits, T-rigged worms, jigs, whatever I think will work that day, as I'm usually chasing fish in 6-15 FOW.  And sometimes that'll be targeting weeds, sometimes rock piles, and sometimes submerged timber.  Again, different lures for different conditions.  Around noon, I'll switch out to deep diving cranks, drop shots, maybe a spoon, or anything else that'll get to into the deep water.  Anything that'll get down to 15-30 FOW.  Sometimes I'll beat the bank and toss a jig or T-rig worm into thick cover in skinny water, but there's very little shade on the lakes I fish and lots of fishing pressure on those spots, so what little shade you do find usually isn't very productive.  But not always.  And then, as the day wears on, I'll backtrack from the deep back to the shallow and then topwater.  Unless I stumble across a pattern, then I narrow down my approach.  

It's really hard to pick a plan and stick to it on a heavily pressured public lake.  First off, you have to beat everyone to the good spots if you want to try your plan.  And second, you have to hope something has changed recently that changed the fish's behavior.  Otherwise, the most obvious plans will be what everyone else has been doing for several days or more, and the fish will be very weary of what you're offering them.  And I'm just not good enough or smart enough to figure out how to fish the seasonal pattern, the weather pattern and the fishing pressure pattern combined.  So I do a lot of junk fishing looking for patterns to build on.  Once I've had a bite or two, I'll slow down my lure rotation to try to focus on what's working that day.   

[TnRiver46]

@casts_by_fly, I fish from the bank, dock, boat, wading, canoe, kayak, my wife says I’ve literally been fishing in my sleep many times. Ever been to my neck of the woods? It’s all rocks and logs. Literally, all of it. Any soil that was here washed to New Orleans a few million years ago 
 

here’s what it looks like under my dock when they drawn down the lake in winter. I broke 50 lb braid several times there this weekend catfishing, line strength matters not 

And some other pics just for example 

[scaleface]

Some days infrequently and some days a lot. 

[Team9nine]

15 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

I think the phrase is, "Having a plan is great until you get punched in the mouth".

 

I think I get punched a lot.

It happens, not too often, but it’s no big deal when it does. I learn from it, then go catch a few crappie before heading home 

[Zcoker]

When it comes to kayak fishing, I'm a minimalist. I only take what's needed minus what's needed. Usually two rods, sometimes three if doing a tournament. Before a trip, I formulate a game plan based off a combination of factors, weather, location, water condition, etc. All rods are then pre-rigged. If I'm using soft plastics, then those extra packs are put at an easy reach next to my seat. Other than that, the tackle box rarely gets opened. 

[Bluebasser86]

Ideally, not a lot. When I'm in the kayak I'll try to set out the bags of baits I need under my seat to rig fresh baits and maybe a couple changes of baits in the cup holder. 

 

Some days it looks like a tackle shop threw up in the bottom of my kayak though. 

[WRB]

The more dialed I you are the less Tackle you need.

My biggest problem regarding tackle is what to leave home and now a back seater need to be a minimalist, it’s not easy.

When I had a boat it was my tackle box, easy as had everything with me.

Tom

[Susky River Rat]

I usually do not go in it to switch up. If I do switch up completely maybe twice a trip?  Now retying what I lost could be much more than that. 

[Mike L]

After cycling through everything I pre rig I’m in it until I find what they want. 
 

Some days I get lucky and made all the right choices, but more often I’m rummaging and changing as often as I need. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Pat Brown]

It really depends on the season and the fish.  Sometimes I only need to bring one rod and catch 10 fish on one bait without  retying and sometimes I catch five different  fish on five different baits.  I try to stay open minded and 'fish the moment'

 

There's been plenty of times where I guess wrong about something and I change something and start to catch fish

 

Other times a new lure or presentation that I've NEVER tossed can save the day. 

 

I try not to play with tackle unnecessarily but I try to remain fluid and open to changing something if I don't get any bites on things that seem like they should work.

 

Learning to efficiently retie lures helps tremendously make this all pretty unobtrusive.  And being somewhat organized ahead of time.

 

I agree on the bank I just want a rod and a couple lures.