How often do you go into your tacklebox while fishing?

[scaleface]

As far as retying goes. I check my line frequently and retie often . I'm going to spend a good 8 hours in a boat . I'll take my time to rummage through my gear , find what I want , tie knots... My rods are pre-rigged but I'll change lures before making the first cast if I think needed.  I would say about 99 percent of the fish I caught this year were on six lures. So I didnt do a lot of changing this year.

[TnRiver46]

Walking the bank is where I break off the most lures, we don’t have any weedy ponds (or really any ponds) 

[Catt]

I carry what I call my attack bag, contained inside.

Various plastics 

3-4 spinnerbaits

Hooks & weights

 

The bottom picture stays in the truck unless I'm to far away.

 

[Mobasser]

I reach into my small box 2 or 3 times on an evening bank trip. In the boat, about the same. Ive gotten where I mostly use plastic worms, and don't change baits very often.

[MIbassyaker]

I was thinking about how I'd answer this, and realized I agreed with the original post and all the replies.

 

So I guess I have a boring answer: It depends.

 

I bring 5-6 rods in the kayak and 2 rods on foot, rigging carefully chosen ahead of time for presentations I expect to be successful based on place, time of season, and conditions.  Often those setups are chosen specifically for double-duty, expecting to change lures. For instance, If I think a topwater bite is likely to slow down once the sun is up, I'll expect to change lures on that rod to something else if and when that happens, and plan accordingly.

 

Sometimes those carefully-chosen plans work out, and sometimes I get to the water and discover I was completely wrong, and I have to make some changes.

 

I don't carry that much tackle anywhere I go -- In the kayak I have a small zippered bag of plastics, and 4 or 5 3500-sized plano boxes of tackle in a crate behind me. On foot, about the same in a backpack. And that's it.  On some trips I never open any of it, except to replace torn-up plastics, and never change lures.

 

On other trips I'm digging in there periodically to, say, switch weights if I decide to move deeper or shallower, fish different kinds of cover, or otherwise change to a different presentation if something isn't producing, or to take advantage of a change in conditions.   

 

I also have to replace lost lures or hooks that have been bitten or broken off with some frequency.  I fish a variety of environments that pose different hazards for lures, including heavy vegetation, rock and rip-rap, trees, bushes and submerged wood, docks and other man-made structures.  And most of these places also have toothy beasts swimming around that could be encountered on any cast. 

 

So while I would often prefer to not switch lures (and sometimes I never have to) there are a lot of things that simply end up making me dig into my tackle at least a few times during a trip, and sometimes pretty frequently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Zcoker]

Gotta luv levee fishing. Park and fish. My kinda fishin. One rod, one lure. Just pull-off somewhere along the levee and start fishing. All the tackle, every single thing is in the truck....including AC! When finished, just hop on in an roll on down to another spot. Simple, effective, and so very productive!

 

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

53 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

 

Learning to efficiently retie lures helps tremendously make this all pretty unobtrusive. 

 

I used to be soooo speedy at retying and even in a bouncing boat, but arthritis has slowed me. Sigh. The Reaper's scythe takes us bit by bit. Scythe sigh. 

 

40 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I would say about 99 percent of the fish I caught this year were on six lures.

 

Me too!

[MIbassyaker]

1 minute ago, Zcoker said:

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

I have NEVER caught anything like @Zcoker's bass. How long was that?

[Zcoker]

1 minute ago, ol'crickety said:

I have NEVER caught anything like @Zcoker's bass. How long was that?

 

Long! I never fooled around with measuring boards or scales until I started using the kayak. But they're absolute monsters off the bank, pure and simple.

[Swamp Girl]

She is a monster. I caught two over 22" this year, both pushing seven pounds, but some of my shorter fish were lots bulgier, like the first bass below and others were just thick from top to bottom, like the second bass, but I have never caught anything like your levee bass and to make it even more impressive, you caught it from the shore!:

 

 

 

@Zcoker: Why aren't there more anglers fishing those levees? Is it the distance from where they live?

[Pat Brown]

@Zcoker those ditches look incredibly fun.

 

@ol'crickety I totally feel you.  I'm in my late 30s and my knees already don't quite do what I want all the time and that can be a little scary in the Jon Boat.  I am always grateful for what I'm able to do and try not to take it for granted!

[LrgmouthShad]

@Zcoker Ford Ranger 👊🏻

[Zcoker]

4 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

She is a monster. I caught two over 22" this year, both pushing seven pounds, but some of my shorter fish were lots bulgier, like the first bass below and others were just thick from top to bottom, like the second bass, but I have never caught anything like your levee bass and to make it even more impressive, you caught it from the shore!:

 

 

 

@Zcoker: Why aren't there more anglers fishing those levees? Is it the distance from where they live?

 

Nice fish! See, you get some nice ones up there in Maine! 

 

As far as the levees go, I rarely run into anyone fishing them, miles and miles of them, as far as the eye can see loaded with bass! And it's not like they're inaccessible or require special permission. Maybe folks just don't wanna dirty up their automobile lol 

[Choporoz]

3 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

How often do you go into your tacklebox while fishing?

Most trips, not often enough.  I have a strong tendency to try to force feed bass stuff I think they should want.  It's a rare trip that I don't come home thinking of something I wish I had tried.

[Swamp Girl]

@Zcoker: If you don't dirty your truck now and again, it's just a make-believe truck. My Honda CRV has scratches on both sides from where I drove through trees to reach the water. So did my Nissan Altima and Pathfinder before it. 

 

4 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Most trips, not often enough.  I have a strong tendency to try to force feed bass stuff I think they should want.  It's a rare trip that I don't come home thinking of something I wish I had tried.

 

I do ^this^ too, our shoulda/coulda moments of reflecting. 

[einscodek]

Not bringing enough tackle.. been there done that.  Problem with tying on lures beyond losing them and ending up w/ idle rods is that often times you THINK you know what conditions are on the water and weather that day based on forecast etc but often times its different or not exact or you figured something out on the water and need to adjust.  May be fine if yer going after dinks but anything more challenging you may end up with nothing depending on conditions.  I dont advocate bringing everything but definitely a spectrum of possible lures and backups for tried and trues.

[Zcoker]

20 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

She is a monster. I caught two over 22" this year, both pushing seven pounds, but some of my shorter fish were lots bulgier, like the first bass below and others were just thick from top to bottom, like the second bass, but I have never caught anything like your levee bass and to make it even more impressive, you caught it from the shore!:

 

 

Although I fish from a kayak now, bank fishing will always have high standards in my book. One of the main reasons I brought it up in this post is because of the pure simplicity of it. The simplicity of bank fishing is truly its beauty! 

[Swamp Girl]

I've seen Jimmy Houston catch HUGE bass from banks. How big, you might wonder. @Zcoker big, I tell ya!

[Zcoker]

Sometimes (on purpose) I'll take one setup with one lure, maybe a new kind of lure, a few of them, just in case. What this does, indeed, is force me to think outside of the box, trying new techniques and presentations, meaning I HAVE TO MAKE IT WORK. I'm basically forcing myself to master it. And believe me, I've surprised myself many times by breaking out of old habits only to discover fresh beginnings! 

[A-Jay]

I'm part of the @Team9nine club ~

Where I'll "formulate a game plan, rig up for it, then live or die with it, letting it play out to its conclusion."  It' does help that my tackle box floats, is quite mobile and has more than enough space. 

Allows me to routinely show up with plenty of options.

 

I have a bad feeling that this is going to be a Loooooong winter.

A-Jay

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

@A-Jay's strategy is to empty a Tacklewarehouse warehouse and with pristine organization, move all that gear into and onto his boat. 

[ElGuapo928]

Most days I never even get into the tackle lockers, I’ve got 6-8 rods on the deck rigged with what I need. I’ve got a 3600 with T-rig and dropshot hooks/weights that lives on the dash, and a worm bag that stays on the deck.

 

When I’m on the bank or backseating, it’s pretty much the same story….only open the bag up for breakoffs.

[A-Jay]

39 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@A-Jay's strategy is to empty a Tacklewarehouse warehouse and with pristine organization, move all that gear into and onto his boat. 

It's not crazy if it works ~ 

A-Jay

[Bankc]

Bank fishing is a 180 from kayak fishing for me.  I don't bank fish for long periods of time.  So I just bring one rod and one bait.  And when I lose it, I'm done for the day.  I'll even take a worn-out worm and cut the head off and rehook it a bit further down until I'm left with a TRD.  With the limited time, it doesn't make much sense for me to try multiple presentations.  About the time I figure out the bass won't bite what I'm throwing, it's time to go home.