Fishing Tackle Organization

Organizing my fishing tackle has gone through several evolutions as time and the total amount of "stuff" I own and and use has increased. When I was 6 years old I had an old metal tackle box with some smaller metal tackle boxes inside. That was all I needed for my forays down to the river bank to catch trout. As I got older I bought larger tackle boxes and when I first started bass fishing I usually carried 4 or 5 tackle boxes in the boat. As a beginning fisherman I was unsure of what I would encounter or what I would use so I just carried all of it. Very quickly it got out of hand and I had to force myself to carry less fishing tackle. That was not all that difficult. As a fisherman gets more experienced with the fish he is pursuing and the water and conditions he is fishing he gets a pretty clear picture of what he will be using and what situations he will run into.

An example would be lily pads. In most of my bass fishing in the state of Washington I only ran into a handful of lakes that featured lily pads. So I had a tackle box of lily pad specific fishing tackle that I only carried when I knew that's what I would be fishing. It had some stuff in there like plastic frogs and weedless spoons along with an assortment of walking lures such as dirty birds.

I used several different styles of tackle boxes, always looking for a better system. And even today I still work at reducing the amount of stuff I carry. If I won the lottery and bought a 60 foot sport yacht, than i might have enough room. Until then, reduce, reduce.

I actually once used a plastic file box for my tackle box. I used it when I was going to sit on a riverbank and "plunk". Which mean't casting my gear out and putting the rod in a special holder and than sit and wait for a fish to come along. The file box also worked for a seat. My first tackle boxes when I started bass fishing were the standard plane boxes in several styles. Initially this was a good system. It worked fine in my own boat. When I fished in someone else's boat, it became a problem to carry all those tackle boxes with little room to store them all. I had to reduce.

Well, things have changed a bit. Now days I fish for multiple species in multiple situations. And since I know before I leave for each trip what I will be fishing for, I know which fishing tackle boxes to grab. But even with a little prior knowledge, I still am always looking for ways to reduce the amount of "stuff" I carry. In August when I launch out of Ilwaco, at the mouth of the Columbia RIver, Our primary focus might be albacore tuna. But on the way back from the tuna grounds we may stop at some halibut hangouts. Or we could stop a few miles short of the river mouth and troll for salmon. And of course there is always the possible stop for bottom fish at the jetty's. This presents me with the problem of carrying a whole lot of fishing tackle along with the necessary rods and reels to match. No wonder I have a bad case of biggerboatitis.

I think it started with the bass fisherman. Using multiple utility boxes and heavy woven bags to organize their fishing tackle. It just made sense. A box for crankbaits, a box for splits shotting or drop shotting, a worm box, etc. Tournament fishing requires efficiency and so far multiple utility boxes in tackle bags seems to be the most efficient use of space.

I bought a whole bunch of Plano 3730 and 3731 utility boxes. These are 14 by 9 by 3 inches deep. The 3730 has dividers and the 3731 has no dividers. So the basic plan is to grab which ever boxes go with the planned fishing for that weekend and that sort of gives me a system. Grab the tuna tackle, the halibut tackle, the salmon tackle, the bottom fish tackle. Sounds easy enough except there may be 4 boxes just for tuna and 3 more for salmon. I have a couple for bottom fishing and one for halibut. They don't make a soft bag big enough for all that and we really don't want another large object in the boat to trip over.

Yes, I have too much fishing tackle, maybe. But the nice thing is I could be ready in short notice to fish for bass, tuna, salmon, rock fish, lingcod, walleye, surf perch, crappie, carp, trout, bank fishing or from the boat. Every species I have and continue to fish for has dedicated tackle boxes and it is just a matter of packing them up. Same with my rods and reels. Multiple set ups for multiple species means if they ever did a count of my rods and reels I might be taken away to an institution.

If you haven't started fishing yet my advice is to run away! forget you ever had such a foolish notion. If it is too late than you are going down a fun path of adventure and challenge. And if you have already started tuna fishing than welcome to the dark side. You life will be forever changed.

The utility boxes and a soft sided tackle box is the best way to go for most fishing situations. This system allows you to easily change the gear you bring along and the soft sided bags also have extra pockets for camera's and your lunch and water and whatever else you think you might need for that particular fishing trip.

The exceptions to this system would be any situation where you are walking along a lake or river or in the surf where you need your hands free to fish. Than you would use a flyfishing style vest with smaller boxes and lots of pockets.

 If you are going to buy a soft sided tackle box online, check the sizes and quantity of the utility boxes it holds. The tackle bags come in several sizes and styles so most of us can find the right one for our type of fishing.