[JOHN G]

well, as much as I hate to admit it, it is starting to look like that time of the year already.......

always a bittersweet task, last season it was the harbinger of a good 4 months or more of no fishing......I am hoping we don't get that kind of crazy winter this year......

every season I start out by pruning tackle to make it more simple and then by the end of every year it ends up chaotic and more invovled than I want....

one of my goals this year is to have more uniformity between the tackle on my Tracker and that which I take on my Jon boat outings....I really don't want to have to either add anything or remove anything from the tracker after a fishing trip....this year, it was constant shuttling of certain things back and forth....having a bass boat with tackle storage is still kind of a new thing for me these last 2 years, with my old "turtle" bass boat, there was no storage, so I would simply have one big bag and take that with me no matter where I went....hopefully, I will refine this storage issue so that I could just hop on and off without shuttling certain boxes or things......first on the list is another set of fishing "tools", pliers, etc, because that is one box that I constantly moved back and forth also......

again, bittersweet job...in past years, when NYBass just started and most of my new friends were just starting out with Bass fishing, I showered them with a lot of my older stuff, unused plastics, etc to trim down stuff....problem is, my new recruits now are experienced fishermen and already very set in what tackle they use or don't use.....

one off season, I gave a bunch of stuff to some young people at my office...but I have run out of new fishermen! LOL......


Then: just when I do get this shebang more simplified, I will end up going to Cabelas, Wacky worm , the Winter shows, etc and then screw the whole mess up again! LOL.....

 

[RANGERZ21]

John,

The easiest way to simplify your tackle is to simplify your fishing. Each year, I buy less and less. I usually know now what I plan on purchasing over the winter, which is mostly replacement stuff (i.e. hooks, drop shot weights, Senkos). I also think about what I plan on adding to my arsenal of baits and it is usually only a new jerkbait or crankbait.

Basically, this time of year, I'm emptying out the boat. I take care of my rods and reels now but don;t do much with my tackle. After the shows and trip to BPS in Baltimore, I organize my tackle in early March. It gets me pumped for the season and by then, I have usually bought whatever I was planning on. That way, only have to worry about what I buy during the year.

The last tip would be to keep a larger tupperware container for your "overflow". That is, extra stuff that you may or may not need such as 10" worms, big black spinnerbaits, dip dye, etc. I keep them in the packages and only dig in there if necessary and it doesn't take up that limited space in your tracker.

Good luck...
Mark

 

[joe p]

Its going to be less guessing on my part next year as to what baits I'm going to buy next year. Since I started club tx fishing , I learn certain baits, certain colors will work on each individual lake that my club fish on. So no more impulse buying, hopefully.

When I cleaned out my boat two weeks ago, I learned that I was bringing way too much stuff, things that Ive never used or even remembered I had. So reducing all the unwanted stuff and stocking up on the essentials is what Im going to do next season.

As far as gear goes, maybe another rod and reel combo to add to my growing arsenal.

Im thinking of one more trip to Whaley next Saturday and then its winterizing for the boat.

Joe

 

[earthworm77]

John, a big part of my approach is uniformity. I started the culling process many years ago. I narrowed my selections of what baits I carry down tremendously. It still amazes me that I can go into my garage and find a box of crankbaits that I haven't used in over 10yrs. I was never a cranker to begin with. Anyway, I've essentially got my choices down to the bare minimum. One interesting thing is that I am almost exclusively fishing my own baits. I do not own any store bought plastics other than Yamamoto baits. I have a few Excalibur, Lucky Craft, Rapala and Bagley Cranks....that's it. My own jigs, hair jigs and Spinnerbaits....that's it. When you limit your choices down, the process becomes much easier when deciding what to actually take with you for an outing.

In the not so distant past, I carried a Shimano bag with 4 wraps inside along with 2 360 series boxes. The pockets were stuffed with tubes and jig chunks. This by no means is a lot of tackle but some how during the course of this tournament season I decided to scale down even further. I limited myself to 1 360 series box and a small 12" by 9" duffel for my plastics. I used this to fish the entire season and all of my tournaments. My reasoning was that if I couldn't catch them on anything in the box, they were not biting. Fortunately I didn't have that problem. Now that I have my own Tracker, I'm begining to put some thought into what I want to have on board. I certainly do not want to shuttle gear back and forth but at the same time, I don't want to put together a whole big bag if I'm only going to be in the boat a few times. I'm meticulous about my tackle....maybe anal. I put it all back in original containers after each season. The stuff I feel I won't use, I try to sell off.

 

[Lpbassman]

This is a process that I go through every winter. This year I intend to scale down to only ONE large tackle bag instead of two. I have always made it a habbit of bringing ALL of my lures and most of my plastics with me only to realize that I never EVER use about 40-50% of what I lug around. This winter I intend to sort through the un-godly amount of stuff I have and only carry what I know I am going to use regularly. Of course you all know that the day you decide to do this the fish will want everything that you decided to leave at home. LOL

Joe P---are you taking me to brave the elements again on Whaley?
This time, I want some real snow--not just the light stuff we fished in most of the day last week.

 

[earthworm77]

John, let me recommend the Rapala pliers and tools. Reasonable price tag, excellent quality. I have several sets and I swear by them. I think I need to get a de barb...not that I had too many problems with deep hooked fish but it is good to have on board.

 

[Skeet]

Tackle

I can't imagine trying to stock two boats.

For me, the worst thing about being a non-boater is not being able to have all your tackle. Thankfully it does not happen much, but deciding which rods and tackle to bring stinks.

I try and make one "large" tackle order for the year. Don't get me wrong, I am constantly buying and testing "new" tackle during the year. If I like it, then it becomes part of my annual order.

I catalog each bait and the quanity and then compare what I used for the year. I purchase (based on past years) and store the tackle. When I need to restock my boat, I just go to my garage take the necessary tackle. This way I don't have 50 black worms in my boat. I just carry 15 or so and store the rest.

It may take a while to do... but it is the winter and what else are you going to do?? I do the same thing with hooks, weights, and line.

One thing that is nice is you will know exactly how many worms or tubes you use for the year and which colors. Also, you don't end up with 200 black worms and only 20 purple worms.

 

[HookUp]

deBarb

John, let me recommend the Rapala pliers and tools. Reasonable price tag, excellent quality. I have several sets and I swear by them. I think I need to get a de barb...not that I had too many problems with deep hooked fish but it is good to have on board.

EW - debarb tool is an excellent addition to the tackle box. Buy an extra pair of cutters ($2-3) when you get the tool. Under $20 and free postage.

I've broke 2 Rapala needle nose pliers - one trying to get 3/0 hooks out of a bass and the other, well let's just say I was using pliers where I needed a drill hammer.

I usually buy needlenose cheap, since I either break or loose them often.

I can't imagine trying to stock two boats.

Try three. LoL. Actually, not hard when the boats are canoe, yak and small jon.

 

[wnybassman]

John, Even though my Ranger has a decent amount of tackle storage, I still operate out of a singe tackle bag, which happens to fit nicely in one of the compartmets. If I end up going non-boater for whatever reason, it takes two seconds to grab that bag and a few rods.

I learned several years ago that "if it don't fit in that bag, I don't need it!". Sorta funny, but that's when my fishing successes improved dramatically also. Coincidence???

 

[Bigdog]

I tried to cull my tackle this year but all I did was mess up the balance in my boat and the prop started breaking loose on take off.

Seriously, the best thing I did this year is buy some of the new Falcon boxes. They are smaller than Plano but seem to hold as many baits.

I also noticed that when I did my homework this year, I wasn't diving into my storage compartments. I found myself fishing the same pre rigged lures all day and unless I lost one I had no use for the other four hundred pounds of tackle I have jammed in my Triton!

I know there is a message in that.

Bigdog

 

[JOHN G]

thanks for all the input!!

Earthy, will look at those tools......

Gary: I don't have to stock the Jon boat......but I am on it approximately 40 percent of the year or so......

Noel: I agree with our outlook, and you obviously are successful.....

great thread.....more!!!

 

[Guest]

Doc

The one thing I learned in my "Rookie" year Tournament fishing is...
Learn as much as you can by fishing and networking a body of water....THEN SCALE DOWN
Chances are that you will be using 4-6 rods that are somewhat Technique specific...That is 4-6 baits and backups.
The approach of having one bag to transfer from being a non-boater to a boater WORKS.
I have made a commitment to use what I have...and fill in the dots
(Line-Tackle et)
I went through the caught fish on this crankbait so by eight different colors of the crankbait stage...
My equipment has been cleaned and is sleeping for the winter..
I will take Mark's advice and get organized as soon as I pick up the boat from storage.
I also took some advice from Basschazer and bought Tupperware shoe boxes that I labeled and store my plastics and overflow in...Once you organize what you have...You find things you forgot you had...I have enough Senkos of one color to last me all year

Woody

 

[earthworm77]

Hook, are you talking about the heavy duty ones? These are stainless so they won't rust...very improtant to me for pliers. I think Rapala has a kit with everything in a 3600 box including a scale for under 30.00, I think closer to 25.00.

 

[JPBass]

My biggest problem as far as winter organizing is remembering what I have and what I need. Between freshwater, saltwater, surfcasting, inshore, and offshore I often found myself buying stuff I already had but couldn't find or didn't want to take the time to look for. Then this fall when I sold my saltwater boat and had to clean it out I had a real mess on my hands.

My solution was pegboards. Keeps everything in plain sight so you can see it instead of hunting through a bunch of boxes.

It's a project still under construction but I'm getting there. Kinda like having your own little tackle shop.

 

[Senkosam]

Dam*, JP, people enter my garage and call me crazy! You sure that's not a picture of a tackle shop!??

My new approach is similar to Craigs using 3600 series boxes with movable partitions. 5 main boxes go in the canoe or Ranger and the ends are labeled with a black marker:
1.crankbaits/ jerkbaits
2.grubs/ tubes
3.worms/ creature baits/ lizards
4.experimental (a few untried soft or hard plastics baits
5.terminal tackle (hooks, wts., jigs, swivels, pegs, trailer hooks and the plastic (that holds soda cans together) stoppers
*bags of stick baits (so they stay straight as possible in a horizontal postion)

(Hooks and jigs are always returned to the tt box because too many plastics contain salt.)

I also always carry a utility bag ( a knapsack book bag)for pliers, files, scissors, sun block, filled spinnerbait spools, braid and florocarbon spools, notebook and pen, digital camera, binoculars (to observe nature and nude sunbathers) and other stuff I can't think of.

It really limits the amount of junk you can carry.

 

[Guest]

JP, You're the man! My wife (at times) thinks I am nuts with all my gear! Two kayaks, two bass boats, one trailer, waders hung in the laundry room, tackle all over, under the bed in bins, rod rack in the bed room (they sure rattle up a storm) ! I showed her your setup this am and she loved it! I will be converting the garage this weekend to a fishing "shop" like yours! Thanks for the idea. Thank g-d I haven't taken up fly fishing, yet .

 

[JPBass]

AKO Glad you liked it!! Here's a few tips BEFORE you get started.

After a little trial and error I found the key to best utilize wall space was to set the rod holders (simple pieces of PVC and a lag bolt) on an angle away from the wall. This opens up space behind the rods for peg boards and shelves and keeps your floor space open. I did this by screwing two rows of 2 X 4s above the single row that holds the lag bolt.

Remember when installing peg boards you'll need a thin firring strip or some sort of spacer behind them to allow for the hangers to install easily.........GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[Senkosam]

Another suggestion for placing your 'experimentals' in one place so they are exposed is to use a cheap bullitin board and tacks. The lures shown are new colors and new and old hand pours that I intend to try next season. The stored inventory is on the peg board racks.

FrankM