Fishing With Kenny | Tackle Storage and Other Organizational Tips

article by  KENNY COVINGTON

As we have discussed in several of my “Fishing with Kenny” articles, I am a tackle junkie.  Not only am I a junkie with my lures and equipment, but I am also very particular about how I store my tackle both in my boat and in my garage.  If you can’t locate it, or seem to find it, it’s difficult to use it on the water.  Organization, when done the right way, means more opportunities to catch fish.

One of the hardest things, when it comes to organizing your lures, is sorting out soft plastics.  You have craw worms, Brushhogs, worms, finesse worms, creature baits, and on and on.  It can be mind numbing just how many bags of soft plastics one can accumulate over the years and without a system to store them, you often find yourself buying things you already have.

My first order is to sort out my soft plastics by size and color.  For example, if I am sorting out my Zoom Speed Craws by color, I will, since they are small, store them in a clear Plano tackle box.  As a rule, all of my smaller soft plastics, such as jig trailers and craw worms, are stored this way.  I do this because I want them to stay consistent in shape, and I can store more in several colors because of the additional space.

Speaking of storage, a lot of the packaging, such as with a company like Strike King, is made specifically for their type of soft plastics.  The Strike King line of plastics I use are kept in long Tupperware type of containers with latches on both ends.  I can stand the lure packs up and very easily sort through them until I find what I am looking for.  All of my Rage Craw’s as well as various other Strike King soft plastics are stored this way.

Ok, what if I have a particular soft plastic I know I am going to be using a lot?  I know during the summer I will be using a Zoom Ol’ Monster Candy Bug worm a lot, so to help with my storage, I keep the worms in their original Zoom packaging, and I will place the individual packages of worms inside of a good quality gallon zip-lock freezer bag and then label them.  This way I know where my lot of worms are, and I can also keep track of when it’s time to buy more.

At any time in my boat, you can and will find up to four different spinnerbait boxes.  I have Booyah, War Eagle, Strike King, and various other ones, but my organization is based initially on the company.  Once I break them down into the company who makes them, I have a separate box for each one.  I know just at a glance what my Strike King box looks like, just as I know what my War Eagle box consists of.  What I have started doing is using a bigger open box, without the slides in it, to store a majority of my spinnerbaits that I use the most.

I start separating my spinnerbaits by weight, then I separate them by blades, each one is placed, by twos and threes, depending on the number of baits, in their own zip lock bag.  Once that is done, I will take all of the 3/8 models, regardless of blade combination, and place them, still in the smaller zip-locks, into larger one gallon size bags.  I do this for the ¼, ½ and ¾ as well, and once I label each bag, I can quickly return and find exactly the lure I am looking for.  In a tournament situation, a few minutes of saved time means a few extra casts.

I try and store my treble hook baits, crankbaits, and topwaters, in storage boxes that are water and rust proof.  While these boxes can be more expensive, the extra money you spend will save you overall as far as replacing damaged hooks and lures due to rust and corrosion.  That doesn’t mean I just throw my treble hook favorites into box and just forget about them. I make sure the box I am using is equipped to store such lures.

While I keep the majority of my topwater lures in one box, I still have a box or two that is set up just for specific lakes.  I do the same thing with my crankbaits; however, those boxes are set up based on the style of crankbaits.  Squarebills, Bandits, Rapala DT series, all have their own separate places in storage. 

Oh yes, before I forget, what about terminal tackle?  Well, fortunately you can buy a tackle box specifically for storing treble hooks, sinkers, swivels, or whatever terminal tackle you might need, and this takes a lot of the guess work out of where I put things.  A quick tip: I keep my soft plastic hooks in their original packaging and store them in large zip-lock bags.  This keeps them dry, and I have had no issue with them being damaged by rust.  

Over time you will find yourself needing even more storage space, so always be on the lookout for new ways to store things.  There is always a new or different way to store your lures, but whatever you decide, just make sure it is user friendly for your own sake.  Remember, when working on your tackle storage keep a supply of good quality zip-lock bags of various sizes, self-sticking labels, a handful of Sharpies for labeling boxes and bags of soft plastics, and extra Tupperware style of storage with matching lids.

It may take awhile for you to get your own system in place, but once you do, only then will you realize just how much time you save when trying to find that one lure you really need!  It looks like we have run out of space and time again for another month, I sure hope we have been able to share some information to help make your next trip to your favorite lake more enjoyable.