Organizing Tackle

It's March, the snow is melting and fishing is starting to take over your thoughts, sleepless nights in anticipation of the upcoming season and you're crossing off the days on your calendar till you can finally hit the water. For myself this is the time when I am most motivated and actually enjoy organizing my tackle.

Organizing your tackle can be a great way to pass those long last couple of months before the start of the fishing season but can also make your future fishing trips much more enjoyable and successful. Having just finished sorting through the mess I left myself from last season I thought I'd share some of what I believe to be some of the essentials to organizing your tackle and throw in some tips to having the most organized tackle possible.

I usually start with the tackle boxes themselves. Nearly every angler has a collection of plastic tackle boxes and in my experience these things are dirt magnets! Collecting everything from grass and seaweed, dust and sand to even dead bugs... I simply empty them out and throw them in the dishwasher. Does the dirt really bother me? NO I guess it doesn't, but I'm organizing my tackle and like to start with a clean slate, literally. It takes no time and is as easy as... well starting your dishwasher. I feel I should add that the top rack of a dishwasher is furthest from the elements and is therefore slightly cooler than the bottom rack so if you are worried about melting your tackle boxes the top rack is for you, but in my experience I have never had a box melt or warp regardless of where I placed it.

A blunt hook compared to a sharp hook

A cheap sharpening stone with a groove
notched out to run your hook across

A damaged split ring

Next I check all my lures, every hook and every split ring. I make sure every hook is sharp, I'm always amazed how many hooks I find that have bent or damaged barbs. Potentially every single time you've hooked bottom and every rock you've bounced off of could have caused damage to your precious hooks so take the time and check them all. Yeah I know, that's probably a lot of hooks but it's worth it. Just replace any damaged ones or sharpen them using any of a variety of stones available at your local tackle shops. Verify that all the split rings on your crankbaits, spoons and spinners are closed and tight and that your snap swivels are undamaged. And remember that rust is your enemy! When I find rust on anything I throw it out. Rust weakens metal and rust spreads, so get rid of it. Cleaning the rust off might seem like a good idea but generally even once removed it seems to be forever prone to it. I don't however worry about any peeling paint, scratches or marks. In fact one of my go to crankbaits for small mouth has had its paint nearly completely chipped away.


A rusted 3-way swivel





Now that the boring and tedious work is out the way what, what about the actual organizing of the tackle? Well I see two logical ways to go, organize by lure type (crankbaits, spoons, jigs, spinners etc.) or by target fish (by which I mean separate tackle boxes containing lures you would typically use targeting a specific species of fish. For example a box containing your lures for bass, a separate box for walleye and so on). Personally I like to keep my lures separated by type, keep several empty boxes on hand and then put together a "day box" or two containing the mix of lures, weights, and swivels that I feel I need for that day of fishing. Of course if room isn't a problem and you can bring all your gear with you then this isn't necessary although still preparing a "day box" still helps prevent fumbling around for your desired lure and helps keep the rest of your tackle organized (mixing up a box or two vs. your entire tackle).


An example of two little "day boxes" I would bring to fish
brook trout in streams with difficult access where weight
and size of my "day boxes" matters

Example of a large box of mid sized soft plastic jigs and
another of mid sized crankbaits



But let's face it, the truth is keeping your lures organized is the easy stuff, it's all the little guys like hooks, swivels and weights that become frustrating. The easiest way of course is to keep your hooks and swivels in their original packaging, if you buy yours in little bags carefully cutting them open and a little tape can make the packaging reusable but for many these often don't fit their tackle boxes and even if they do organizing them involves a whole new set of problems. So here is a simple, cost effective way of organizing your hooks and swivels in a single word. Safety pin! Ok so that was two words... but by simply running the eye of your hooks through the open end of a safety pin and then closing it you can easily keep different sized and shaped hooks and swivels separated and tangle free. If needed you could add a small piece of masking tape as a label with the hook size.

 

My last piece of advice is to get creative! Applying adhesive Velcro could potentially be a solution to keeping large flat objects organized. For example you might want to apply a small piece of Velcro to the tops and bottoms of your spools of fishing lines to keep them neatly stacked. Or super gluing small magnets to the inside of your tackle box to keep things like your fishing line clippers, pliers or utility knives in place. 

 

Any other ideas, tricks or tips? Add them to the comments! And happy fishing to all!