Studies show that in the business world, organized people are generally more successful than those who are not. The same can be said about organized bass anglers. Think about it:
- Organized anglers can accomplish more on the water by wasting less time digging through tackle.
- Organized anglers can be more productive and efficient with the time they save.
- Organized anglers are more focused on the next bite because they are not distracted by clutter.
In bass fishing, so much is out of our control. But one thing we can control is our organization. To me, angling organization begins with your tackle. Waiting out a long winter can be frustrating. But it also provides a great opportunity to get your lures and soft plastics in order for next season.
Whether you have the luxury of a spacious bass boat, or you keep your tackle in a backpack, finding storage boxes and bins that maximize your available space is key.
I use boxes to store my terminal tackle and hard baits. When it comes to boxes, I’m partial to the Flambeau Tuff ‘Tainers with Zerust Corrosion Protection. These boxes come in a bunch of shapes and sizes, and are very durable. And most importantly, they are rust-resistant! The boxes are treated with a special chemical that seals the boxes when they are closed, keeping moisture out. Is there anything worse than opening your crankbait box to find all of your hooks rusted out?
Bins are great receptacles for storing bags of soft plastics. A lot of anglers take their plastics out of the bag and store them directly in boxes, but from my experience they won’t last as long out of the package. Also, by storing your plastics in their bags, you can transport them into a co-angler box or backpack easier than having to bring an entire storage box with you.
And for wired baits, the Cooks Tackle System is pretty unique system if you have a boat.
Labeling the contents of your boxes and bins will save you a ton of time on the water. I rarely spend more than a couple of seconds finding what I need, which gives me a time advantage over competitors who have tackle scattered all over the place. A label maker is ideal, but if you don’t want to drop the money on one, a piece of tape and a permanent marker will get the job done.
Do you have a favorite tip for tackle storage? Feel free to share by leaving a comment.
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If you follow Ohio Bass Blog regularly, you will recognize the name Corneilus Harris. “Corn” had a heck of a fall and winter fishing the AEP ReCreation Lands last season, landing a number of Ohio toads. The Columbus Dispatch published a nice article about him Sunday, which can be read here. Congrats buddy!
Mike, great posting. Being in process improvement for the last 20 years in the business world, you are correct. If an area such as a manufacturing plant, bank, or even hospital can organize and improve their layouts we see a general 5% improvement in productivity. Now think about a tournament day, if you can reduce 5% of your non-value added activities in an eight hour tournament (projected 40 minutes of time would be opened up for value added activities). The value added activity in tournament time is casting. If the bait is in the water you have a better chance of catching the fifth fish of the day or even that kicker. Great posting and see you on the water in 2013. Doug Duin
Mike,
That is also on my list this winter, bought some extra strorage
boxes cuz I was running out of room for additional lures I have been purchasing.
One note in relation to your remark on taking soft plastics out of bag.
When I was purchasing extra containers at Walmart, I can’t remember if it was Flambeau or different company, but they did have a container for soft plastics that sealed and actually was stored in a second container, it said that it locked the plastics to keep them from drying out.
Mike,
Nice article, matter of fact I just started to do all this last weekend. Ridding my boat of some lures I haven’t thrown in years. Organized my boxes and marked all of them. I am really hoping this will help me this year. I already feel better about it.
Congrats to Cornelius Harris on being featured in the Columbus Dispatch. Nice article. I live in Columbus and am originally from a small town near the AEP ReCreation Land area. I grew up fishing down there and still try to make it down there at least once a month. It is good to see someone who fishes down there get some recognition.
Mike, nice article… nothing like knowing where things are when u need them. Thanks Lil’Joe , thanks to the blog, our ole stomping grounds are getting some recognition.Needless to say ,that trip from columbus is well worth the drive to go hawg hunt AEP REACREATION GROUNDS.
Mike you are absolutey right. There are a lot of things we can’t control, but one thing we can control is our organization. The more organized you are the more focused you are. Being organized helped me save money. Years ago i kept everything in big totes. When my tackle was low instead of digging through totes to see if i had those baits i just went out and bought them. Well to find out i would have 2 or 3 of them somewhere in the bottom of those totes. Now having things organized and labeled makes it so much easier. I owe my wife credit because she is an organized freak(times 10), but she helped with organizing my things. She hates to fish, but loves to keep my things nice and neat. We recently started to keep an inventory on the computer of baits. If you have the time this is excellent. After every fishing trip we will take a few minutes to update it. It lets you know exactly what you have, and what you need. Big bro congrats on the article. For years we have been telling people that giant bass reside down in the aep areas, and we continue to catch them. 2013 is going to be one hell of a year. I already have my goals and objectives set, and how i’m going to obtain them. For anyone who likes to read “In pursuit of Giant Bass” is an excellent book. I’m reading it now and it’s full of knowledge and tips for catching giant bass.
Thanks Sol , I agree that 2013 is gonna be special . I have all gear in order and ready for our next venture out . I cant wait to get back out on them.
How do i get a pass to go to AEP Recreation Land Area? I have ask ODNR Officier he had no clue.
Get online on the AEP recreation site and print it off. It’s free, just make sure that you sign and date it.
Mike,
I hope you are OK with me posting this on your site. If you are please make this visible to your growing number of followers.
I have created a “private” fantasy league for Ohio Bass Blog followers on the Bassmaster website if anyone is interested. You get to pick 5 anglers for each tournament in the Bassmaster Elite series. The person who picks their team of 5 that weighs in the most fish for the tournament scores the most points and wins. I played this last year and it is pretty interesting to follow.
Here is the website:
http://www.bassmasterfantasy.com/GroupHome.aspx?groupId=5064
The group name is Ohio Big Bass and the password to join the private league is OHIO BASS (all caps).
Hope to see some of you guys and girls on there for some fun.
Mark Sherby AKA Lil’ Joe on previous posts.
Hi Mark, thanks for creating the group! I’ll definitely sign up!
Mike