Organizing tackle

[Mish@]

I want organise my tackle. (mutliple tackle boxes) Are there any good ideas of organising stuff? should i do it by types of lures or by type of fish? are there any other suggestions?

[ShhImFishing]

when i went through my old pike/walleye tackle i first separated by species: pike, walleye, perch, etc... Then within each box i organized by size.

I also had a separate box that had all of my most successful/favorite lures, each tray separating the lures for diff fish. I.E. top tray for pike, then walleye, etc.

I kept my favorites in a separate box for more spontaneous trips or ones where i needed to travel lighter. Always worked for me

[Dust1n]

i organazin them from, plus, diver,spoons, ect then sort them from size.

[Outt and Aboutt]

You need to ask yourself why you're organizing.
If it's just to help find a particular lure quickly then organizing by lure type is best. But that's more likely for people who just collect lures than people who are trying to fish with them.

If you're trying to organize by species fished or size of fish, then it's really an impossible task since you'll be targeting multiple species and sizes on most lakes, and there's lots of overlap between what fish will hit what lures. So it'll be a compromise, likely based on combinations of species that you usually target.

I think most people organize to try to minimize having 'extra' tackle with them so they don't have to carry around and shuffle through more than they need (the sign of a true fisherman, to have that problem, way more tackle than they really need).
If that's your goal then the best bet is to ask what sorts of species do you tend to go after on the types of lakes you typically haunt.
Around here you'd likely target pike/walleye on most lakes, so you could organize your tackle around those species, carrying mostly gear for relatively large fish (i.e. just because you can buy 10 different sizes of red/yellow Len Thompson, you will likely only ever throw out 2-3 different sizes if you're fishing pike/walleye). Since those fish hit all sorts of gear, you'll likely have separate spoon/plug/spinner/etc boxes that are all targeted toward walleye/pike (i.e. organize by lure type within species). You can then leave everything else at home when you go after those species.

If you target lake trout, usually those lakes don't hold walleye/pike (although some will) or you won't be expecting to catch a walleye when you're specifically targeting lake trout given the water temperature, depth, habitat you'll be fishing, so you might have a separate tackle box with laker gear.
Then maybe a bass kit if you ever venture to lakes that hold bass, and maybe a smaller trout kit with some smaller spinners etc. for days you might want to target them.

That way you can eliminate a bunch of tackle when you are targeting certain species on certain lakes. But sometimes you'll find you have to take different combinations, but it's better than hauling everything around all the time.

Perch, burbot, whites.... the list goes on and on. Short of buying 10 sets of tackle so you can have (and carry) a separate box for each species, especially when you'll often be targeting more than one species on any given lake anyway, figure out what would be the best combinations of species to target on any given outing, and group your tackle accordingly.

Also, if you're goal is to not carry extra junk around, find the right balance between what you will really use versus what you might/could use. After years of fishing you soon realize that some lures just never get used. Toss them aside, as painful as it is. Hundreds of lures could be used, but which ones do you actually use and trust? Get rid of the rest. In the end only a small set of lures is what gets used 99% of the time. No sense carrying the other ones around, just because you bought them and they might work, some day. You'll have other lures that are just as suitable. You don't need 10 different colour variations of every lure; it looks pretty, but doesn't make much difference to fish if you throw a slightly different shade of green at them than the green lure you're currently using.

D

[FishingFrenzy]

Keep it simple. I organize by lure type. Jigs, plugs, spoons, spinnerbaits, and "trout/panfish"

So I have one box with jigs, one with plugs so on and so forth (using trays like this: http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storef...rod204330.html)

I also have a box specifically for "trout" (perch, trout/char and whites) which basically holds all of my very small lures, suitable for smaller fish.

I find this system works well for ME. But really you need to think about where you fish and how much tackle you want to be carrying, and then determine the most convenient way to organize your lures based on those two factors.

[Willowtrail]

[QUOTE=FishingFrenzy;945508]Keep it simple. I organize by lure type. Jigs, plugs, spoons, spinnerbaits, and "trout/panfish"

X2

I have a few tackle bags with Plano 3600 cases. Sort by type and size. Then I need to spread out all the terminal tackle.

If you are using different boxes or bags and like me store your licence in one, don't forget it if you grab the OTHER bag/box. Only did once , that was alot of driving that day.

[FishingFrenzy]

[QUOTE=Willowtrail;945639]

Originally Posted by FishingFrenzy

Keep it simple. I organize by lure type. Jigs, plugs, spoons, spinnerbaits, and "trout/panfish"

X2

I have a few tackle bags with Plano 3600 cases. Sort by type and size. Then I need to spread out all the terminal tackle.

If you are using different boxes or bags and like me store your licence in one, don't forget it if you grab the OTHER bag/box. Only did once , that was alot of driving that day.

If you buy your license off AlbertaRelm you can reprint copies for free... one for each box.. just saying.... not saying I do this because its possibly against the rules.. but hypothetically someone could do it....

[chubbdarter]

Originally Posted by Mish@

I want organise my tackle. (mutliple tackle boxes) Are there any good ideas of organising stuff? should i do it by types of lures or by type of fish? are there any other suggestions?

ya...take the hooks you need for the trip planned

[Jwood 456]

Originally Posted by Fish Hunter7

i organazin them from, plus, diver,spoons, ect then sort them from size.

Originally Posted by FishingFrenzy

Keep it simple. I organize by lure type. Jigs, plugs, spoons, spinnerbaits, and "trout/panfish"

X2. I organize my tackle by lure type. I also have a separate box for freshwater and Salt-water tackle. Some of the saltwater lures weigh 2 pounds and are too big to fit in the same tackle box as my freshwater lures... lol.