BLOG: Perfecting tackle storage

I DON'T know about you but I take organisation fairly seriously. I get frazzled if things aren't in their place. Some say I have OCD but I reckon it's in a male's DNA to organise.

If you're shaking your head disapprovingly, then answer this, who out there lets the "other half" pack the boot of the car when you're heading off on holiday or lets the missus "reprioritise" the garage? There is a reason they call a garage a "man cave". It's our special place where things make sense.

Did you know three quarters of sales of the game Tetris have been to blokes? It's just how we are. Organising stuff is as quintessential to us as shopping is to woman.
Tackle storage is no exception. In fact, it epitomises exactly what I am referring to and subsequently I believe part of being a competent angler is being organised. There are many options available and everyone will find their own ideal way of sorting their collection of stuff. I have mulled over this facet for many hours tinkering with alternatives and thought I might relay the system I currently use today. It's been a long journey but I reckon I've finally nailed it.

I commenced using soft zip-up lure wallets with plastic sleeves when I first started using plastics. This seemed fine at the time, however, my lure collection grew rapidly and having multiple wallets wasn't very convenient. I needed to carry these in a larger backpack which also held my accessories such as leader and scissors etc. Very quickly I learned this was a cumbersome model as my "action to selection" ratio was too great. I conceived this approach after spending many years in IT where a streamlined "click to action" ratio equates to a better user experience. The less clicks to get what I want the better experience I have. Well, same goes here. I had to perform too many actions to reach my desired outcome. For instance I had to open the backpack, open the lure wallet, browse my options, open the plastic sleeve then open the lure satchel.

While this may sound a little pedantic, in the heat of battle you want things to be straightforward. Also if you repeat this process multiple times throughout the day it becomes a pain. What I realised from the outset is my primary concerns for better tackle organisation was efficiency and visibility. I wanted to be able to see my options clearly and quickly and be able to select a lure with a minimum of fuss.

With this in mind I discarded the wallets and backpack system and trialled the large tackle box option such as the Plano Tackle Elite. Basically it houses four Plano tackle trays with stowage above for all the accessories. This was great for a while as I could easily see what lures I had at my disposal via the clear trays and all accessories were easily at hand. I know some of you don't like to remove your lures form their original packaging and place them in trays but unless they are Gulps! all my lures end up in a clear tackle tray for easy retrieval. Due to this, my action to selection to action ratio had minimised dramatically. I had multiple trays covering many species and differing lure types. I would then select my chosen trays for the day before heading out.

Where this system ultimately failed was the limitation of four trays. My approach to fishing meant this system compromised how I went about my business. In a given session I might hit bream on the incoming tide, chase jew on the tide change, target flathead on the run out and perhaps target EPs on the bottom of the tide – all in a single session.

Effectively the Plano Box didn't allow me to carry enough lures to achieve my game plan.
The process described above took me about two years of trial and error and there were a few permutations in between. What this did is lead me to where I am today. My current system is a melding of the positive features of both systems that came before.

Now I use a no-frills weatherproof sports bag. It's big and wide enough to fit two tackle trays side by side and stacked five high meaning I now can take out ten trays with me per session. It has two side zippers containing my lip grips, scales, pliers, knives and scissors. It also has two front zippers. The larger one houses all my leader spools ranging from 2lb to 50lb and the smaller one to the front houses my "quick reach" plastics. These plastics are my current top five fish producing lures that I want instant access to when things are frenetic. These lures change frequently depending on what species I'm chasing at the time.

The accompanying pics will show you this is an easy system to create and manage. The best thing is it's completely modular, meaning things inside the bag get swapped around according to what I'm doing at the time. I have about 25 trays of lures all sorted by lure type and size which I select from the night before. Depending on what I'm fishing for will determine what I take with me. This system is so effective I use a smaller variation of the same theme when I fly up north on fishing jaunts.

In my opinion this is the easiest self-contained system I have seen to date and can be transported without difficulty and used on any boat. The fact I can have ten trays of lures at one time means I always have a contingency in place when things don't go to plan. If you know anything about fishing, the contingency is used more often than not.

Stand by for upcoming article in Fisho where I catalogue all the different storage options available for most types of angling.

Do you use a more efficient system?