By Dwayne Zboril

One task that angers many fisherman is the inablility to find a lure when your really need one. How many times have you seen a swirl or you know you can catch fish if you could just find that one special lure. You throw your tackle into disorder trying to find that special lure, hooks fly everywhere including into your hand or fingers. There is a simple solution to this problem, take the time to orgainze your tackle. Make time to set down and put all of your tackle into an organized state, avoid that frantic search for the special lure.

One simple way to organize your tackle is to purchase hard plastic boxes that can be switched in and out depending on the situation. I have seperate boxes for bass,catfish,crappie and so on. Maybe you say it takes the fun out of fishing by organizing and planning everything, but I say it sure beats pulling hooks out of your hand while looking for that special lure. I choose clear tackle boxes and place an orgained list of what each box contains. One box is labeled topwater baits: Bass/Crappie. Another box is labeled hooks/weights: bass/crappie and so on.If I am going after bass I dont want to load down my tackle bag with catfish baits, save the space for more bass baits. I will keep one labled miscellaneous, this will contain all of the extra a little bit of everything. I also like to call this my traveling tackle box.

If I am fishing an area where I have to walk a long way through heavy cover to get to that special spot I dont want to lug around a heavy tackle bag, instead I have a MISC tackle box that can easily be thrown under the arm or in a small backpack to get to the out of the way places.

If you have an enormous amount of tackle like myself it is so much nicer to have it organized so i can get what i need for each trip. I also have a large storage tub that I fill with these clear tote boxes when I am on vacation, no telling what you will need. I put it in the truck secure it and have anything and everything I will need for a day or a few days of fishing.

Try organizing your tackle and see how much more enjoyable your trip will be, dont learn the hard way and waste a good fishing day looking for that special lure.

dwaynez