storage

[TonkaBass]

Ok, so I need a new way to store my soft plastics... Any ideas???

[Deitz Dittrich]

i use plano boxes.. By style.

[RossT]

I store everything in Plano/Flambeau 3700's. Believe it or not, the stench from Powerbait and Chompers stays around for a while. I used to keep them in their original bags and separate them by type (i.e. grubs, tubes, creatures) and keep them in freezer zip bags. Storing Gulp is a different story...

It isn't perfect by storing them in the 3700's, but it's the "cleanest" and "neatest" way to store them.

[OTBASSER]

Same as deitz....but also I have a seperate small tackle bag just for pouches of worms.

[Craigums]

I just keep them in there original bags, but I combine them. So I might have like 3 bags worth of worms in one original package

[river rat316]

If I had one of those fancy sparkly glass boats that you have, I would have the under lid hangers and hangem in the original bags, but since I am a poor guy with kids and a wife that I think hates me, I use the plano tackle bags, they have little pouches on the inside for hooks/weights and like 10 bags for plastics, I have one for tubes, one for sticks, one for big worms, and one for finesse worms. They work good for me and I like the fact that they have actual bags so you can lock scent in there for longer

[Deitz Dittrich]

i'm not a fan of the under lid hangers.. At this point I have probably 30 boxes in my boat.. and for me it works, if you need more than 30, than you may need more than a 21 foot boat.

I use the plano boxes and "re-fresh" after each trip from my storage.. If you put everything you own in your boat you would need a 500 hp engine.

I have 3 dressers in my garage that I have 100 and even larger packs to re-plenish.

I barely buy now unless i can get plastics in 100 packs.

[SStracker]

HAHAHA I just bought 5 new plano boxes today for this exact reason.... and I need to go get one more tomorrow LOL

[bassNspear]

100 packs is the way to go. I have bought my last 10 bags in 100 packs. Just make sso much more since to do that. Plano Boxes is by far the way that i do it as well. Its simple and there always going to be covered from water and rain! Unless you drop the box in the lake!

[Cecil]

I mix it up. I have some plastics (bugs, tubes, grubs, stick worms) in plano boxes, but keep my worms (finnesse, and regular), in soft sided bags. I have thought about going to strictly 3700's but I would get the waterproof ones to keep scent in. I also buy in 100 packs when possible.

[TonkaBass]

I really liked the red Plano boxes. They were made for soft plastic and you could set them up like files. Now I can only find them with the tray that is molded into the top, and I don't like that. I was thinking of rubbermaid bins, but I think I have to do some compartment measuring when I get back in town...

[Cecil]

I have a friend that lines the bottom of his starboard rod storage with small rubbermaid containers the size of the plastics bags. Seems to work pretty good, but knowing me it would be a mess after a couple hours.

[RK]

Hiya -

Oh Lord - soft plastic storage is my nemesis... Somewhere along the way taking it all in the boat became physically impossible. I have TONS of plastics, especially for smallmouths, so finding a way to store stuff that's organized without taking up half the boat an issue for me, to say the least.

I've tried about everything under the sun. I love the Shimano Broadway bags for how easy it is to find stuff. I used to use a Broadway main carry bag and Broadway soft plastic binders. But...I hate how much room they take up for the amount of stuff you can fit in them.... The main carry bag is huge. I like and dislike Stowaway boxes for the same reason. For a while, I threw in the towel completely and just dumped all the packages into a Rubbermaid tote...

Now, for most of my plastics I use Falcon Speed Bags. I have double bags (1107s) for grubs, tubes, and creatures/craws, and single bags (1105s) for drop shot baits, jigworms, stick worms, and jerk shads. I like the speed bags because if I'm fishing tubes, for example, I can grab the bag full of tubes on my way to the front deck, and they don't take up a whole bunch of room.

I also have one Broadway bag with the pages taken out that lives in a storage compartment on the boat. It has back-up bags of stuff I'm likely to run out of.

I still have some stuff in Stowaways. The deep stowaways with 3 compartments work ok for storing plastics in the original packages. But they take up a lot of room, and I always seem to find a way to bust the hinges. When I get around to getting more speed bags I'll move stuff out of 'em.

Like Deitz, I buy in bulk as much as I can, then carry a couple dozen of each bait in the boat and restock as necessary. I buy 6x4 laminated wormproof bags (like the ones most plastics come in) and transfer bulk bagged baits into those to put in the speed bags. I like the laminated bags because they work better in Speed Bags, and some plastics can eat through Ziploc bags. You can get the laminated bags from Lurecraft in a variety of sizes, and 100 of them run @ 12 or 13 bucks.

At home in my "fishing office" (as my 3-year old son calls it) I have a 3-drawer plastic storage thingy that has all my bulk plastics, extra bags of stuff, and misc. odds and ends. It's a total mess... Someday I'll organize that, too... Someday...

If someone figures out a perfect solution to storing plastics - I'd love to hear it.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Craigums]

Great info RK

[Cecil]

I also have about 12' of pegboard on the garage wall to keep everything that is not in my boxes organized. Allows me to grab what I might need more of for the day or weekend. If I'm going to somewhere like Mille Lacs I can grab extra tubes or bags of 4" Gulp grubs and go.

[ShoreGuy1984]

How do you guys store your Spinnerbaits ?

[Cecil]

Falcon spinnerbait box, same with buzz baits and small cranks.

[Larson15]

Falcon spinnerbait zipper binder and buzz bait binder.

[TonkaBass]

I second the falcon boxes for spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. They are pretty tough to beat.

[Larson15]

For plastics I like to keep them in the original packaging. I keep them all sorted by types and use cheap soft zipper lunch box style bags from walmart. i have tried the speed bags in the binder and its been a nightmare. I have been doing it this way for a few years now and its the only way for me.

[TonkaBass]

Its just hard because there are so many different styles of soft plastics. I ussually lump them together by shapes... Like my worm box, creature box, etc. So where do the spider grubs go??? flukes??? reapers??? tubes??? chunks??? craws??? and all the other shapes. I guess a guy just has to lump them together as best he sees fit.

[Cecil]

It can be a lot and I think my system needs improvement as well. I have a finnese worm bag, a regular worm bag, a creature bag, 4" spider grub box, 5" spider grub box, fluke bag, tube box, flippin tube box, chunk box, craw box and more. I can usually narrow it down as to what I think I will need before I go out that day. Odds are if I'm going after smallmouth I do not need my regular worm box, same as if I'm going to Minnetonka during summer I probably don't not need my regular tube box, only flippin. If I am out for the weekend, all of the extra boxes go in a larger bin that stays in the truck. I did create a drop shot box that has some hooks, weights, and baits that I would probably only use for drop shot.

[TonkaBass]

I think I will also use the bring what you need on a daily basis approach this year...

[Cecil]

And you have another 2 feet and 50hp motor than I do and then you did before. That should help.

[TonkaBass]

yeah, now I wont be able to catch those fish in tight quarters! lol