maintaining soft plastics

[CALVINIST]

I have been collecting many varieties and colors of soft plastics geared toward fishing panfish and have been keeping them in the plastic bags they are bought in. Recently I bought a compartmentalized container in which to store them. I have noticed that some of the plastics have an oily film on them, obviously to keep them from drying out. Some of the plastics I transferred into the container were dried out, so I put a couple drops of vegetable oil and smooshed 'em around to help keep them from drying out. Is this the right way I should be going about it? Also, when I store my plastics over a long period of time, like over winter, do I have to do anything special to keep them from degrading in quality? Specifically, do I need to remove them from the storage compartments and put them back into bags? Thanks.

------------------
<><<><
Calvinist
><>><>

[CALVINIST]

O.K. maybe those are stupid questions...

------------------
<><<><
Calvinist
><>><>

[Ymmit]

No there not. I am actually curious to know my self. I no that some of my old plastice has transfered color to one another. Im not sure veg oil was what you would use. Maybe there is a Lure oil that a local outdoor store sells who knows.

Tim

[CrappieJohn]

Cal... Not stupid! Some plastics can "bleed" their colors into other colors. Here is how I handle the situation. Plastics of one design are kept in one box, another box is used for another style. The biggest problem you will have is when you get , say chartreuse, mixed in with orange or white. You can end up with some creative color schemes this way. The bags that crappie plastics come in are often too bulky for me to squeeze them into a compartment in my boxes, so they simply get put in a hole of their own and I try to keep them organized. But I do have another system that works well with the larger baits I use for walleye and sauger. It will soon become the system I use for crappies too I think.

Go to the grocery store and buy a box of quart-sized freezer zip-lock bags. Be certain to get FREEZER bags....they are much heavier and more durable. They are cheap, so you can put one color, of one size, of one brand of plastic in each bag. Label it with a magic marker and toss it in a five gallon pail. Keep your jigheads in a box according to style and size. Floats too. Done this way you do not have to take half of your tackle out to see what you are looking for. If you need to, throw some of the bags on the boat floor to give you some room. All of your scents and accesory items can go on the bottom of the bucket before the plastics go in. This whole system is quick, easily managed and still keeps the plastics organized according to maker, color and perhaps even scent requirements.

As mentioned, I do this to control my ever expanding assortment of waldo /sauger plastics, only I tend to leave them in the original wrappers if they are zipper closeable....if not, I bag them in a freezer bag.

I am not a neat-nick , but I do like having everything very visible. The freezer bags allow this, plus I can haul enough plastic to know that I am not going to run low. Running out of something is a burn. Try this method and you will find out how nice it is to have that extra room and visablity.

------------------
Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle
[email protected]

[CALVINIST]

That is a good system Tom; i'll keep that in mind as I aquire more and more plastics.

------------------
<><<><
Calvinist
><>><>

[delmuts]

one thing i will add. if the baits you are using are like the power baits or some other brand that is impregnated with scent/flavor , i try to keep each brand seperate. if they are not; then i use the bags like tom recomends, but put some of a atractant in the bags with the plastics. ( bait fish, even annis oil)adds flavor and lubricates the plastics too. del

[CrappieJohn]

Indeed some of the plastics found today are very specie specific and you need to keep these separate. Berkley Gulp products are water based and will dry out rather quickly if not kept in a sealed container. These water based baits I recommend leaving in the factory package.

Scent can bleed as easily as color and once in a while if the fish have shown a preference for some powerbait, but want a different profile, I'll take some of the Powerbait and put it in with the other plastics in their own bag and let them mingle a bit. After a couple days toss the Powerbait back in it's original package and use it whenever. And for you bait people....put some of those Powerbait crappie nuggets in a container of waxies for a few days, shaking them up a bit a couple times a day. You might be surprised at the difference it makes.

------------------
Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle
[email protected]

[mnrstrider]

If you really wanted to keep your plastics neat you can buy little soft three ring binder set-up at gander m , and they come with little plastic tabs you can attach to plastic baggies or bags the plastics came in, then you just clip them in the three ring binder. Or you could just buy youself a three ring binder set-up and with some duck tape or something so the plastic baggies could be attached the rings without ripping, and make a very similar set-up for much less. Super organized. I had doubts, but it really does work well.

[CALVINIST]

Crappie Tom,

I have been using your system for separating and organizing plastics, and it works great! I use the smaller, flimsier snack ziploc baggies which are 1/3 the size of a regular bag. I put the individual plastics in there. Then I organize all tube jigs into one sturdy quart bag, all curly-tail grubs in another, etc. Then I keep those ziploc quart bags on a larger zippered bag. Awesome system. I haven't messed around with scenting those factory plastics yet, but I think I'll check that out next.

Thanks Tom!

------------------
<><<><
Calvinist
><>><>

[CrappieJohn]

I've been around for quite a while and have had the luxury of trying many different forms of tackle storage. Some work, some are simply recipes for disaster.

I like having everything very "visual"....so that I can just glance over and see what it is I am looking for, hence the five gallon pail. I do carry three or four of the soft-sided zipper satchels for specific bait needs, generally spare packs of PowerBait and other lesser used plastics. All of my jigs go into one of these satchels to keep the mess down. The one satchel weighs in at about twelve pounds!

The bucket method works great, especially with the hooks in their own confines.Toss a lid on the pail and it is travel worthy and helps to keep things cleaner. With Wallyworld selling the heavier freezer type bags very cheap, it certainly is more attractive price wise than many of the commercial storage systems.

------------------
Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle Pro Staff
[email protected]

[rickmp]

Tom, I use basically the same system as you do, with one exception. Instead of using a 5 gal bucket, I keep all my bags in one of those insulated lunch bags. People (especially my wife) always seem to get these from their employers for free and never use them. So I take them and store my plastics in them. Works great for me.

[CrappieJohn]

rickmp....You are not alone. I know many who use the same system as you and, hey, why not. I just like being able to look in that pail and seeing everything right not. And to help clarify, I too have four of the soft-sides in that bucket as well. Two are for scented baits...the extra spare bags, two for specialty plastics. The pail? That's for power fishing.lol

------------------
Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle Pro Staff
[email protected]