Too Many Lures in the Boat?

[HugoBox]

So I guess the first step in facing an addiction is to admit it... I'm an addict - gear, books, lures, rods, reels, and when the season is open I try to spend more than my share of time on the water. That said, I've found that this winter my weakness has been buying gear. Now I'm already worried about staring wide-eyed into the tackle box instead of casting.

The question is, when you hit the water with a game plan how closely do you stick to it and do you ever bring a small box with only a couple baits to maximize your fishing time and minimize your screwing around time?

I was bummed not to have gotten to the EXPO in time to hear RK speak as he may have covered this.

I can already see myself trying any of the 10-15 baits I've acquired - just to see their action and learn to work them. This is still fishing I guess, but probably not real effective.

[setterguy]

I have about 20 that I bring onto the water, which is actually probably only 7-8 baits but in different colors.

DC - Red, Pink, blue/silver, black and nickel.

Showgirl - purple/nickel, blue/nickel.

Dawgs - Mag walleye, Mag black/orange, Shallow all black

Various spinner baits

Topwater - Creepin Tom, Creepenstien x2, and 3-4 vipers in different colors, pike colored being my fav.

I had to downsize the box, it was just getting to be too much of a hassle. I almost always find myself throwing one of these baits anyway so it is much more efficient for me.

[10,000 Casts]

"Hello, My name is John and I am also an Addict". lol

I like many people here have more baits than I will ever need. Usaully, I will have 3 boxes in the boat and 2 that I left in the garage and I have baits still in Packages that I bought 3 years ago that I could find now but when I need them, I will have no idea where they are. I try to have a game plan depending on the water and the day but I rarely stick to it. I am more of a feel Muskie fisherman. I like having too many baits at my disposal because you never know what will come up, a wind change, cloud cover, find a weed bed that you didn't know was down there ect... Part of Muskie fishing is adapting and if you only have 3 baits in the boat, it cuts down your odds. Sometimes if I am just going out for a few hours, I will keep the same bait on and try some different situations but rarely.

[PDXFisher]

I've had a problem with this kind of thing all my life. It's not just with fishing lures, either. Before MP3 players, I kept all my CDs in my car...like 500-700 of them. I didn't want to be in the mood for something and find myself without it. This, of course, was kinda dangerous as I'm driving and flipping through books of CDs to find the one I wanted, of course they were alphabetized. Scared plenty of passengers that way, who would invariably offer their help.

Similarly, I can't predict what I will want to throw at a fish. I'm not all that smart about this game yet, so I mostly stare at all my lure options and pick something that jumps out at me. I bought them all, so I need to justify their purchase by having them with me. So last year that meant the two huge Plano boxes and two smaller Plano blue-top boxes. In a 14' boat with three people....well...yeah. Not enough room for my stuff. What did I do? Buy a bigger boat ;>

I am getting smarter about tackle storage. I'm going to get a big Lakewood box with the 10 3700 slots (doubling as half of my rear casting deck) and have 3700s stored all over the boat. When I'm not fishing, I have a ton of fun "organizing". I don't foresee ever limiting myself to 20 for a day, I would go nuts. Or maybe I already am.

[mrklean]

I know excatly what you guys are talking about, i dont have that problem as much with my muskie stuff, but all my other stuff is the problem. My ice fishing is the worse i love all of the jigs and spoons out there, and rods and reels and what not, i buy it all. When i get to the ice i only use maybe a hand full of the jigs in a day. Makes me wonder if i really need it all?????

[MUSKY18]

Often thought about this very thing and have come to the conclusion that you need every possible tool you can carry with you. I don't have many lures, right around 200, but they are all with me. All three boxes are always in the boat, cause ya just never know.

Example....a couple of years ago, my buddy and I were fishing and figured out that the fish wanted a black/nickle Vibrax. I own three, but only had one in the boat. Watched my buddy catch 5 muskies that day. Never happen again!

[Nick Kuhn]

I carry one box, with all my favorites right on top. Things are going pretty rough if I need to open up and start digging, this being true for every species of fish.

[b1gf1sh1]

lol, where do ya start, huh? i used to take every muskie lure i had everywhere i went years ago. these days i keep almost all of them at home in different boxes for times of year and different bodies of water. it was a learning process for me. you know throw everything and everything at 'em to find ''the'' bait. basicly i'm like most muskie junkies and i try to read anything muskie. not so much as years past but i'm still reading alot to keep up with the times. and what i read is basicly the same thing over and over just in different words. if you read about them you find that muskie will be at anyplace on a body of water at any givin' time at any givin' momment. suspended in 80 feet 10 feet down to the bottom, 2 feet of water, in weeds, outside turns inside turns, their anywhere. if you cast they might just be there even if theres not even a reason you can see why. over the years i've found that alot of times it's not the lure i'm casting that aint working but my presentation. most every lure is really a tackle box all on it's own. slow, fast, medium, really fast, really slow, stop and go at any speed, long pauses, jerking the heck out of it, slight twitches, rod high to change action, rod low to smooth it in. theres more but you get the gist. when i figured that part out i started taking mabe 20 lures max. and i'd try every way i could with one bait in several areas, and if i had a follow i'd cast a tube or some other type plastic on a second rod already rigged, and got a bunch that way. if nothing happened i'd do it all over again with another, or if i got hookups i'd change and go back on the tour again. for me it amounts to ''confidence'' in the lure i am using. without confidence i get frustrated. best bet hugo would be just let yourself evolve and learn what you want to do. doing it my way gave me the confidence to keep casting, and mabe that'll help you too. just one thing though. if your taking all your lures out, don't put wet baits with dry ones. let them dry. just a little tiny speck of rust can ruin a day/night as long as that hook is out there. take care of your baits or none will work. ever heard the ''one bad apple'' saying? same for one rusty hook and a box of lures. gl

[HugoBox]

Thanks for the info - Its funny - the first few real muskies I caught were on Reef Hawgs - I bought several colors and threw them almost exclusively and I caught a bunch more fish, then one day I tried a Jackpot - right time right place and I turned into a jackpot guy - I ended last year with several at night on DCGs so I guess maybe I'm a cowgril type of guy now! LOL

I bet those three lures will still get a pretty good workout even though they have competition!

[Tippman]

I've realized that I won't be able to fit my baits packed into one box this year. In fact both boxes I have are now nearly full. Between them, the net, and a buddie's boxes I won't have any room to move around in the boat anymore!

[cjac]

Here's the ultimate cop-out reply....it depends....

I like to simplify my approach, but I do have the lures I have for a reason. In my own boat, I try to bring most of the arsenal. Lakewood, and a bunch of Plano 3700s loaded with similar baits in the front storage compartments. I have a few Bulldawg Planos (reg & mag), a Suick one, a jig one, a Rapala one, couple with Believers, and a couple I call my Tiger boxes.

That all said, I sometimes will commit to a couple baits and use them all day.

I picked up one of those 5 gallon bucket inserts from R&H for the days I fish with someone else in their ride and try to pick what fits the lake, conditions, time of year, etc instead of hauling the Lakewood and Planos. Doesn't always work though. Last year on Sugar 20 minutes into the evening after a couple follows we both said at almost the same time, based on conditions...."wish I had a Suick". Even then, I would have wanted a weighted Suick since it was a bit on the windy side. It would have fit the conditions.

So, I talked in circles, but the more often I can have options available to meet the conditions the better. An overcast Fall day with little temp/sky change, the same presentation may be good all day. Lot different than a Summer day when early AM fishing gives way to mid-day conditions by 10:00AM.

[b1gf1sh1]

so leave the buddy at home. . your a junkie, deal with it. theres a sale on muskie lures somewhere

[Rebel9921]

Hugo I know how you feel... In fact... Im thinking of ripping out the livewell in my boat... and replace it with a storage compartment for Plano 3700's and 3730's... along with adding few more compartments... Basically theres no reason to keep a livewell in the boat... and its not even big enough to hold a muskie anyways...

All this talking... when the heck will all the snow melt already??????

[cjac]

Kinda hard to do when it's his home lake, his boat, and his invite to fish!

Really, I've learned more by fishing with others 10x over than if I was just out on my own. I always jump at the chance to fish with someone else, just gotts find the "what to bring" balance!

[b1gf1sh1]

lol i was'nt serious. except about that sale. i just know theres one somewhere. now if i could just find it. most the guys i fish with are fine fishing muskie for a bit but power fishing is not usually an option. we end up going for eyes, cats, or others, which is fine as i don't really power fish muskie that often anymore. this year i'm going to be trying out the downrigger alot so multi-species is my future i think. gonna do alot of fast current fishing with it. set up at the head of a hole. put a lure on and let it sit and wait for a bite. thinking of trying some nice sized cutbait in those areas and try for cats or mabe a 'ski. who knows. i can get the bait to lay right over the edge of the hole mabe ten feet in with little or no weight on for the big cats. i just can't wait to get out there. gonna be a good year.

[Muskiefool]

Funny thing my fish last year came off 2 baits, I had 85,296 in the boat with me but only used about 6-10 baits all season, probably the best fishermen I go with has a few dozen baits in his boat just enough to catch fish.