Organization is important if you are going to catch fish. Yes…I know using the right lure or bait is important, but if you can’t find that right lure amongst everything else you have, that presents a problem.

The basic plastic tackle box with a fold tray when the lid is opened is the starting point for the beginning fisherman. It’s a place to store hooks, sinkers, artificial baits, knife/pliers, stringer or anything else you deem necessary. You know you’re getting to be fisherman when you have more tackle than space for all of your gear.

In my progression of tackle storage and organization I had thisbigger tackle box that was a beauty. You opened the box and right away something was different. You didn’t lift a lid; now the lid was two pieced, one folding out to each side of the box, each side cantilevering a couple of trays fitted out with different size compartments within the tray to store different lures, weights and hooks.

Next as I progressed in my knowledge of fishing, when I found a lure that produced regularly, I knew I had to have more than one that was exactly like the original. Now I needed a box that I could group them together.

I found a tackle box that had four or five drawers and a large open space on the bottom that had dividers where you could hang spinner baits without getting the skirts all tangled. On this box, one side was hinged to open. I could open whatever drawer I needed or hang a bait in the bottom.

But now I had a problem. My tackle boxes were more than I could handle on a fishing trip. I couldn’t carry all of the boxes if I was fishing my way down a bank, or if I was walking down a jetty.

About that time a boat came into my life. I could pile all the boxes into the boat, but the floor of the boat soon took on the appearance of an obstacle course, especially if your fishing buddy brought a couple boxes.

The “soft” tackle bag and the compartmentalized plastic boxes that can be used to organize lures is the answer. For example, if I think the bite will be best on topwaters early and soft plastics later on in the day, I grab the boxes with those types of baits. They slide easily in the soft tackle bag, or they store in the tackle storage compartments in the boat.

Shaw Grigsby, a professional bass angler, understands the value of being organized. Grigsby has been fishing BASS tournaments for at least 15-20 years, accumulates lots of terminal tackle. He has so much that when he is traveling from one fishing destination to the next, the backend of his locked and covered truck is filled with boxes and bags that are organized to hold his favorite lures ranging from tiny soft plastics, topwaters, buzzbaits and crankbaits.

When he gets to his fishing destination, the night before the tournament, he spends time picking out the gear that he thinks will produce results, and loads his choices in his marked plastic boxes and soft bags that are stored in the tackle storage compartments on his boat. He knows a few seconds wasted on grabbing the wrong gear, or not having the right lures with him can subtract from the number of casts he can make in a day or the fish he could catch.

Grigsby goes even further in his organization. He marks the different rods he uses as to what kind of action they have. He knows whether the lines on his reels are monofilament, braid, or fluorocarbon, and line test. He knows the gear ratios of the reels that the line is spooled on-important to know because of different lures require different retrieves to work better.

I still have some of my old tackle boxes that I don’t take with me on trips, but I have converted to storage for different types of lures and tackle. If I’m fishing for largemouth bass in April, I know from experience that the bass are spawning and I need to bring soft plastics, various size hooks, and weights that will work. I have that broken down in the plastic boxes I mentioned previously. I grab the box and I am ready to go. I have a couple of small ponds I like to fish that are close to Katy, but are not accessible for boats. I grab the soft sided tackle bag and slide the box with the soft plastics in, and I am ready to start slowly walking my way around the pond.

If you haven’t done this with your equipment, I would strongly recommend it. It will produce results, plus now you have an excuse to go to your favorite tackle store and pick up something else you didn’t know you needed. Who knows, you might even break it down where you have several soft tackle bags. Just grab the bag and go.