Time for a Winter Tackle Tune-up

By Frank Sargeant
from The Fishing Wire

It hasn’t been pretty outside the last few weeks across much of the nation, to say the least. Boat ramps on lakes across the Southeast were empty, and though we’re seeing some warmer weather the last few days, spring is still a long way off.

What’s an angler to do?

One good use of a Saturday between the end of college football and the start of pre-spawn bassing is a tackle tune-up. If you’re like me, your gear is looking a bit the worse for the wear by this time of year.

The seasons change seamlessly from the buzzbait bite to the spinnerbait bite to the crankbait bite to the jig bite to the frog bite to the rattlebait bite, and my stuff simply keeps getting tossed into the box and progressively forgotten as I move on to the next season of the bass. By now, everything is a tangled mess, and digging out or even finding a particular lure that I might need for early spring is going to be a serious challenge that has me picking through a Chinese puzzle of treble hooks to get it free.

One of the major solutions to the lure morass is to add more tackle boxes, or more dividers in your existing tackle boxes. In my experience, it’s actually better to have fewer lures that you can actually find and get out of the box without tangles than it is to have hundreds that you can’t locate or can’t extricate when you need them.

Tackle boxes like this model from Plano are ideal for keeping crankbaits and other treble-hook lures out of tangles and ready for instant access. (Plano, Inc.)

Plano is the big dog in tackleboxes, of course, and their venerable 3700 size is the standard of the industry–it fits the slots on every make of bass boat. Buy enough of these boxes–and they come designed especially for spinnerbaits, for small crankbaits, for large crankbaits and lots more–and you will solve your tackle tangles permanently.

It’s best to use only one lure per partitioned slot in any box–put two in one and you’ve got a tangle. I like to point all my lures the same direction and separate them by color and size or the “dives to” depth–it makes finding that one you need a whole lot easier. Label each box according to the class of lures they hold, and you’ve come a long way towards a far more organized and fishable boat. (If you’ve got vertical tackle racks, label the boxes both on the top and on the front, the part you see when they’re in the racks.)

This is also the time to review the “walking wounded” among your lures. Any plug that has been used for a few months is likely to have hooks that are dulled or bent out of shape. Dull hooks lose fish, and out of shape hooks change the action of many lures, making them less effective. Buy several sizes of new trebles from one of the quality makers–VMC, Mustad, Trokar and Gamakatsu among others–and a pair of split-ring pliers, and replace any hooks that look at all doubtful. (This is not a bad time to try some larger hooks on some of your crankbaits, either–many anglers find they get better hookups by going up one size, particularly on the front hook.)

Bass Mafia boxes are reinforced plastic with rubber gaskets and locking latches that make them watertight—great protection for tackle, though they’re among the more expensive on the market. (Frank Sargeant Photo)

If you’ve got some spare change rattling around in your pockets, you might even consider adding some Bass Mafia tackle boxes to your rig. While these bullet-proof, water-proof boxes cost an arm and a leg, they’re cool looking and they do keep your stuff absolutely safe from damage anytime that lock-down lid is secured on the rubber gasket.

Last but not least, this is a good time to peel off all your old line, clean and lube your reels, and then install fresh line. Then, just wait for those first warm afternoons to announce that spring is finally just around the corner.