No matter where you live there’s going to be a week or two of bad weather this winter. That’s a perfect time to clean out your boat and repack it. If you remove what you don’t need and make sure you have what you do need, you’ll fish more efficiently.
Start your project by clearing out a big area in your garage, basement or in a spare room in your house. You want an area big enough so that you can spread everything that was in your boat out on the floor in one place. It’s important that you can see everything in relation to everything else.
This is not about repacking one compartment at a time in your boat. That won’t work. All that does is rearrange everything.
Once all your tackle is spread out you’ll want to start sorting. Make one place for what you used last year, another for what you know you’ll need next year and a third spot for the stuff you haven’t used in two years.
Take that last pile and put everything in it in storage. If you haven’t used it in two years, you don’t need to carry it around. Obviously, I’m not talking about safety equipment. It stays no matter what.
Now, sort everything you’ll need for next year. I don’t care how or what you think about as you do this but make sure that all your lures and tackle are sorted by some system that makes sense to you. Most anglers put their crankbaits together, their spinnerbaits together and so on. But you can do it by season or venue if that works better for you. The important thing is to know what you have.
Nothing is more frustrating than to run across a lure that you wished you’d have had yesterday. Not knowing you have something or not being able to find it is the same as not having it at all. Remember what your grandma told you — out of sight, out of mind.
This is also a good time to make a list of what you need but don’t have. Again, it’s a matter of efficiency. Don’t buy what you already own. Save your money for what you don’t have and what you need.
The third pile is for whatever you used last year. It’s probably stuff that you like to fish with and that gives you confidence. Keep it in the boat. Sort it exactly like you sorted the pile of next year’s things.
When you put everything back in your boat do it in a way that makes sense. Put what you used last year in first, on the bottom. It’ll be accessible but you won’t have to dig through it to get to this year’s tackle which should be on top.
Put everything in clear boxes or clear plastic bags. You want to be able to see what’s there with just a glance. If you do have solid boxes like those from Bass Mafia, put a strip of white surgical tape on the outside that identifies the contents.
Once you’ve done all that you’re ready to go fishing.