Thread: Plastics Storage

How many leave your plastics in the pack and store / or- unpackage and place in plano boxes? And which do you prefer? Thanks in advance.

I keep a flat box with multiple sections that can hold one bag worth of baits in each section. The rest stay in the bag until that section is empty. Made the mistake a few years back of leaving the box on the deck uncovered and the sun bleached some of the colors out. Mostly the chartreuse colors and a bottle of spikeit fixed them.

That's why I posted this question, they stay fresher and cleaner in the bags but it takes awhile longer to select colors....kindof a catch 22 i suppose.

I've got an older Plano hard box that I keep all my Crappie tackle in. It holds 3x large plano plastic boxes slid in from the drop down front. Top box is small Crappie plastic, 2d is large Crappie plastic, and bottom is bigger gitzits sized tubes and grubs (cause I catch a lot of Crappie on 3-4" bait.) The top of the box holds about 5 or 6 of the smaller plano boxes standing on their side. I keep my hand tied jigs in one, smaller crappie jigheads in another, mdm sized, lg sized, spinners & spoons, weigts & hooks, etc. On the right hand side of the top is leader, clippers, needle-nose, and other assorted junk. Keeps everything nice and neat and easy to find. I don't find it dries stuff out bad but I use a spray on scent when I'm fishing anyway. The box sits within reach of me in the boat wherever I happen to be fishing from. ( I fish from the back as much as the front using a remote trolling motor.)

My Bass, Walleye & Catfish stuff goes in a smaller Soft Bag that I hardly ever get into.

I use the plastic trays that hold maybe 6 jigs each type/color. If the bite is slow I add crappie nibbles to spice up the jig. I have tried minnows for years but seem to do better with jigs and don't have to hassel with minnows.

Originally Posted by The Lip RIPPERS

How many leave your plastics in the pack and store / or- unpackage and place in plano boxes? And which do you prefer? Thanks in advance.

I usually leave them in the plastic bags, they seem to keep better over time this way plus lets me know for sure what color I'm using. Being color blind it's quicker to read the description on the bag than stare at the baits and wonder what is what.
Scott

I've been keeping soft plastics in the bag they come in for a couple years now. That's what the manufacturers recommend. The guys from Gene Larew/Bobby Garland were the first to tell me that at the Tackle Show (back when we had tackle shows... ). I've noticed a significant improvement in bite-rate when using a "fresh" one from the package vs an unused one that's been in the plano box for awhile. They also do not recommend putting used soft bodies back in the original package. Since the first advice worked in my experience, I heeded this as well. I now have a plano box for used (but not torn up) soft bodies. I usually use up the used jigs (from the box) in the Spring/spawn, 'cause they're not as picky that time of year (as opposed to the light-bite in the Winter, when I always use fresh jigs straight out of the package). Just my .02.

The main thing is to keep them out of the sun as much as you can. UV wreaks havoc on plastics ... fades them out and can make them gooey.

I keep the majority of mine in bags with just a representative sample in plastic boxes while fishing so they are handy to get to.

I've had pretty good luck keeping them in the Plano boxes with the watertight lids. It doesn't keep them as well as the bags though.

I leave mine in the bags, seems to stay fresher longer. Might be just me.