This time of year is never fun for anglers – I mean, fall fishing is incredible! But what comes after that… Meh.  Before we know it snow will be flying. That said, it is time to winterize the boat and get it cleaned out for the season. I am always amazed at the amount of tackle I have accumulated over the summer.

I own a soft plastic bait business now, so on the surface it would seem like I would have fewer baits in the boat – because I can always make more of whatever I need in whatever color I want. But I think that’s the problem. I can make whatever I want whenever I want. There are times I come up with a color that I just “have to have” in the boat and there are other times that I am making a color for a customer’s order and can’t remember seeing that color in a certain bait in my boat.

Of course, that color in the exact bait in which I want it is usually in the boat, but likely stashed in a compartment or Plano box that I would not normally have put it in. It is all in there, but not to my knowledge. And, if I can’t find it quick the day before a trip while I’m charging up the boat, I figure I better make some so they have time to cure before I get out on the water.

“But there has to be a good way to organize it, isn’t there?” I can hear people asking. Of course there is. There are probably a hundred great ways to organize tackle in your boat or even in your tackle bag, for non-boaters. It seems, though, every time I think I have found the perfect way to organize things, something changes.

I might change up the baits I like to throw. I might change up colors. I might change who knows what. And, honestly, at other times, I might have no clue what I’m going to be throwing. Maybe practice did not work out for me. Maybe it’s a small tourney like a clubber and I did not get out to practice. I tend to like to use smaller tournaments like clubbers to train myself to think on my feet  – what would I do in a big tournament if nothing I expected to work seemed to be the ticket.

Another issue is when we add different baits to those we make during the year. Well heck. Now I need at least a dozen of each of those in four or five different colors. I know, I know. I only use like two or three, but you never know, right?

No matter what the compartments of my boat looked like at the end of this year, there is one thing for certain: they will be so orderly and organized at the beginning of next year it will be crazy. And, by the end of the year? Well, I’m not going to make any promises.