Get Organized to Fish More
By Mark Fike

Getting organized can be a tough feat unless you get in the habit of being that way. Look at most successful businessmen and women and you will find yourself looking at an organized person. Most of the successful charter captains that I know don’t have gear that is all tangled up, messed up or hard to find. If the fish suddenly pop to the surface under working birds you can be sure that the successful charter captain has a rod or two ready to hand to a client for casting to the fish.

As winter sets in for a few months I often find myself piddling with my gear and getting it arranged for the season. It always amazes me how messy I was by the end of the season. Perhaps winter and the off-season was God’s way of giving us some relief to recover and get our gear back in line before the next big push.

Tips
Many readers have been fishing for a long time. Undoubtedly you guys and gals have some neat ideas that could be shared on the message boards and forums at Chesapeake-angler.com. Here I will share a few ideas that work well for me.

A few years back I was in a drug store and noticed a cylinder that was being marketed for separating daily medications. The cylinder was composed of eight smaller “pill holders” that screwed on top of another keeping them all together. Immediately I knew this was a neat idea for my fishing gear. The cylinder is see through and lightweight. I put all my split shots of various sizes according to size in the cylinders. This makes it fast for me to find the size I need and then get to it when the fish are biting. The same product can be used for swivels and other terminal tackle too. Freshwater anglers can even keep crappie jig heads in them.

My sinkers are a real pain to deal with on the boat. I use to keep them in a tackle box but the more saltwater fishing I did the more I realized that five and six ounce or larger weights required a spot of their own. The temporary solution I came up with was to get a 2.5 gallon bucket. In the bucket I put the largest weights I will need. Then I found a few butter tubs or plastic containers to divvy up the assortment of sinkers by size and I put them in the bucket too. Now all the weights are in one place and divided up. You can arrange this to your liking with the size of containers you need. The nice thing is that my tackle box no longer weighs fifty pounds and the lead residue is easily washed out of the buckets. I also do not have to worry about the sinkers rusting that much. Usually by the time the salt spray starts on the tie offs they are used or lost.

Hooks and spoons can be a mess and dangerous if you are not careful. Discount retailers have plenty of small plastic boxes with dividers in them that are perfect for hooks and spoons. Just match up your spoon sizes with the container size. Before storing hooks or spoons, be sure to wash them with freshwater and dry them well.

Repair kit
I keep a repair kit on the boat. In it are extra fuses, wire connections, electrical tape, hoses or hose line, connections and the manuals for my electronics as well as a plain compass just in case things go awry. I keep these items in a watertight ammo box made of plastic. The water resistant box is made by MTM CaseGuard. It is square so it fits under the console with little problem. www.mtm-casegard.com/products/camping/dry_boxes.html

A couple of reel filler spools of line are a good idea to have on the boat too. You just never know when something gets spilled on your reel or you forget to respool your reels. Throw an extra in your tackle bag or box for an emergency.

One last idea that you may want to consider is a place to store important papers on your boat. Licenses, registrations and fishing regs all deserve a place to keep dry and easily accessible should you need them. I prefer to put mine in the watertight box with the extra fuses and such where they will not blow away. Some companies make waterproof plastic sleeves to keep papers dry. These are easily attached to the console and easily accessed. Seal Line makes an electronic case and a map case that is waterproof and has a D ring on it to tie it down.
www.seallinegear.com/cases.asp?Category=ProtectiveCases

Take some time now to organize and make your time on the water spent more on fishing. It won’t be long until we can get on the water regularly. Happy New Year!