Tackle Box for Muskie Lures ?????

[Shawn]

Hi : I'm just starting to get into muskie fishing in a serious way, and so I am starting to accumulate lures that are 9" to 12" etc - all you guys know what I'm talking about.

But - my main question is : WHERE DO YOU KEEP THEM ?? I haven't been able to find any kind of tackle box or tackle system that is designed for these size of lures. I'm just kind of keeping them in their original box, then keeping those in a duffel box. It's disorganized though - and the original packages the lures came in are starting to fall apart. I need a new system before this coming season ?

And suggestions ?

Shawn

P.S. Just got a 6'6" St. Croix Premier Muskie Rod in Medium-Heavy with a fast tip and paired it with an Abu Garcia 6500-C3. I'm probably going to put on 30lb Berkely fireline and use the Bass Pro XPS Titanium leaders 9" or 12" - any thoughts ?

Shawn

[Evergreen State Musky Guy]

Shawn, most musky fishermen opt for hanging storage. This means the lures are suspended from their hooks in a vertical position and generally requires a box at least 12" deep. Lakewood makes several models but tend to be expensive. The Flambeau Maximizer is a large box that can hold about 50 large crankbaits. The Plano 7915 is an excellent box for bucktails and plugs up to 10" Suicks and costs less than $50 from Rollie and Helen's Musky Shop, who also sell the Lakewood and Flambeau boxes. You should send for their catalog because they sell everything you need for musky fishing.

I personally own 2 Maximizers, 2 Planos, and a couple smaller boxes of the traditional tray design. The advantage of the latter is they have tray storage for your wire leaders, are small enough to tuck out of the way behind a car seat, and take up little space in the boat. You can only fish so many lures in a day so I will sometimes leave the big boxes at home or in the vehicle and toss a half dozen lures I plan to use in the bottom of the little box. The Maximizer is big enough to use as a boat seat and reasonably comfortable with a boat cushion on top of it.

If the above boxes are too spendy for your budget, you can improvise inexpensive hanging storage. One way is to buy lengths of plastic water pipe at a hardware store and cut it to about 11" or 12" lengths. Then use duct tape to tape them together. You can use the pipe by itself or in a Coleman cooler. The cheapest hanging storage system I've seen and one that works quite well is buy one of those disposable plastic coolers that costs $3 or so, and just hang your lures from the lip.

If you don't have a boat with a rod locker, for example if you are fishing out of a cartopper, and need to carry your musky rods in a vehicle, a method I have used to protect them is cut the aforementioned plastic pipe into 6' to 7' lengths. Then buy and cut to length that styrofoam stuff used to insulate water pipes and insert it in the plastic pipe. The outside diameter of the foam should be the same as the inside diameter of the pipe. I leave the reels on, and the handle and reels are left protruding with only the rod above the butt inside the foam channel. This keeps the rods from banging around, bending, or getting broken in a car door or by stepping on.

Hope this helps.

[Shawn]

Evergreen State Musky Guy :

Thanks so much for the tips. Unfortunately, I don't live in a muskie area .... so I have to travel to fish for them, which seriously limits the amount of time I can pursue them. I like some of your homemade ideas. If I was pounding the water every weekend (wish I COULD !), then I might invest in an $80 box to keep my baits .... but I might try making some type of homemade holder.

Thanks again.

Shawn

[RK]

HIya,
I've since gone 'uptown' with my tackle boxes (I have a couple Dunwright hanging boxes and love the things) but for a long time most of my tackle boxes were home made deals which my friend Tom named the CA (Cheap-A$$) box. Thye're easy to make, and do a pretty good job.

Go to the hardware store and get some square plastic downspout, some hardware cloth or screen (this is optional), some rope, a piece of flexible plastic tubing with a big enough diameter to fit the rope through twice (12-18" long piece will do), some construction adhesive like Liquid Nails, and a roll of duct tape.

Cut the downspout into 12-inch lengths, and then figure out how you want to arrange them. You could also draw it out on paper I guess but that's a little too scientific for a project that involves a lot of duct tape... I usually left a couple open spaces in the middle of the box for bigger baits, and cut one tube in half and put it on the outside to hold pliers and leaders and stuff.

Once you have the thing laid out, start gluing the tubes together with the construction adhesive. Good idea to clamp the pieces top and bottom so they don't slide around while the adhesive tacks up.

Optional step: Once you have all the tubes glued together, set the box on the hardware cloth and cut the cloth so there's about 2" extra around the bottom of the box, then break out the duct tape and duct tape the screen to the bottom of the box. This keeps baits from falling out the bottom. If you want to get fancy you can make the bottom out of plexiglass, but I never got that clever.

To put the handle on, take the rope, double it, and lay it on the ground. Set the box on it and spread the rope under the box so the rope is maybe 3" from the outside edge of the box on the bottom. Bring the ropes over the top of the box, take the two tag ends and run them through the flex. plastic tubing and adjust the lenght to get the handle height and play you want, then tie them to the looped end and slide the handle around till it sits over the top of the box. Really, there are all kinds of ways to do the handles, and you can just fidget with it till you figure out something you like.

Once the ropes are in place, duct tape the bejeebers out of it, and there's your CA box. Not pretty, but nobody gives you style points for this stuff, and they are very tough (I had some last for several years). Best of all, it probably costs all of 12 bucks..

Cheers,
RK

[JJ]

Shawn, I second the use of the downspout. But I would use a plastic cooler with a lid. This works just like a tacklebox. An old milk crate can also be used. Just be careful that the cooler doesn't get blown out of the truck or boat. You can also look at different storage containers at Wal-Mart or other stores. They have a lot of types that have latches. The downspout can be cut with a hacksaw and the edges sanded smooth. Use your imagination. JJ

[Evergreen State Musky Guy]

Shawn, as you can see from the other posts, ways to improvise musky tackle storage are limited only by imagination.

I don't know where you are, but I'm in Seattle and have to drive 2200 miles each way to get at Wisconsin's musky fishing. I grew up in Milwaukee and still have a lot of family there, so I visit the area and why not fish Wisconsin while I'm there.

But I can fish for tiger muskies close to home now thanks to stocking. Starting about 15 years ago, game departments began using tiger muskies to control undesirable species because it costs less than rotenone (poisoning) and has the side benefit of creating a sport fishery. As a result many states outside the musky's natural range now have tiger musky lakes. Western states include Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and North and South Dakota. Do some checking, maybe you have a tiger musky fishery nearby. In states outside the musky's range with stocking programs, there's usually much less fishing pressure and the fish may be easier to catch than in Wisconsin, where the fishing pressure is intense. Here in Washington I often have the muskies to myself; if other boats are on the lake they're fishing for something else.

[fishinnut]

I like the idea of using plastic downspouts or PVC pipe. But why not try to pick up a soft sided case to hold the downspouts/pvc. I would guess that a Wallmart/K-Mart should have something that would work.

[Jason]

30 pound fireline is junk for muskie fishing in my book. I lost 2 nice fish cause it couldn't handle the hook set and I would cut and retie all the time. I also lost a bait when i was banging rocks. I spent alittle extra and power pro in handles better for casting and trolling comes in heavier sizes and i haven't had it brake on my ever. Hope that helps you.
Jason

You got a good set up there besides that.

[Steve Jonesi]

Shawn,
Just my opinion, but don't use 30 lb fireline ( or any fireline) for muskies.The stuff is great for bass and walleye , but doesn't hold up well to working bigger/harder pulling baits. Check out some of the superbraids in a min. of 60lb.Get a true braid and not a fused line. Oh yeah, tackle boxes don't need to be pretty. Sounds like RK's got it down. Steve

[BTPF]

The Plano 7915 with the clear inserts is an awesome tackle box.

www.clearvisionsystems.com

I am going to order one in another week or two.

[Shawn]

>30 pound fireline is junk for muskie fishing in my book. I
>lost 2 nice fish cause it couldn't handle the hook set and I
>would cut and retie all the time. I also lost a bait when i
>was banging rocks. I spent alittle extra and power pro in
>handles better for casting and trolling comes in heavier
>sizes and i haven't had it brake on my ever. Hope that helps
>you.
> Jason
>
>You got a good set up there besides that.

Wow - I'm hearing this alot about fireline ! Glad you guys are letting me know ! What should I consider ? I have a friend who recommended Cortland muskie master in 37lb .... or T.U.F. .... any of you guys using one of these or can comment on them ?

Thanks ! Shawn

[Shawn]

>Shawn,
> Just my opinion, but don't use 30 lb fireline ( or any
>fireline) for muskies.The stuff is great for bass and
>walleye , but doesn't hold up well to working bigger/harder
>pulling baits. Check out some of the superbraids in a min.
>of 60lb.Get a true braid and not a fused line. Oh yeah,
>tackle boxes don't need to be pretty. Sounds like RK's got
>it down. Steve


Wow - I'm hearing this alot about fireline ! Glad you guys are letting me know ! What should I consider ? I have a friend who recommended Cortland muskie master in 37lb .... or T.U.F. .... any of you guys using one of these or can comment on them ?

Thanks ! Shawn

[john skarie]

I do like 50lb. fireline for trolling, but it isn't a great choice for casting, very strong, but "brittle", it will snap if you backlash with a heavy bait because it can't take that extreme shock.

Tuff, Spectron and Power Pro seem to be the most popular "superlines".

I have used all three, and to be honest, will buy whatever one is cheaper when I go to buy new line. If all were the same price, probably go with spectron. They are all good, and can be used for two season's, then buy a new reel, and spool the line on to it off of a reel with 2 year old line on it. Keep doing this with all your reels until you have one reel with no line on it, put new line on that one and you just saved a lot of money.

JS

[rapala14]

i suggest getting power pro, indestructable. when it becomes discoloured, just get a black magic marker and colour the last 2 feet or so. hope this helps.

P.s. i'm in the same boat as you. gotta find a tackle box that can hold these massive lures. i just got into musky fishing last year. at the moment i have all my monstrous baits hanging from a styrofoam minnow bucket. works for now. but will be amking my own till i can afford a real musky box.

[Wayne]

Hi Shawn,I've been musky fishing exclusively now for the past 4 years,in the begining I started to use the 2" deep clear plastic containers that you get at Wal-mart.I found these to be a cheap way to contain most of my lures and as I purchased more lures Iwould purchase more containers,I realized that this would be a good system with the use of a small hocky/sports bag.This is a great system for me because it gives me the versatility in preparing for specific trips etc and it is not a large expense.






Wayne.

[Scott]

Shawn: The Plano is a great box for the money. One advantage is that you can remove half the lure grid and have half the box for storing other toys. Put 'em in smaller Plano boxes or whatever. The Flambeau is similar, though larger, holding many more lures and also having the choice of removing half the grids. One drawback, it doesn't have a top handle. I ask you - how can you carry it with your teeth when your hands are full??!! For an inexpensive home improv - get some 2" diameter tubes and put 'em in a bucket. You'll have some space on top for carrying stuff too.