Top tips for sorting the terminal tackle mess

Quickly, you reel in, whip off the hooks and reach for the surface lure. But where is it?

If only I had my tackle box sorted, I could have swapped the terminal rig to a popper in a heartbeat and been in on the action.

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I’ve learnt that lesson the hard way, having seen fish surface and by the time I have found the appropriate tackle, they’re gone.

Sometimes, timing is everything on the water. By just incorporating a few simple changes to the way you manage your tackle box it will be much easier to find what you need when you need it.

Organising tackle is a very personal thing, but this is how I like doing it; I try to organise all my lures by species, and sometimes depth.

For example, I like to have all my surface lures in the one tackle box. That way, if the fish start coming up and hitting the surface, I can quickly grab the surface box and grab any lure I need.

There are many tackle box options for storing your tackle. I find the clear plastic style best, because you can change compartment sizes to suit the size of the tackle, and can also see what’s in the box without opening the lid.

This is very helpful when you’re in a hurry to find something.

I take my hooks out of the packaging they come in, and transfer them to small bags, placing a cut-off piece of the cardboard backing in with them, so I can identify what they are. I find they fit better into the tackle box compartments, in a smaller more flexible bag.

Leaving them loose means they could bounce out of the tray, mixing up with other hooks in the bottom of the tackle box.

A bonus to storing your hooks this way is that if it rains, they won’t get wet and rust like if they were just tipped in loose.

I find it’s best to sort sinkers by their weight. My grandfather keeps his sinkers in old plastic pill containers (it works great, as long as the containers are labelled), but a more modern alternative is to store them in see-through tackle boxes.

This also works for storing swivels and other bits of terminal tackle such as sliders.

I keep all of my plastics together in the one bag. It’s always smart to take a variety of colours with you as you never quite know what style and tint will work on the day.

However, only take the style you need for the species you want to target on the day – packing too many plastics for that “just in case” moment sort of defeats the purpose of keeping the tackle box simple.

Over the course of a session, I tend to pull everything out and end up with bits of line and terminal tackle all over the floor of the boat. I’m sure we’ve all been there.

That’s why it’s important, after returning home, I always take five minutes to put everything back in its place so that the next time I hit the water, I’m ready to go and catch that fish of a lifetime.