I decided to take everything out of my tackle backpack so I could clean out all the various bits of packaging, broken soft plastics, line, and other trash that cluttered it up. Once I had everything spread out on the table I noticed that I was carrying around a good amount of lures and tackle. I’m not sure if this much is normal to carry around, but it suits me well and doesn’t hamper my movement.

My favorite thing about using a back pack instead of a conventional tackle box is that I can have both hands free while still carrying all my equipment. For example, I can casting at one point of a lake/pond and move down the shore every few minutes. If I had a normal tackle box I would have to bend over, pick up the box, and set it down once I get to my next spot. Now I know that it doesn’t sound like much work because it actually isn’t. The problem is that you have to do it over and over and over again while you are fishing. Being able to have more time fishing while I am out is amazing.

Also, even though I am carrying a lot of material, I hardly feel it. I am using a decent quality backpack and the arm straps and part that touches my back are both padded. I can travel over rough terrain and through forest and not have to worry about losing my balance because I have my rod in one hand and tackle box in the other.

Now I’ll get on to the organization of my backpack.

At the very bottom from of my pack, there is pouch. In this pouch I keep all of my soft plastics.

Of all the soft plastics I have there, I really only use the gulp minnows. I like to set them onto a jig head and have caught panfish, bass, pike, and amazingly enough, catfish on it. Most of the other stuff I got because it looked good at the time.

At the smaller pouch above that I have my floats, pliers, scissors, and some survival equipment.

Now you may ask why I have a box full of survival equipment and a canister of water resistant matches. Valid question. Seeing as I mainly fish in the Chicagoland area there is no need for me to carry survival tools since if worse comes to worse I can hunt down a Mcdonalds.

However, I am a paranoid person by nature, and I read the book Hatchet when I was about 7. In the book the main character gets into a plane crash where he is the sole survivor. Since he has a hatchet with him he was able to survive months in the wilderness until he is spotted by a plane. For me, I would rather have the survival equipment than to not have it. Who knows if there might be one day when I need to use it.

Eventually I would like to get a basic first aid kit that I can add for embedded hooks or cuts.

On the left and right bottom side of my pack I have smaller pockets where I keep various bits of tackle.

On the left pocket I have my trout/salmon stuff

In addition, I also carry weights in this pocket. I’ve used everything on the left side of the picture on stocked trout without any success. The powerbait bottle in the middle is meant to be used on panfish but I have yet to target them with it. Needless to say, the trout didn’t go for it. I also have several glass containers of single salmon eggs and spawn sacs. The single eggs you see on top are actually made of some sort of synthetic material and stay on the hook very well, even if you whip the bait out on a cast. The gel scent that I have stays onto what ever I put it on for a good amount of time. I just don’t know whether it makes a difference.

On the right side pocket, I have a lot of tackle.

In this pocket I used to have a lot more clutter but I consolidated some of the gear. For instance, I had many different types of barrel swivels, but I just took them out of their individual packaging and placed them all into the same baggie. I did the same for the three way swivels. I have yet to use any of the big worm hooks on a Carolina or Texas rig, but I really want to.

In the main section of the backpack I have several things so I’ll break it down into separate sections. There is a “slot” on the inside of the pack where a laptop is supposed to go, but instead I put my northern Illinois fishing guidebook there.

After that, I have my two large Plano boxes which I have filled to the brim with lures.

I am going to work on the organization of these boxes a little and try to have all the crankbaits in one box. Also I have no idea how to store spinners once I take them out of the packaging so I just wrap them around a soft plastic and stick them in the box. I’ll have to find a new way to store them. Other than that the boxes work great and I can customize how many compartments I want and how large they are with the removable blue plastic tabs.

Next up I have some smaller containers that I place in front of the two Plano boxes.

In the top left box I keep all my jig heads separated by size. I also have some marabou jigs on the other side of the box.

In the top left box I have all my small tube jigs. These jigs are responsible for most of the crappie and panfish I have caught in the past year. I have some tube jigs that come factory rigged with a weighted hook. In addition, I have several tube bodies that I can use in conjunction with what ever jig type I like. Without a doubt I prefer tubes for panfish and crappie. They are cheap and effective and I recommend everyone has some in their tackle box.

At the bottom I have a snell holder. At the price that it was offered (only $2-3) it was a great value. Now when I purchase snells I don’t have to struggle to put them all back in the package or lose them in the tackle box. No matter how much they bounce around in my pack, I have never had a snell fall off.

All in all I’m very happy with how I transport my fishing equipment and there has yet to be an instance where I wish I had a conventional tackle box.