Getting Organised for Better Results
A few years ago seeing anglers standing and casting and controlling the boat from a bow mounted electric was the not the norm. Nowadays it seems as if every second boat is fitted with an electric and anglers are up on the feet keen to target fish using lures of all persuasion! This style of active fishing needs some preparation and most of all organisation on the boat to ensure a successful day.
I am definitely a person who likes to be organised and this is reflected in my fishing. Whether it be the boat or the tackle box things have their place and are ready to go for a day of cast and retrieve angling. This is important for this style of fishing, the last thing you want is to be stepping over lose items on the deck or scrambling to find the hot lure.
The boom in cast and retrieve style angling has seen a huge array of plastics and hard body lures find their way onto the market and lure anglers usually have a bit of gear on board. Setting up the tackle box can prove to be a costly exercise, my advice is to shop around for the best prices and buy multiples when you see a favorite lure on special. The key to making your hard body lures last the distance is to wash them off after use and change the trebles frequently to ensure hook sharpness as well preventing rust. Store your lures in airtight if not watertight containers. There is an assortment of leak proof containers to store your bio style plastics in as well. Plano have introduced a few different size containers for your plastics and their juice, for me this is a great solution to the leaky packet problem and keeps all your plastics together in one leak proof container. No more going in and out of the tackle bag every time you want to change presentations. A tidy tackle box is a great platform for a day on the water , nothing is worse than spending half your precious time on the water sorting out tangled gear.
Once you have the tackle box loaded up and sorted out your attention should turn to organising your boat. Essentials on board should include lip grips, pliers, braid scissors and of course a fish friendly net. Plan where all these items belong on the boat and get into the practice of returning the items to that spot after use rather than kicking them across the bottom of the boat. We put all of our wallets, keys and mobile phones etc in a water tight container as soon as we board the boat and stick this box away. Rod storage too is important, many of the modern boats built for this style of fishing now include rod lockers which keep rigged rods at the ready but out of the elements and most importantly out of the way. If you are spending a day casting and retrieving it becomes quite awkward if you have to continuously dodge rods stored in upright rod holders. If you do not have a rod locker you may want to consider horizontal storage options, there are lots of good products on the market that will cater for this option. Rod covers such as the ‘stik jacket’ gives you a great way of storing rigged rods without the tangles and are definitely worth considering.
As I said seeing boats being moved around under the power of electric motors is now a common site. You are expecting too much from yourself if you think you will master using one of these on your first few outings. It does take practice and coordination but what it offers the lure fisho in staying on your preferred spot or sneaking up on unsuspecting shallow water fish is invaluable. The area I have seen them bring great value to is at the time of fighting the fish, great boat position is essential when fighting a fish especially when on light gear.
Tackle organised…. tick, boat sorted…… tick, …now to work on the angler. It is essential to be organised for a great day on the water and this should see improved results but nothing beats time on the water and putting everything into practice, the more time you are out there the better the rewards. So get yourself organised then get out there and get amongst it, enjoy!
