I have only been yak fishing for 5 years or so, and up until this year I have brought pretty much all of my tackle with me when I fish (aside from my 1.5oz+ pike/muskie stuff).
My crate has is getting obese and the number of cases in it has tripled… I need to cut back on what take out for a number of reasons.
How much of your gear do you bring out with you?
Edit – adding a picture of my crate loaded up ready to go over the weekend (not paring down yet lol). It has been great reading everyone's take on this.
Posted by Bobby12many
31 Comments
Man I used to bring the whole tackle box and then realized I only use 2 or 3 lures max each time I go out, so I cut way down and it’s definitely better
I used to. Now I take the minimum. Live and learn.
I have a small fishing backpack I bought on Amazon and just carry whatever fits in there, which is basically 2 tackle boxes, pliers and extra line/weights/hooks. I fish saltwater for whatever
I bring a full crate of stuff with me, since I have the luxury of doing that on a kayak. I tailor it for what I’m doing, whether bass, inshore, trout and panfish, etc. If I’m on foot I’ll bring like two 3700 trays, some leader line, a tape, and a pair of pliers in a backpack. But no, I don’t bring everything with me, I haven’t figured out how to fit my whole garage on my kayak yet.
When I fish for reds and trout I have 1 3500 box for hard baits (mostly to waters), 1 3500 box with crustacean imitations, and in small tackle binder with about a dozen soft plastics (though I mainly just use 4 or 5 colors the most).
When I’m fishing our Texas rivers I carry a little more tackle, but most of that’s due to a wider variety of species to catch; bass, sunfish, and catfish.
Varies based on water bodies and target species (and variety of species). I can be as minimal as one fly rod and a box of flies to 7 rods and 8 3600 series boxes, like my last trip, which ironically was on the smallest lake I fish.
Never, only the lures/tackle for the specific fish, or fishing type im doing,and may be one or 2 other options just incase the main method isn’t working.
I pack my 6 gallon crate with gear. 6 3700 boxes and a ziploc or 2 of soft plastics. 6 rods of various types. I usually fish for bass in the early to mid mornings, switch to crappie , then finish for with catfish in the afternoon. I spend about 6-7 hours on the water. Hot Texas summers.
Nope ..minimalist fishing when in a kayak.
Not for saltwater kayak fishing no. I have a backpack that I throw just one of those tray style tackle boxes in, and load it up with essentials and not go crazy. For reds, snook and trout, all you really need is a white paddletail. Everything will hit a white paddletail.
Definitely not. I bring one 3700 tray with tackle and hardbaits, and one container (binder or deep 3700) with soft plastics. That’s it. Paring down your gear to only bring what you need for a given trip is a big part of kayak fishing IMO.
Lol depends on how much tackle you have stocked. Im def not bring ALL mine. I have a Yakattack box w 8 rod options. And I bring what I think will work for the day depending on the body of water/time of year. Homework the day or day night before and then tackle selection. 1 or 2 Plano boxes and a big ziplock bag of soft plastics.
I do bring all my tackle although I don’t think I have as much tackle as some people who probably have boxes upon boxes.
I bring it in a [savage gear system box bag xl](https://www.olssonsfiske.se/pub_images/original/01748_244.jpg) which is probably as large of a bag as I could comfortably take with me.
I probably don’t need to bring it all with me, though, since I don’t end up using it all.
I bring two sealed boxes and a couple packs of soft plastics.
Tackle selection will vary by species. That said, trim your selection to one lure of choice in each method you fish and get a few favorite colors in that lure. Doing this you can pare down the amount of tackle you bring and learn to fish each of those lures extremely well. This is more affective than carrying a ton of tackle with a few lures you are familiar with and a bunch you don’t know how to fish well.
Not enough room to bring it all but I definitely bring too much.
I bring 3 Plano boxes full. I have been bringing 3 boxes for 10 years. I have yet to use any tackle out of 2 of those boxes. I just can’t seem to leave them behind.
I suffer from always bringing way to much gear then using 1 rod and the first bait I tie on the whole trip
I typically bring 2 of these ozark trail 3600 sized bags..
https://www.walmart.com/ip/2943117043?sid=8ab4314a-81a2-41bb-8587-e321df898242
one I keep 4 3600 sized stowaway boxes with hard baits and terminal and the other i take the stowaway’s out and put my soft plastics in.. it will hold a lot of bags of soft plastics.
No need to bring everything you own out there with you.. less weight to lug around and you spend more time fishing because you don’t have a thousand lures on hand to cut off and retie constantly
I used to bring the kitchen sink. Now I customize it for the lake I’m fishing. Down to one small Plano bag and a 3700 box
If you bring it all you can lose it all. Ask me how I know. I never do that anymore. I bring a small box with 5 to 10 presentations to throw. When it comes down to it you can narrow it down a LOT before you head out. Conditions and water type eliminates lots of over burden.
I trimmed down my load finally after getting a bigger kayak and getting a blakpack ? I used to just bring my whole tackle box and everything but with the 13×16 I just bring a bag full of plastics with a few planos. One of them I have setup for just various terminal and just fill that back up as I use things. Probably lowered my weight by 10-15lbs and I feel like I bring more selection now too, but less things overall.
I do usually have everything I need to switch from crappie to bass to catfish though, but again much less overall quantities with the better organizing.
I’ve narrowed mine down to a Plano two tier 3700 box, a 3400 for terminal tackle and a tackle binder for plastics. Use to carry 4-5 3700s and one day decided that was way too much.
I used to bring pretty much every box I had in my kayak. Now, I pretty much only bring replacements for what it is I’m actually throwing that day. So I only a few extra new lures, 2-3 spools of fluro and then my tools is all I bring now
I carry a few chatterbaits, a selection of trailers to go with them, variety of senkos, a variety of dropshot baits, a variety of Ned baits, some jigs and trailers, a Plopper or two and a couple random hard baits along with terminal tackle for the soft plastics. To be perfectly honest everything I use regularly can fit in a Plano 7080 stowaway under my seat, and a pair of 3600 boxes.
Nope. I bring one rod, and a few lures or bait. As the saying goes “if they aren’t biting worms, they aren’t biting”.
8 rods. 2 bottom baits (ned, texas rig). 2 to cover water column(chatterbait, Spinner bait). 2 large presentations (swim bait, a-rig). 1 top water/jerkbait/crank depneding on season. 1 ultralight. I don’t get to go very often so I don’t want to spend too much time retying. If I have the space for them, why not? In the create 1 box for terminal, 1 crank box/ jerkbait box, 1 jig/ned box. Couple bags of soft plastics. Snacks go on the top😁
Yeah I have an Ugly Stik backpack that has two tackle trays, 2 rod holsters, and all kinds of pockets to hold stuff. I don’t have a lot of variety, but what I have works.
99% of the time, all of my gear for kayak fishing fits in my deck hatch with room for snacks and water.
Lord, no. I bring one 3600 box, two if I was recently stumped by the spot I am hitting, a bag of senkos, and one small box of rigged ned plastics. 95-99% of my lures stay at home.
I used to bring two large waterproof Flambaeu boxes. One had soft plastics and the other had hard baits and terminal tackle. It wasn’t anywhere near everything I had. I would pick different lures and baits to use depending on where I was going, what time of the year it was, and how I wanted to fish. I also kept a smaller box under my seat for things I wanted quick access to. I have a boat now, and I do bring everything with me which cuts down on prep time, but I still keep an idea in my head of what I want to throw so I’m not spending all day anguishing over what to use.