As a BWCA outfitter since 1976, I've watched a lot of customers packing their gear. It's always been an interesting experience. Some people scatter their gear all over and stuff it into packs willy-nilly, others are very organized and can actually find something later when they need it. Tackle boxes were no different. It wasn't unusual see four guys, each with four suitcase-sized, multi-shelf tackle boxes and five fishing rods each. I, being an individual of strong opinions, would usually comment on the huge pile of tackle with heavy duplication that they were bringing along on the trip. Who is going to carry all of this stuff?
I recommend that they narrow down the "suit-cases" to just an individual drawer tackle box. Here's what I take in different sizes:
 Priced between $1.79 and $3.49 Order Here |
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Put all of this in a simple, easily packed, one shelf plastic tackle box and you're good to go. A flat box can be a little bigger and slides in and out of a pack nicely or take 2 smaller boxes. These boxes are cheap and the new Zerust boxes you see above emit a rust preventing gas that protects your hooks from point-removing rust. You can slide these boxesinto the little spaces in your packs where nothing else fits and they are very inexpensive to own. Take out the box that you need and leave the other stowed away. You can easily take a variety of the basics you'll need for a 5-7 canoe trip into the BWCA. If there's one thing you might want to also bring along, it's a spool of good monofilament in either 6, 8 or 10 lb. test line. I prefer a spool for more altruistic reasons. Instead of just bringing an extra spool of line for yourself, a spool will help out a camp mate who doesn't know how to set his drag properly. After a 20 lb. northern peels out all of his line, or if you have someone in your group who forgot to make sure he spooled up with good line before the trip-of-a-lifetime, you can be the good guy if you want - or, you can make a lot of money on this trip. That line should be worth a lot if the fish are biting.
