Champion 171owners...

RyanThoni · Post by **RyanThoni** » Tue May 13, 2008 6:51 pm

Anyone out there?

I need some ideas for a good tackle organization scheme. It used to not be a problem, but its getting tight now.

Rod Martin · Post by **Rod Martin** » Wed May 14, 2008 3:17 am

If you get one, pass it on . Us Mean 16 owners need it too.

Turkeyman · Post by **Turkeyman** » Wed May 14, 2008 4:07 pm

I have a 181 F/S and I have started using plastic containers from Wal-Mart. They are about 6" wide and a foot long, and about 6" deep. I have one for senkos, one for jig trialers/sweet beavers and one for worms. they are just the right size for the packages of these baits to fit into. I have never counted but I have at least 20 packages of baits in each one. The lids snap on and you can write on them what is in each box. They cost under $5 and I can fit them inside one compartment on the front deck.

Andy Giannini · Post by **Andy Giannini** » Wed May 14, 2008 4:53 pm

I used to have a Mean 16, and went up to a 191. Before that, it was a tracker style boat, and johnboat etc.

The biggest tip I can give you is don't bring the whole tackleshop.

Eventually, even the biggest boats fill up with tons of stuff, we never use but carry, "Just in case..."

Pick out some stuff that you really fish with well, have confidence in, or might have a chance at winning with, and leave the rest at home.

Its very liberating, to unload some tackle and simplify things. It feels great.

If you don't do this from time to time, eventually you can't find anything, are changing lures too much, and the boat will no longer plane off.

Pick out your seasonal stuff, that you fish with, and suddenly, the boat gets bigger.

.02 A.G.

(Now I need to go clean out the center compartment, because I can't find anything either.)

N.A.R · Post by **N.A.R** » Wed May 14, 2008 5:17 pm

I have a Ranger 519 and I only have one compartment much like a 171 Champion and I will post pics of my tackle system. This weekend.

Rod Martin · Post by **Rod Martin** » Wed May 14, 2008 6:13 pm

Andy its your mean 16 I'm talking about. The only thing I miss frfom my 202 is all the extras I used to carry

RyanThoni · Post by **RyanThoni** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:21 pm

I think I got everything I use in the boat.

The hard part for me is currently I dont have storage room at my place so i keep it at a relatives across town. So I dotn get to toy with it a day. Another hard thing is i do a lot of different styles of fishing. I may do 2 days a week throwin swimbaits on a reservoir, and then fish the delta 2 days the same week, in which i need blades, swimbaits, cranks, jigs, senkos etc.

I think I got a good system worked out yesterday, I will take pics and post em tomorrow for whoever wants em. Half the compartment is a large milk crate that fits about 6 planos. The other half if plastic tubs and binders.

Thanks guys

Kevin Evans - Kap · Post by **Kevin Evans - Kap** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:11 am

First off, Sweet little boat huh..

I run mine with the 135 Optimax and she performs awesome. I fish all the water around and I try to keep my tackle separated by the body of water I will be fishing. Sure a lot of the same things work on all the bodies of water we fish and we have confidence in them so they go in the boat. I have more plastics than you can imagine. So it can be an ordeal if I let it get out hand. Everything has its place,
I have a Delta, Clear Lake only tackle. I have a ton of finesse stuff for the clear water reservoirs. So over the years what I have found that works best for me is to keep all the small boxes I get from ordering and use them for each trip. I just load it up after I make my selections determined on time of year, water conditions etc. I also like to use the old gym type bags. They can be easily fitted in around other gear. I make labels on the bag like say for Beavers, Brush hogs and Ugly Otters on one and Senkos on another etc
I use the Plano boxes for hard baits only. I have a fanny pack that I put around my pedestal seat with the plastic baits I have picked to start with. I think the key for me is condensing my tackle before hand to maximize my time on the water by not searching the boat looking for that one bait.

My 02 cents worth...

Kap

RyanThoni · Post by **RyanThoni** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:49 am

Heres what I got -

a tub of random plastics, a tub of dingers, a tuperwear of senkos, a spinnerbait box, a binder of big worms, a binder of hawgs 2 other binders of plastics i use a lot, and a milk crate of swimbaits, cranks, jigs and terminal tackle.

scale, camera, scents, and other random items fit on the side of the mil crate between the crate and the compartment wall.

I think this will be good for a while