Soft Plastics Organization

[J.W.]

I swear, trying to organize soft plastics is like herding cats!

I started out with gallon size Zip Loc bags, but they are not long for this world. They get holes, or blow out of the boat.

Switched to putting them in Plano 3700s, but that ends up being way too many boxes. Also hard boxes don't compress and end up taking up more space, and space is limited in my boat.

Later switched to those plastic cash envelopes that will fit inside small journal-sized soft-cover three ring binders. They were ok, but you had to take the baits out of the original packaging, which meant some baits wouldn't hold their shape well if they needed to be in a clamshell. I was tired of kinked up fluke tails, plus some colors would bleed through the vinyl cash envelopes and onto other baits. It did make for some interesting colors on occasion, though 

Switched to the big Plano Stowall 3700 tackle bags, leaving baits in their original packages and putting them into the Plano bags. They are basically a heavy-duty vinyl freezer bag, but they're hard to get sealed sometimes. Couple that with the fact that I am storing my soft plastics in our extra live well where sometimes water accidentally ends up, and long story short, I lost a bunch of soft plastics that turned mushy from being wet for too long.

As of right now, I have a bunch of cheap clear plastic soft packing cubes that I bought off Amazon. They worked well when they were new, but they didn't hold up well. Most of them have torn to some extent and/or have zippers that have come off, so they are no longer very water resistant.

I bought a Buzbe Quik Qube to try out, and so far I feel like that's the juice, but holy smokes are they expensive. I need about 10-11 more, and they're like $40 a pop.

Anyone got any great water-resistant storage ideas that would stow away well in the boat and not cost me an arm and a leg?

[loomisguy]

I went to the LIV bags. They are the best I've found. Just leave the plastics in the original bags and put them all in the LIV. Really durable and the zipper works great.

[J.W.]

I went to the LIV bags. They are the best I've found. Just leave the plastics in the original bags and put them all in the LIV. Really durable and the zipper works great.

I saw those. I may go ahead and order a few to try out.

[loomisguy]

I believe they are on sale on the website. 6 for 50 bucks.

[fishingram24]

I have been using 7 qt. Sterilite containers with locking lids and keeping plastics in the original bags. Great for storage but can sometimes be a pain to grab just what I want quickly. Putting multiple bags in gal. zip locks by type helps. I think the biggest help would to to stop carrying so many bags of plastic since I usually reach for the same 5 or 6 baits.