We've all been there: shredded our favorite baits while on the water and had no back up plan.
Well, how many of you actually went home and said "this will never happen to me again"? Probably not too many of you. I have devised a plan for my baits in peril – it's called the Swimbait Surgery Box.
Having a bait first aid box like this can save a ruined day and turn it into one of the best days of fishing you have ever had. The beauty of it is that you don't need another full size box to build one. I just used some cheapo small box I got in a tackle giveaway at a tournament or something. I started by thinking of all the little things I might need to modify or fix a bait on the water. Here's whats in my Surgery Box:
Save your baits: contents of a good Bait Surgery Box:
- First and foremost a bottle of Mend-It. If you have not used this on your soft plastic baits yet you missing out for sure. I have brought baits back from the trash pile with this stuff.
- A small bottle of thick gap filling hobby shop Super Glue. This will fix anything – it's the next best thing since Duct Tape, but that's in a different box on my boat.
- A sharpening stone. Kinda old school, I know, with all of these chemically sharpened super hooks we have now. Just trust me on this one.
- Various needles and thread pullers; time to man up and go to the craft store. You would be surprised at how many different tools there are that can be used for bait surgery next to the knitting needles.
- Some bobber stops. These can be used for many many things.
- Some suspend dots for crank baits.
- Various split rings and split ring pliers.
- Some extra stinger hooks.
- Small pieces of wire, you never know.
- Some pieces of plastic tube for running treble hooks to secret locations.
- Some nail weights.
- Extra lead weights for stuffing into the bellies of your baits.
- Some extra line-through lead sinkers for pro-rigging swimbaits.
These little basics can really save your day on the water.