First Tackle Box

 

While working on some way-past-due fishing basement sorting this evening, I came across an old brown tackle box that I hadn’t given thought to since one of my boys took on my basement mess more than a decade ago. It was my original tackle box, which I probably got when I was about 10 years old, meaning it has been around a half a century or so.

It’s empty now, and while both trays are still in it, the brackets that attached them are broken. I’ll clean it up soon, and when things are more how I want them in the basement, it’ll serve a decorative role.

I believe the old, brown tackle box held every hook, weight, bobber and lure I owned for three or four years before I got a fancier 6-tray green Plano box that had trays on both sides. Initially everything moved to the new box because I didn’t own enough stuff to fill it.

A few years later, the old brown box got a new life. The new box contained most of my lures and some hooks, weights and bobbers. The old brown one became my “saltwater box” and was filled with stuff like leaders, egg weights, nickel hooks, foam popping corks, pliers and a bait knife. Plus, a few MirrOlures and packets of Loves Lures, I’m sure.

I don’t recall when the box went out of service. I’ve used stowable trays in various tackle bags and backpacks for decades. I’m still glad I have both it and the green one, though, and glad the green one still contains some of the lures I enjoyed using in my teens.

I look forward to getting them both cleaned up and finding the best places for them.

My Old Tackle Box

While sorting stuff in my fishing basement last night, Nathaniel came across a tackle box he'd never seen before and one I hadn't opened for years. It was the first "big box" I got while I was growing up -- probably when I was around Nathaniel's age (14) or just a bit younger. With three trays on each side, my old green Plano tackle box was pretty grand and fancy seeming to me when I first got it. I'm quite certain I stocked it with every hook, weight and lure I owned the very day I got it, and I remember spending a lot of time cleaning trays and moving stuff around as I got new baits. You can't tell that today as it has been picked through and has been out of service for a couple of decades, but my tackle box was one of very few things that I tried to keep in good order as a young man.

That box sat on the bank and in boats beside me in a lot of different setting through about a decade of active use, always ready with whatever bait I  needed. The box, as it is today, is less of a true boyhood collection than I'd prefer. Over the years some slightly newer stuff has landed in it, while baits I often used have been removed. Still, when I look into the box I see a now-broken Bang O Lure that produced dozens of bass from the banks of small Florida lakes; a baby bass pattern Rebel crankbait that was one of my first lures with an extra realistic finish; a couple of packets of Culprit worms, which were my mainstays for many years. I still remember the first time I ever fished with Culprit Ribbontails because it was also the first time a friend and I ever went through a whole packet of worms in a single afternoon. We found a seriously active group of fish in a canal off Crystal River, and after that I was seriously sold on green shad 7 1/2-inch Culprits.

Nathaniel also found the old brown single-tray box that preceded the one in the picture, but it is empty now and has broken trays. Meanwhile, I came across my Grandpa's old pool-cue-like boat rod that he used to take out on deep-sea boats. It's pretty fun unearthing old treasures as we work together to gain order in the fishing basement. I wonder what else we'll discover?