Over the winter I’ve re thought my plug fishing strategy. For me the success of a trip tends to start at home and by this I mean by being totally organised.

In the past I’ve kept my preferred fishing plugs in a couple of lure boxes with others I’ve bought left in the packaging and often forgotten in some drawer or tackle box until I inadvertently rediscover them. That’s all going to change!

I recently decided to have a proper base station that holds all my plugging gear. I opted for the capacious ABU Soft Tackle Box Bag with its rigid frame for strength, but there are loads of other bags from other manufacturers to choose from that can pander to your specific needs.

The ABU bag has five large lure boxes with adjustable compartment dividers. These stack vertically but slide out easily being accessible from the front and secured by Velcro straps. This means I can have most of my lures neatly displayed in the boxes and can easily memorise which tray has poppers in, which has shallow divers, another with deep divers etc. It makes selection prior to fishing that much easier. It’s also got loads of pockets so I can add additional boxes with plugs or spinners in, to the side pannier pockets. Other smaller pockets will carry smaller packets of links, swivels etc.

I’ll also add a smaller separate empty lure box that I can put my used plugs in ready for washing when I get back so as to not contaminate the other plugs with salt contact which in the past has cost me many a treble hook replacement. There’s a compartment at the top that easily takes two reels and spare spools, so again it’s somewhere to store my reels in at home but ever ready with my gear for a quick getaway.

Once fully equipped when intending to fish the shore I can select which plugs I think appropriate from the base station at home and swap them over to a smaller lure box I carry in a small rucksack to keep me mobile when out fishing. I don’t like chest packs, they get in the way.

The ABU bag also means for boat fishing I only need pick up the work station and I’ve everything with me. It’s a far more efficient way to work all round!

I’ve always preferred having my pliers in a sheath on my belt for easy access when fishing, yet like an idiot tended to have my braid scissors loose in the bag. I’ve now added some braid scissors in a sheath that fit on my belt worn alongside the pliers so there’s no searching in the bottom of the rucksack. It saves so much time when re rigging etc, and is something I should have done ages ago.   

Like most anglers I’ve tried loads of braided lines. My favourites in the past being Power Pro and Fireline. Last year I switched to Spiderwire Stealth Code Red and took an instant liking to it. I liked it because of its very thin diameter, but especially its smooth travel through the rod rings during the cast with a slight improvement in range with my lighter plugs. It also casts and seats well on both small multipliers and fixed spool reels without digging in after pressure, plus it knots well to Fluorocarbon leaders and has a high abrasion resistance. This year my plug and spinning reels will be loaded with 15lb Stealth Code Red for general fishing, with 20lb for heavier work.

I haven’t bothered in the past but I’m also going to add a small lightweight set of scales to my work station along with a light U shaped mesh bag. This means any decent fish I get I can weigh accurately for my own records prior to release.

One other thing I’m going to do. Last year I came across several situations were bass were consistently swirling behind plugs but not taking them. Switching to a much smaller 7cm Frenzy popper plug caught me the odd fish. Maybe it was a lack of appetite, the bass being fairly well fed, or more likely my original plugs were not mimicking the natural food fish in the water and making the bass more cautious. This year I’ll be carrying a greater range of smaller single bodied plugs with this sole situation in mind, and carrying a spool of lighter 8lb braid to give me maximum range with these smaller lures.

There you go, just a few personal changes to my own plug fishing strategy. Nothing revolutionary but it’s often these little changes that can have a big effect on your catches when you analyse results come the end of the year.