Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD
Amish Outfitters addressed the problem of lures becoming scratched up and dulled while stored in a tackle box from a unique angle. Their solution is to have an appropriately-sized, plastic cylinder-like bottles in which to put each lure when not in use, and then just having a Stowaway box full of these plastic containers.
When I saw these, three things jumped into my mind. Number one: I would never use these to store my plugs and crankbaits. I’m sure they work perfectly and for persnickety anglers who wouldn’t mind taking the time to insert their lures when storing them and uncorking another lure-tube to pick out its replacement, knock yourself out. I’d end up with a box of un-tubed lures and a bunch of missing or smashed bottles.
Number two: My box of stickbaits has probably three or four dozen in it. If they were all stored in tubes I can only fit 16 inside the same box. (This would be with the 7-inch tubes for big Reef Runners, J-13 Rapalas and most J-Plug type lures.) Sure, when I pull one out of my congested box, two or three come with it, but it takes less time to separate them than it would to put each one individually in it’s own tube.
Number three: The half-sized (3 1/2-inch) tubes flashed an entirely different picture in my admittedly left-brained mind. “Those would be perfect for storing trolling flies,” I thought. And I was right. Sure, even the short tubes take up space, but I can put 32 of them in a Plano 3700 Deep Stowaway box. The same box would hold maybe three times as many without the tubes. But with the leaders attached to the flies, even if I fastidiously rolled up the leaders and fastened them with twist-ties or something, when I’d pull out one, I’d pull out all or most of the others.
Need more flies than that? Poke two in each tube. They’ll come out tangled together, but sorting out a two-fly mess is simple compared to untangling a 15-fly disaster.
Sure it takes extra time to poke in a leader and shove the fly down inside the tube. That time is more than redeemed by not having to untangle three or four dozen flies stored in bulk.
Whether you are a right-brained perfectionist or a left-brained fly-piler like me. Amish Outfitters has some lure tubes for you. Each style can be purchased in plastic Stowaway type Caddies or sturdy, canvas zip-close bags with elastic bands inside to hold them in place. Check out http://www.amishoutfitters.com.
FISHING TOYS 