How do you arrange your fishing tackle?

I have been salmon fishing on Lake Michigan for the past month or so. Early in the season I troll spoons or flies behind flashers using Dipsy Divers, Torpedo Divers or related devices to get down to 80+'. Later on, I troll shallower depths using stickbaits or J-Plugs. Really late in the season, I fish with a bobber and spawn sacs near the river mouth. So within a month I will be changing gear frequently to adapt to conditions. That means that I need more gear onboard than will fit in the 2 small Plano boxes inside the built-in tackle box + 1 large Plano box that sits beside me. The answer is to bring more boxes along, or stash miscellaneous stuff like deep water equipment, extra fluorocarbon line, stringers, etc in the front hatch which makes that unusable for fish storage. I purchased several additonal Plano boxes and am hoping to organize them in such a way to permit me to fish any 2 methods from only 3 boxes, but that is proving a challenge. So, what systems do you all use for keeping what you need on hand without compromising space or fishing method possibilities?

Do you use the rear deck of your PA for a livewell? I just bring along my big Plano 777 tackle box and bungy it behind the seat. It holds more stuff than I will ever use.

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Anonymous - "The gods do not subtract from the alloted span of men's lives the hours spent fishing."

TDK - good suggestion, but may not work well on Lake MI. I do not use a livewell. On the big lake, I will often take waves over the rear deck when the wind kicks up, or coming in to shore through breakers. So unless it is pretty calm, I try to avoid strapping anything that should not be wet back there. I am thinking of utilizing under-deck storage for stuff I am unlikely to need but don't want leave behind.

I saw a video at some point, I think it was in this forum, of a guy who took out the lure bucket from the center hatch, installed some kind of netting uder the deck around the area of the center hatch and was able to fit more gear under the center hatch than was possible with the gear bucket. You could probably put a number of lure boxes in the center hatch area if you leave out the gear bucket, you just need to do something to keep stuff from sliding around in the hull (thus the netting the guy used).

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Anonymous - "The gods do not subtract from the alloted span of men's lives the hours spent fishing."

I secure an area in center with pool noodles and some none slip fabric from dollar store and I can get at least 8 5-20 planos in there plus 2 walmart dryboxes

So Remy - are you basically making a fabric chimney below the hatch cover down to the hull? Sounds good, but I would then have to figure out how to get to my FF battery for charging. I currently keep that attached to one of the vertical foam posts off to the left of the center hatch. If I understand you correctly, the chimney would prevent access to other areas under the hull.

not that high just enough to create a boundary to keep boxes from sliding back or foorward out of reach, can get away with one piece forward going width ways in front of drive and back width ways to keep boxes from slidingback past seat area this keeps everything in reach and you will be able to get to your battery. Simply cut noodles so they create a tight wedge when you put them in, simple to remove if needed but enough to keep planos from sliding. I will get a pic when I take PA off roof of vehicle later.

Remy- Sounds like this would work for me. Not sure of the orientation of the noodles from your description though. Are these arranged parallel to siderails, or perpendicular to them? And where is the non-slip fabric? A pic would be great when you get the chance.

perpendicular and the non slip shelf fabric is just added security