Headed to BWCA in early June for 5 days. First Timer. What are some must haves in your tackle bag? Hard Baits? Soft Plastics? Top Water? Sub Surface? Spoons? Ned’s? Tubes? WP? Etc Etc.

Space is limited. What must I have?

Thanks

For bass, have top water lures like whopper Plopper, super spooks, popR. For walleye use a slip bobber rig with a night crawler or leech.

Early June, you’re probably thinking shallow. I would have 20+ 1/8 oz jigs, 30+ 4” paddle tails (anything with white or pearl tends to do well), some shad raps, and some top waters. Leeches and slip bobbers as well. That small amount of variety should cover the vast majority of species and situations you’ll
Encounter.

I always bring way too much, and I always end up using a slip bobber 99% of the time.

You don’t say what species of fish you are going after. I normally target SM bass so I would suggest for early June: senkos in any color (as long as it’s watermelon black flake),WP or Pop Rs and soft plastic jerk bait in pearl/white. These 3 will cover all of the water depth spectrum.

Welcome to the board, robb. What are you fishing for?

I will be fishing for Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, and Pike

The classic lures that seem to be discussed/used most often in bwca:
(in no particular order)

- Rapala husky jerk (deep and shallow versions)
- Rapala shad rap
- Spoons
- Soft plastic swimbaits
- Soft plastic jerkbait (fluke)
- Inline spinners (mepps, blue fox, etc)
- top water (whopper plopper, spook, etc)
- plastic worms (senkos)
- tubes
- live bait: leeches, worms, minnows

robb: "I will be fishing for Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, and Pike "

Jig with rubber body

Take just one Plano 3600 and make decisions so that all your baits fit inside. You will be fine for a whole trip. Most of us have had the growing pains of bringing way too much tackle.

That is gonna be so tough for me to do.

scottiebaldwin: "Take just one Plano 3600..."

robb: "That is gonna be so tough for me to do. "

Remember... all advice here is free to ignore.

It's a fishing trip, so take tackle!

My usual is 3 Plano boxes.

about the only lure i bring a back up lure for, is the F-18 (7") original gold/blk rapala , what i like about it is , has a large profile but not very heavy , excellent for trolling , will get down about 10' and early june most fish should be reasonably shallow still. suspending crankbaits are a must too , stays in the strike zone during turns,pauses and the pause and go can be a huge trigger for fish. 1/2-1oz spoons/cleos , paddle tail plastics have become a favorite of mine also.

scottiebaldwin: "Take just one Plano 3600 and make decisions so that all your baits fit inside. You will be fine for a whole trip. Most of us have had the growing pains of bringing way too much tackle.


"

Guilty. But it’s nice to have options!

fadersup: "

scottiebaldwin: "Take just one Plano 3600 and make decisions so that all your baits fit inside. You will be fine for a whole trip. Most of us have had the growing pains of bringing way too much tackle.



"

Guilty. But it’s nice to have options! "

Yeah, I’m not saying take one lure! I’m saying you can fit an awful lot into one Plano 3600. I can fit enough in there to cover the entire water column, include both vertical and horizontal presentations, AND have room for a slip bobber rig.

Concerning fishing tackle, two old quotes have proven true time after time…

“Some bait catches fish, most bait catches fishermen.”

and

“The best do the most with the least for the longest.”

"The bait that catches the most fish is in the other guy's tackle box"