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The best tackle box for crappie will depend on whether you’re a boat fisherman or bank fisherman. Regardless, I like tackle “bags” that hold plastic trays, over the old school plastic tackle boxes of yesteryear.
For boats, I prefer a tackle bag that holds either 3600 or 3700 sized Plano boxes
. For bank fishing, I like backpack style bags holding those same sized boxes.
I find that the 3600 size Plano boxes or the Flambeau 4007 are best for crappie fishing, whereas Plano 3700’s are more appropriate for bass. It really depends on how much gear you like to have on hand, but you can shove a lot of crappie gear in 3 or 4 3600/4007 sized boxes, as you can see below.
Tackle Bags For Crappie Fishing
* Click image above to view prices on Amazon
While some boat anglers may simply store all their gear in plastic tackle trays inside their boat’s onboard storage areas, you never know when you may want to fish on someone else’s boat. So, having a portable tackle box is important for most of us, even boat owners. My personal preference as mentioned above is a smaller profile tackle bag such as the IKE 400 Duffle Tackle Bag, pictured above, but read on to see if something else may better suit your needs
Best Size Tackle Box For Crappie
The Ike 400’s small footprint fits nicely in the space in my boat where I wanted to stick it. I have a 17 foot metal crappie boat, so space is somewhat limited. If you have a larger bass-style boat, a larger bag may suit you better. I find this particular bag large enough to hold everything I need for a day of crappie fishing. I also find that this bag is also a good size for kayak fishing, which I do as well on occasion.
Plastic Tackle Trays For Crappie
The Ike 400 bag is actually a Flambeau brand so it does not come with Plano boxes, but rather with 4007 Flambeau Tuff Tainers. The 4007 size equates similarly to the Plano 3600 trays. In fact you can simply swap out the trays for Plano’s if you prefer. Below you can see a side by side comparison of the sizes of these 2 containers.
Lot’s of people swap trays around to suit their personal styles and preferences. That is in fact part of the beauty of tackle bags. You can keep gear for different styles of fishing in different trays and quickly swap them out to match what type of fishing you’ll be doing on a particular day. You may want to fish with live bait one day and use jigs or crankbaits on a different day. Or, you may want the bag to double for your bream fishing bag. That’s what I do. When the crappie spawn winds down, I’ll swap out a couple trays and head to my favorite bream hole. Just swap the trays to include whatever gear you need at a given time.
Tackle Backpacks For Crappie
If you’re relegated to fishing for crappie from the bank, you’ll want a tackle box that’s easy to transport. For me, would be a tackle backpack.
While there are several quality tackle backpacks on the market, I don’t actually have one yet since I don’t fish from the bank that often, at least not for crappie. However, I do love to surf fish from the beach, so I may purchase one this year for that purpose.
Perhaps I’ll expand this article at a later time after I actually own a tackle backpack and gain some experience with them. In the meantime I can confirm that backpacks are the way to go for mobile land based fishing. I have used a standard run of the mill school backpack many times and stuffed it with tackle trays. That works pretty good for the occasional need I have for one. If I were to land base fish more often I’d certainly invest in an actual fishing tackle backpack.
What To Pack In Your Tackle Box
How much you wish to pack in your box will have an impact on what size bag or box you get. Below is a list of all the items I typically cram into my Ike bag. Use this to give yourself an idea of what tackle box will work for you. This is not all the gear I have on hand, just what I keep in the tackle bag. I use my boat’s storage to keep other items on hand, such as lake maps, bug spray, marker buoys, etc.
- Sunscreen
- Fishing Pliers
- 2 Jars Of Crappie Nibbles
- Fish Scale
- Jig heads of various sizes and colors
- Hooks
- Sinkers
- Plastic Jigs, like a lot of them
- A Bait Pump
- Extra Fishing Line
- An Assortment Of Bobbers
- Scissors
- Knife
- Boomerang cutting tool
- Hook File
- Fish Counter
Some Other Good Options
Besides the Ike bag, which we already discussed above, there are a few other bags I considered getting. So, I have researched all the bags below as well. Click the images to see more about these bags on Amazon.
Plano Guide Series
* Click image above to view prices on Amazon
I strongly considered the Plano guide series 3600 bag. It seems to be very nice. I really like the magnetic strip built into the lid called the “dropzone”. That strip is strong enough to hold your pliers in place. The bottom is made of very durable waterproof construction. In the end I really wasn’t a fan of the color or the price. This one could be a great fit for you.
Plano Z Series
The Plano Z series in the 3600 size is another quality crappie bag that focuses mainly on being water resistant. That’s the differentiator between it and the other Plano bags. I don’t ever purposefully fish in the rain, so this feature was not something I was willing to pay extra for. If I were planning to use this bag for saltwater fishing where waterproofness is more vital, I might consider it. The price is also a bit high for this one.
Plano B Series
* Click image above to view prices on Amazon
I almost purchased this bag. It is a very nice tackle bag for crappie and the colors are very attractive. There is lot’s of storage and the bottom is waterproof, which is something you always want to look for with a tackle “bag”. Quite honestly, for me it was a toss up between this one and the Ike 400 bag. This Plano B series is a little more expensive and people complained about the bag shipping to them with broken boxes inside. Between that and the noticeable quality build of the Ike bag, I decided to go with the Ike 400 Duffle.
Ugly Stik Fishing Bag
* Click image above to view prices on Amazon
The Ugly Stik was another very affordable option that I considered going with. One thing I really did not like was the black color. Although it looks really good, that black color gets extremely hot around midday. I fish in the deep south and I plan to keep my bag in partial sun throughout the day, so this one was a no go for me. If not for the color, I very well might have purchased this option. It seems to be well built and it has a great reputation. This one could very well be a great option for you.
Some Tackle Box Tips
I’ll leave you with a few parting tips to keep in mind when selecting a bag, and what to do when you get it.
- Ideally, tackle bags should be very water resistant
- Label your tackle trays
- Get at least 1 waterproof tackle tray for your metal tackle
- Choose the right size for YOU
1. Consider A Waterproof Bottom
Many quality tackle bags have a rubberized waterproof bottom of some type. Since I don’t recommend hard plastic tackle boxes, you will need to ensure the “bag” you choose has some water resistant features. Otherwise, if you get in situation where your boat floor or the ground is wet, the water will wick inside the bag. I purchased a Bass Pro brand bag years ago for bass tackle and it did NOT have a water resistant bottom, so just keep that in mind when choosing. The Ike 400 bag does not have a rubber coated bottom like some of the other options do.
2. Label Your Tackle Trays
First, I like to use a sharpie or some labels to clearly indicate what’s in each box. It can be irritating to pull the wrong box out when the fish are biting.
For example, my labels for crappie will be:
- Bobbers & Hooks (which will include floats, hooks, jig heads, sinkers)
- Stained Water 1
- Stained Water 2 (I fish in a lot of stained water)
- Clear Water Jigs
3. Waterproof Trays
I personally like to swap out one of the trays for a waterproof Plano box to hold my hooks and jigs. I have lost so many jig heads over the years because they got wet and rusted. Now days I prefer to store those in a watertight box. The other stuff doesn’t concern me so much, so I just use the standard tackle trays for that.
4. Get The Size Best For YOU
I’d just like to clarify one last time to get whatever size best suits you. That’s very important in order to be satisfied with your purchase, as everyone has different preferences.
Personally, I’ve tried to downsize the gear I take crappie fishing because over the years I noticed that a lot of the stuff I used to pack was not actually ever used. With that said, if you really like a ton of gear and jig options you might want to lean towards a bag that holds Plano 3700 sized cases. Most of the bags discussed above come in a larger 3700 size to suit pretty much anyone’s needs, no matter how much gear you like to carry.
Conclusion
Regardless if you own a boat or not, you need a tackle box to store all your crappie gear. I strongly prefer soft-sided tackle bags over the hard sided boxes. With soft sided bags, you get more storage and a more flexible storage system. As discussed, I chose to go with the compact IKE 400 Duffle Tackle Bag, but there are several other great bags on the market. Plano has several good options, as does Kastking. Regardless of what you get, I recommend something with removeable Plano 3600 or 3700 sized plastic trays or something similar to that size. The actual brand doesn’t have to be Plano, but it seems everyone understands what that size tray is (3600 or 3700).
Check out my YouTube video of the Ike 400 Tackle Bag linked down below.
Good luck picking a crappie tackle box that suits you!
Augustus Clay
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