Hook Bonnets Save My Sanity

I HATE reaching into a tackle box to pull out 1 lure and 10 come out because the hooks are all tangled together. I also HATE trying to tie on a lure and having the hook get attached to my shirt, my pants, the boat seat, my tackle bag, my day bag, my husband, my sister, my sister's husband, my finger, my sock, my towel, the boat carpet, the weeds, the tree and anything else near by. I end up spending more time unhooking my lure from other lures, clothing, my sister, etc. than I do unhooking it from a fish which makes me frustrated and then I don't want to throw lures anymore. So 99% of my lures have hook bonnets on them. If a lure doesn't have a hook bonnet, that means I either lost the hook bonnet or the hook is a weird shape that won't fit in a hook bonnet. Here are 3 sizes:

The blue is the smallest, the green is a medium and the red is a large. There is also a bigger sized that I don't have any of because I don't have any lures that big.........yet. When put new lures away, I bring my baggie of hook bonnets and as soon as the new lure comes out of it's package, it gets a bonnet. They are also very handy in kids' tackle boxes.
Here are some of my lures with hook bonnets on them:

 I even put hook bonnets on my Dynamic Lures and Rapala Lures that I leave in the boxes. (That picture didn't turn out very well.) I may not have to worry about them getting tangled up with other lures in their individual boxes, but I still have to worry about my fingers, my clothing, my sister.....you understand.

What if a lure has a treble hook AND one of those hooks on top that also gets caught on everything? Most of those types of lures come with the answer to that question. Look at this picture:

See that clear plastic tube looking thing? I leave those plastic tube things on until I'm ready to use the lure and then I put it back on when I'm putting the lure away. If I loose a lure with one of those, I keep the plastic tube in case I loose one from another lure or a lure doesn't come with one of those handy tubes on it.
Here is what one of my spinner boxes looks like:

Just the thought of reaching into that top center section and trying to pull out ONE spinner and having ALL of them come out makes me cringe! Because they all have hook bonnets on, I won't have that problem.
The only problem I have with hook bonnets is sometimes remembering to put them back on. Some days when I empty my pockets after a day at the lake I pull out 2 or 3 bonnets from my pocket. If I can remember all the lures I used that day, it's pretty easy to find the naked hooks, otherwise I pretend it was time to go through and organize all my lures anyway.

Spring Cleaning

My "Helper"

If you haven't already, it's time to go through your fishing gear to make sure everything is ok. Cut off all of last year's line, put everything back where it belongs and make sure your weight and hook supply is well stocked. I have a bad habit of throwing stuff where it's easiest to throw at the time instead of putting it in where it's supposed to go. It annoys me when I find spinners in my plastics and it annoys me more when I know there's a way to prevent it. If you need some "help" be sure to ask for it. My cat inspects my tackle bags to make sure everything is good inside.
There's another reason I'm sharing this photo. When my husband and I first started dating he bought me my own rod, reel and some lures. I told him my small 2-tray tackle box I used in college for my art supplies would be fine and I would never need to upgrade to anything bigger. Eight years later, I now have two large tackle bags that have to be loaded in a specific way to make sure everything fits. My husband likes to remind me of the comments I made eight years ago while I'm sorting and arranging. I can't even blame him for buying me all of those lures to make sure he proved me wrong! I chose a lot of those lures myself. (My process for choosing lures will come in later posts.)
Have fun cleaning and sorting!

Welcome To My Blog!

Fishing for catfish sometimes turns into catching turtles.

I decided to start my own outdoor themed blog after searching for one that was written more for women. I couldn't find one so I started thinking about starting my own and then decided to go for it. I want to share advice, recipes, stories and photos of my adventures. I enjoy fishing, atving, target shooting and want to help other girls with their outdoor adventures.
There are a lot of blogs and forums that focus on technique and the science of fishing. I enjoy some of the technical information, but sometimes focusing on the technical takes a little bit of the fun away. Sometimes I want to choose a lure only because it's a fun color or looks cool in the water, not because it's the right color for the color of the water, the amount of sunshine, the time of year and the temperature of the water. I want to help girls (of all ages and skill) make sure they have fun and try to outfish their husbands, boyfriends, brothers or any other guy.
I like to target shoot, but I don't like to hunt. I'm not anti-hunting, I love my hunter very much. I don't like getting cold, I don't like getting up extremely early and I'm convinced a mountain lion is going to eat me (even if it's in an area mountain lions don't live). I also get lost really easy and can't walk quietly no matter how hard I try. I love having the meat in my freezer or on my plate and if there are any women hunters that would like to guest blog about hunting, please let me know.
Recently my husband and I purchased some ATV's and I am now hooked. We used to rock crawl in my husband's Wagoner that he has modified. I was really good at taking pictures while he drove. We haven't taken the Wagoner (aka "The Big Jeep") out in years and I've missed the trails and seeing parts of the state not many people will ever get to see. This will be my first summer driving on the trails I used to be a passenger on and I'm a little nervous. I have a great coach and I'm getting more comfortable. I just need to figure out how I can drive and take photos at the same time.
I hope you enjoy my blog and if you have anything you would like to contribute or topics you would like to see, please email me.