Hey everybody! 

If you were to buy a Plano Weekend Series Sling Pack 3600 (Which contains two Plano 3600 Utility Boxes) That would fit all of the lures and terminal tackle you would hypothetically own, what different versatile types of lures would you choose to Bass fish anywhere in the United States? Ideally there would be at least one Top Water, Middle Column and Bottom Bait. (There’s no rules to Minimalism, what’s Minimalistic to you may be completely different to me.) If you were to pick two, three or more from each category or just one specific category while keeping sacrificing your proficiency as a angler to a minimum, please explain what you would pick and why you chose what you chose. I want to have everything that I need to be proficient in the majority of scenarios I find myself in, I don’t want to ever have to buy anything more unless I am replacing a lure I already owned. Any responses would be greatly appreciated!! 

I would fill one of the 3600 with some plastic worms and the weights & hooks needed for a T-rig.  I would add some jigs in various weights and a few spinnerbaits.   This would be the box I use to catch fish.   In the other 3600,  I would put the latest fad lures or whatever I've bought in the last few days.  The box would not be used on the water but would keep the bait monkey off my back.

worms: curly tail,trick and floating- gives you access to heavy cover

        shakey heads, ewg hooks and weights

 

crankbaits: shallow , medium and deep diving ( square bills ) gives you access to different water columns

 

hollow body frogs ( including poppers and toads ) top water access and ability to fish pads slop etc.,.

 

finesse rigs: ned heads , small jigs assortment of "ned" baits ( trd , ticklerz , small paddletail crayfish etc. ) when times get tough

 

drop shot : hooks and baits ( roboworm  ,some kind of baitfish )will get you deep.

 

 that should cover quite a few different scenarios

 

 

 

That's not minimalist.  A small Rapha backpack (https://www.rapha.cc/us/en_US/shop/small-travel-backpack/product/BKP01SMBLKXXX?istCompanyId=84e44ee5-f92f-42a9-82a2-6b3807bf0da6&istFeedId=4f489548-d128-4898-96ef-b6c4186d4d83&istItemId=wlpxqrlwq&istBid=t&gclid=CjwKCAjw2P-KBhByEiwADBYWCvILNXT3EjpM1cKPw30gdTuAlJpIa2BoveyN05MscpdU0ig3APpgSBoCz0cQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) and a single 3700 size utility box would be minimalist.

 

As for lures, 4" senkos, spinnerbaits, hollow frogs, and related tackle will cover the entire water column.

 

I usually take three 3600 size boxes for lures plus a box for terminal tackle. Narrowing it down to two would be tough for me. I think the posts above covered the most important lures, but don't forget to allow space in the bag for things like pliers, clippers/cutter/knife, tape/scale, extra line, gripper, etc. If you get out there without those things it makes the day much tougher.

I would use one 3600 box for terminals and a few lures, pop-R, small jerkbait and 1/4 lipless crank. Terminals would be, hook 2/0, 4/0 ewg,  #1 and 1/0 roboworm rebarb hook and #1 weedless Neko hook, bullet and dropshot and Neko weight 1/8 and 3/16, and of course 1/15oz mushroom head for Ned rig. The rest would be all plastic in original bag that you could fit. A bag of ZinkerZ (cut 1/2 for Ned whole for neko) a bag of 4” and 5” Senko for Texas rig wacky rig and Neko rig, a bag or two of 6” Fat roboworm (weightless, Texas rig, dropshot and Neko rig).

Setup, 1 medium/fast spinning, 10-15lb braid line and 1 medium/fast baitcaster 8-10lb Copolymer.

 

This would be ideally tackle that I would need but in reality that not even close.
 

You said you don’t want to buy anything more, that is really impossible in fishing world. Your curious mind or another word “bait monkey” would tell you to try this or that. After you read other ppl report that first thing come to your mind “I could use that too”. You will find that you need to upgrade your setup or add more because you wanna catch even more and bigger fish. By the time you know it you would have tons of different things in your garage. After awhile (about 1-200 bag of plastic, 10-15 setups) you would realize now you have too many. Then you will become truly minimalist. 
 

I would fill one box with some terminal tackle, a few weights, hooks, a couple jigs, a hook file, a couple extra treble hooks. The other box would have two Spinnerbaits, two buzzbaits, two rat l traps, a pop r, a spook, a frog or two. I would pack a bag of beaver baits in black/blue, 5” senkos in green pumpkin. 7” ribbon tail worms in red shad, 5” kalins grubs in smoke, and a bag of super flukes in white. Not super minimalist but I think the entire water column can be fished effectively with just enough to choose from. This is about what my kayak bag looks like.

Ha Ha Ha……fit all the lures and terminal tackle you would hypothetically own into two 3600 series boxes?????  Hypothetically, I’d own the main Bass Pro Shops warehouse!

Topwater and mid column I can do with a Zoom Fluke so a bag in white ice and bluegill flash. Also topwater a frog in leopard frog color and a bone and matte black Choppo. Mid column already got my flukes so add a Bhite delite jackhammer and a bag of electric shad Zakos. Bottom maxscent general's in June bug and rage craws in falcon lake craw. Only thing that has to stay in the bags are the generals so two boxes full of that stuff. In a pocket or spare space 4/0 ewgs, 1/4 bullet weights, pack of lazer sharp Zaldain Neko hooks, some needle nose pliers, wacky tool loaded with o rings. and line snippers. That's all i would really need to fish anytime, anywhere with confidence. 

 

But........

 

I carry the kitchen sink with me. Bought a BPS backpack and fit 5 3600 cases and one little small case and about ohh..... 30 bags of plastics among scents, hooks in the little plastic packs, carp bait because IDK, due, dye markers, pliers yada yada.... 

One box would have worms and lizards/brush hawgs in the typical colors watermelon, green pumpkin, and black with the necessary tungsten weights/shaky heads 1/8-3/16 and hooks.  The other would have my favorite color soft swimbaits(keitech/rage swimmers) in a shad natural color, a sexy shad, and a blue gill and I would do the same with a few red eye shad lipless cranks in that same box.

My undergraduate degree was in theoretical math, so with that context, I tend to use American English with precision. From the Princess Bride applicable to "minimalistic" [sic], "I do not think it means what you [all] think it means."

7 hours ago, QED said:

"minimalistic" [sic], "I do not think it means what you [all] think it means."

Please enlighten us.

5 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

Please enlighten us.

Try google or any dictionary site. It’s not a difficult search…

Personally I am a minimalist when it comes to tackle.

 

Allen

8 hours ago, QED said:

Try google or any dictionary site. It’s not a difficult search…

.Ah, yes.....................Grasshopper has much to learn.

IDK ?

 

A minimalist lifestyle involves living with fewer resources whether in terms of a house or possessions.

I tend toward minimal fishing equipment as I’m bank bound. Walking and carrying everything makes you really question if you’ll actually use stuff. 
 

I don’t do it with 3 boxes, but I have a backpack. Mine has 6 boxes (various sizes, mostly smaller), 3 gallon ziplocks of plastics, and tools. I limit myself to 3 setups or less. One on the pack, one in each hand. Some days it’s only 2 if I think there’s a lot of tree limbs (one in each hand). I’m indifferent to taking time to retie different lures on my 2 setups. I have stuff “setup” that way. 
 

So you don’t have to go bare bones all the time, but I think taking minimal tackle makes for less pressure to use something just cause you brought it. 
 

But going minimal on gear, to me, means you maximize time spent changing lures. Unless you don’t change anything, which I also sometimes do, and if you chose poorly on what you brought then it’s just kinda frustrating. When I do this I stick to one type of fishing. Like worms only. So I take my Trig/wacky/shaky/Ned/(etc) box only so I can’t cheat. And my gallon ziplock of worms. IMO, if you wanna go minimal, worms are the way to go cause there’s really never a time they won’t work for you. They’re such versatile lures in terms of ways and areas to fish them. 

When fishing from bank sometimes I only take the lure tied on my rod . When I do carry extras ,they are of  the size that  can be cast easily with my combo. Its not smart to take along  lures that are difficult to cast .

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

When fishing from bank sometimes I only take the lure tied on my rod .

 

When bank fishing once I get dailed in I'll carry one rod. Lately it's been Zoom's Ultravibe Speed Craw watermelon neon, I'll take a sack of em drop 3-4 hooks & 3-4 weights in there & stick that in my back pocket. I also carry a hook remover in my other back pocket.

 

I do bring a extra rod in case of a bad backlash, that one along with any extra tackle stays in the truck.

I bank fish a couple of times a week, and, I'm a minimalist fisherman. I carry a small 8x8 zip bag, which I hook to my belt loop.                                                            One rod and reel and a few baits. I change what's in the bag depending on time of year.                     Years ago, I carried all kinds of stuff, and rarely used it.                      Once you've got things dialed in, you really don't need too much stuff.