For the avid fisherman who has a lot of gear, keeping it all organized may be overwhelming. With many different types of lines, reels, and accessories, you might not know where to start. Will you create a dedicated room? What type of shelving should you install? How do you maximize space in your garage?
To help you get organized, we reached out to fishing experts from Seattle, WA to Coopers Landing, AK to help you transform your home into the ultimate fishing paradise. Read on to find out tips and tricks the pros use to keep their gear clutter-free in order to maximize their time hunting for the big catch.
1. Create a passion room
In today’s work-from-home world, we fly anglers need a place in the home to display and organize our fishing gear, as well as a dedicated space to tie our flies. This means an organized bench or desk where we can keep our fly tying vice, materials, and perhaps a coaster to rest our beverage of choice while we decompress from the stresses of the day. My space is in our shop in the basement with a small bench, a speaker to play my music, and a solid little wall of built-in compartments for fly tying materials. It’s the most relaxing place in my entire house. – Pescador on the Fly
2. Consider a heated area where you can work
Leave a room large enough to fit all of your fly tying gear, rod storage on the wall, as well as plenty of shelves for reels and tying materials. Outdoor sheds are out of the question if you are planning on tying most of your favorite patterns. You will benefit from the marriage of hobby (fly tying) and sport (fly fishing) with a dedicated heated area for developing your creative pastime. – Fly Fishing Guide School
3. Note to keep fishing gear away from sunlight and extreme temperatures
Some fishing gear has a shelf life, such as fishing lines, soft plastics, and jarred baits. If you can find an area in your home that keeps this valuable equipment safe from direct sunlight and extreme temperatures, you can help preserve your investment and guarantee that you can trust your tackle is in great shape and ready to land the big catch that you have been dreaming about. – Riptide Fish
4. Install horizontal shelving
Adding horizontal shelving to your garage is the best way to maximize the space of any small garage. I like to store my fishing lures in clear, plastic tackle boxes labeled with the specific fishery. The time spent digging through drawers and bins looking for that one specific lure is time better spent fishing from my kayak. – Kayak Fishing Washington
5. Use stackable labeled containers
We recommend carving out a designated area for your fishing gear with a few stackable labeled containers to store fly boxes, lines, reels, and other accessories in an effort to shorten the preparation time and net more fish. Take it one step further and organize by weight, size, and species. If you have the space, a horizontal rod rack is a great way to store multiple rods without having to break them down – Postfly Box
6. Store your boat inside a garage
Motorboats should be stored in your garage to stop weathering and winter damage by freezing. We know that most trailers are too long to allow the garage door to close because the “tongue” of the trailer extends out too far. We solved this problem by installing a metal hinge designed to lock in place, so the trailer folds back enough to fit the boat in. – Captain David Powell, Go Northwest Fishing
7. Build a loft to organize your fishing gear
We wanted a quick, easy solution for all of our rod tubes that take up so much floor space in our cabin. Building a loft to organize our fishing gear was a great way to save space and get our rods we don’t use every day up and out of the way. We haven’t seen any commercial solutions for this problem, so we built one for ourselves. – David Lisi, Owner, Cooper Landing Fishing Guide, LLC
8. Use pegboards for extra bait and plastic
Wall-mounted pegboards and display racks are a luxury for hanging my surplus of baits and bagged plastics I receive in surplus for the year. This is a nice grab-and-go set-up that helps my boat and I avoid mess and clutter. – Northwoods Bass
I attached a pegboard to the wall in front of my tying bench to store fly tying materials. This displays them so I can see the material like they are in the fly shop. This keeps them neat, out of the way, and easy to get to exactly what you want. – Fishtales Outfitting
9. Create something custom
There are many prefabricated choices available for storing and organizing your fishing gear, but as a professional fly fishing guide, I required something custom. After some careful thought and measurements, I chose to go with pine 4×6’s, 2×6’s, 2×2’s, hardware screws, braided marine utility rope, stainless steel screw eyes, and rubber rod holder clips. Once all the materials were on site – a tape measure, heavy-duty torch, level, miter saw, drill, Forstner bit, and a weekend were all I needed to complete the fishing rod rack of my dreams. – Flygyde
10. Purchase a fly flying rod closet to organize your fishing gear
Purchase a fly fishing rod closet that will keep your rods safely stored so you don’t have to break them down every time you want to use them. It costs around $100 and includes 1-2x4x8, 2-6′ angle irons, 2-hydraulic car hatch arms, and a handful of hardware. – Asheville Fly Fishing Co.
11. Store crab and shrimp pots on top of pallets
Crab and shrimp pots may be effectively stored outdoors during the off-season. The hard square traps stack very easily on each other and soft round traps collapse and stack even more efficiently. We get all of our pots on top of two wood pallets. Having them outdoors in the rain and elements keeps them smelling fresh and ready to use for the next season. – Favorite Bay Lodge
12. Create rod holders from PVC pipes
Organizing your fishing gear in your home does not have to be complicated or expensive. Rod holders made from PVC secured to a 1’x8′ strip of 3/4″ plywood, then attached to the wall works beautifully. You need enough 2″ PVC pipe for as many rods as you have, 3/4″ plywood, measuring tape, hand saw, electric drill, wood screws, screwdriver, and PVC adhesive. – Fish Face
Organize up your rod storage with a rod tube shelf. This easy, do-it-yourself project is simple to make. It not only keeps your rods and reels organized but looks great too. All you need is a hole saw, a mitre saw, and some joinery. – Riverbum
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