storing crappie jig w/ leaders

Anybody got any new ideas about storing leaders other than winding them around a "noodle". I tie a bunch each year only to have the hooks start to rust, or either the line gets too brittle after being exposed to gas fumes, sunlight, etc.. I 've kept them in a large 8" PVC tube w/ caps on it for the past couple years and it works ok,,but it's too big and cumbersome, falling and sliding around the boat.

The plastic spring loaded 12" x 3" x 5/8" "snelled hook holders" sold by Eagle claw are OK for the pre-packaged 8-10" leaders but not for my 14" - 36" leaders. i was actually thinking about buying about 4 - 5 of those and cutting them and solvent welding them together to make one about 3 ft long i could mount somewhere close by. Unless someone has a better idea that looks like my best bet. What say you?

good luck and let us know what you come up with....

How about a broomstick with a piece of noodle epoxied to each end instead of the snell holder. Cheaper and not so noisy when it falls.

I like Skeets idea but you're going to have to keep them out of the sunlight. Rubbing the hooks in oil or grease might protect them for awhile. You could use a better grade of hook that doesn't rust as easy.

Taking a handful with you each trip will save you time. It sounds like it's repeated trips without protection that are causing your hooks to rust.

I like the noodle on a broomstick idea. I am gonna do one up real soon. A noodle floated up under my boathouse last week. I put it in my fish cleaning house, it'll work just fine.

thanks for the comments guys,,,I'm still working on it. I've discarded the "storebought" snelled hookholder idea after realizing jigs are a bit harder to get out of them than the single hook leaders. I've got a couple other ideas i'm working on that may or may not help and i'll let you know.

The large hook keepers could work and hold quite a few but you would be stuck with using them in order.

Another idea might be to use PVC pipe with a twist. 2 pieces that fit inside each other with a 1/2 inch or so gap between them. Cut slots in the outside pipe at the top and line it with some rubber gasket material to hold the hooks. Then you can loosly wind the leader around the inside tube for easy removal. I imagine that taking them out in reverse order may still be needed to prevent major tangles but it should hold a ton of jigs. Find a loose fitting cap to keep them dry and drill holes in the bottom for water drainage. Possible to add some desicant or that no rust stuff inside the inner pipe to keep everything from rusting.

Another idea is to put as many small PVC/plastic pipes inside a large one to hold the leaders seperately or in groups of 2-3. For noise, wrap the large tubes in rubber tape or inner tube.

Let the jig dry completely before you store it again and it won't rust unless you're fishing brackish or salt water. Get some leader material instead of a spool of mono to tie your rigs with, it'll be stiffer, and will let you store them in 2x3" bags and not tangle all to heck when you try to pull them out.

I've thought about this since my prior post, and think I might need to add some info. I was assuming that you wanted to keep them straight like a snelled hook holder would. So what I'm talking about would be say, 3' long and grooves cut un the noodle would hold things in place. If storage was a problem, putting this whole affair in a pvc holder that was tie wrapped to an out of the way area would keep them out from underfoot and if facing forward would eliminate blowing out. A simple slide cap could keep out the elements. Too much windshield time, I feel better now.

I know a guy that made a video that is great for storing things like this, but as others have mentioned you can not put a jig away wet. I trow all mine in the carper of my boat until they are dry and sometimes I will pick them up before they finish drying and then I just put them in a cup holder, but got to watch that too because if any of them are wet and you put more than one in that cup they will rust!

Let me find the link and you watch these videos to find the storage part. It starts on Part 3 of the CAT meeting and just go from it to the next until you see the storing part, very good video's Jay Don Does here.
YouTube - ‪CAT Meeting Feb 2009 part 3‬‏

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