Every spring we all haul out our cat boxes and inventory hooks, leaders and sinkers in preparation for the upcoming cat season. I thought I would share something that I’ve been using for about 2 years and it has worked very well. I like to pre-tie all my leaders so I am not fumbling around in the dark tying hooks. I wanted to be able to have a variety of hook sizes and leader lengths to choose from but I wanted to have them available to use quickly and easily.
This Cat Leader Holder is an idea that I found on another catfishing internet forum and I modified his idea to fit my particular situation. I wanted a leader holder that would hold a large number of leaders that I could clearly label but the holder needed to be small enough to fit into my cat box. I found what I was looking for at OfficeMax. The leader holders are vinyl business card holders that will hold 160 business cards. They cost $9.49 each and I bought 2 holders, one holder for my J Hooks and one holder for my circle hooks. They work perfect for storing pre-tied leaders. I’ve got 25 leaders in the J Hook Holder and 30 leaders in the Circle Hook Holder. I have large hooks in the holders and they start to get a little fat at about that number of leaders. I wrap a large rubber band around each holder to hold them closed and they fit easily into my cat box.
What I like about this arrangement is that I cut index cards to wrap the leaders on so I can slide them into the pocket of the holder. I cut the index cards to fit the business card slot but I left about an extra 1/4″ in length to the index card so it is easy to slide the leader in and out. I then mark the length of the leader on the index card so I can quickly sort through them to find the leader length I want.
No more fumbling around in the dark trying to find the right hook and the right length leader I want. I can easily find exactly what I need by hook and leader and in a few minutes I have hooks back in the water. When needed I pull out the leader I want and slide the empty card back into the holder. Once a week or so I do a quick inventory of what I have used and retie and stock my Leader Holders again. This system works perfect for me and I would recommend it to any catman.