Cat Tip of the Day: Hook and Leader Holder

I found another inventive catfisherman on the internet and I thought I would pass along his handy dandy hook and leader organizer. He found the items he needs to get organized from the local stores or Walmart. They say a picture saves a thousand words so start by looking at the pictures attached. As you can see this is an easy and efficient way to store you leaders.
For supplies you will need the 3 hole punched clear pocket pages used to store baseball cards. A local sports card shop, Office Max or WalMart should be able to provide what you need. Then you will need a three ring binder that zippers closed. Many binders that zipper shut are also waterproof. You will also need to get yourself a pack of 3” X 5” index cards.
Look at the pictures to see how he organized and stored each leader. Just insert the rigs into the pockets of the baseball card clear inserts. The index card keeps the rigs from slipping out of the pockets. Now you will have all your rigs on pages ready to go. A good binder with a zipper is about 10 bucks and the inserts and index cards are very cheap.

Here is another picture:

This is how he stores the hook on the index card to slide it into the card holder:

that’s a slick idea… would also probably work for Lindy Rigs…

how do you guys roll them up perfect whenever I try they always make a mess and knot up

I pre-tie a bunch of rigs before going out. I tie one end (generally a Palomar)directly to my hook and give the desired length of line, then tie on my swivel. Then I slide the ‘loop’ of the swivel right over the barb of the hook and up the body til it hits the eyelet. They can then go right back into the hook bag or wherever you want to put them without getting tangled.

Saves a lot of time and misery when night fishing!

Sometimes I’ll spend the better part of an hour doing this on a weeknight while watching TV. It is almost Zen-like!

Try this one. Cut a peice say about a foot in length on the swimming foam tubes. Then cut a small slit into it length wise and this will hold your barrel swivel. Insert the barrel into the slit the wrap snell around tube untill you get to the hook, then simply hook tube with the hook. If it falls out of the boat it floats.

Landscats,

Thanks! I really like that idea!!!

And walleye/bass guys think they are so smart….pfffffft! Cat guys are ingenious!

I reorganized my leader holders last weekend. I went to OfficeMax and picked up a couple of vinyl business card holders that will hold 160 business cards. They cost $9.49 each. I set one holder up 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 hook leaders in the holders and they start to get a little fat at about that number of leaders.

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.

I wrapped a large rubber band around each holder to hold them closed and they fit easily into my cat box. No more fumbling around in the dark trying to find the right length leader I want. I’m ready for some cat fishing!!