Soft Plastic Storage

So I started cleaning up my summer fishing stuff. I keep a sportsmans tote in the back of my truck that I toss lures and stuff into that doesn’t go into my pack for shore fishing. This has led to about 5 lbs of soft plastics no longer in their bag for one reason or another. At least 2/3 are still good maybe a little dirty and one or two holes. The colors bleed together though, and some different plastics melt against each other. Any suggestions on storage bags or a brand of zip locks that wont melt the plastic and keep the colors intact? Regular zip locks do not work for this.

The zman elaztech tends to not play nice with other plastics. I’m not sure if any of yours are that brand, but if you mix them with others they will often bleed and melt right into others. Keep those completely separate from others in their original packaging. And keep them out of extreme heat or prolonged sunlight. I’ve had an entire package melt into a giant gooey mess once.

Honestly if you’re able to store plastics in their original packaging that would probably work the best. I used to store mine in tackle boxes but some of them would fade in color so I switched to a plastic-specific storage container that holds them in their original packaging instead now. I think they generally stay fresher if you keep them in the original bag and seal it up properly.

There are laminated bags that work well for bait storage. I use them with baits I’ve just made and they’re about as durable as a bag can come.

For those dirty soft plastics, run some fairly warm water into an ice cream pail with a healthy shot of dish detergent and throw the baits in it. Use your hands to give them a good thorough messaging then put the baits in a sink with clean clear warm water to rinse. The soap will not penetrate the plastic so the scent stays in the soap pail, not the rinsed baits. Lay the rinsed baits out on a towel and they’ll be good to go when dry. Re-bag in new bags by bait and color. Scent can be added if you desire.

Personally, when I make baits for use soon, I bag by color/bait and give each bag a couple good shots of Gulp Minnow spray and seal them up. Baits done this way will stay nice for about six months before the Gulp will begin to get funky. Then they get a bath and rebagged.