The Best Tackle Boxes for Fishing of 2025

The Plano Guide Series Stowaway Rack System ($80) is a huge upgrade to the classic tackle boxes of old. It functions basically the same, with a single carry handle. But it’s much more modular, allowing you to customize it for whatever fishing adventure you have in store next.

There are two main storage compartments, one with four shelves that fit 3700-size tackle trays and another medium-sized compartment on top. The removable tackle trays make it so customizable.

Sure, the box comes with four Stowaway tackle trays, but you can buy more separately, allowing you to quickly convert it from a bass fishing box to a trout box to a big game box. When I purchased it, I purchased seven other Stowaways. That allows me to quickly switch out tackle trays based on what I’m fishing for that day. That also means I don’t have to carry excess junk around and can leave the bass stuff at home in an organized manner when I’m chasing trout.

I guide out of a raft on small rivers, and this box serves as the main tackle storage in front of my rower’s seat. It’s large, but definitely manageable for small to medium-sized vessels. I have all of the main tackle in the Stowaways and then put soft plastics, tools, leader material, and bobbers in the main tray that’s accessible from the large main hatch.

That portion of the tackle box is medium-sized and provides ample storage for those items. It doesn’t have dividers, though, so everything can get a bit jumbled in there. On the plus side, all of the essentials are easily accessible.

Due to its bulky size, it’s not the best tackle box for mobile shorebound anglers. I have used it for that, but only when I take the kids fishing and post up in one spot for hours. It’s also too large to fit in any boat storage compartment, but again, that’s where the beauty is in the Stowaways. If one day I’m in the raft using this box and am going to be in the big boat the next day, I pull out the tackle trays and stick those in a storage locker.

I also despise using tackle trays to store treble-hooked baits, and that’s the only option you have for them with this box. You either have to limit the number you carry and give each an individual slot, or pile them in there and deal with tangled hooks.

Aside from those drawbacks, the Plano Guide Series Stowaway Rack System is as close to perfect as you can get for anglers looking for a solution for all of their fishing needs.

On my eighth birthday, my parents gifted me a Swiss Army Knife and the Plano Three-Tray Tackle Box ($25). It blows me away how long ago that was, because somehow, it feels like yesterday. The box has obviously undergone some changes and updates since then, but overall, it’s still the same box from my childhood.

I carted that box everywhere. I hopped fences onto private property with friends (to this day, I believe trespassing should be legal for anyone under the age of 14 carrying a fishing pole) and stuck it in a kayak to fish what I thought were far-flung places at the childhood lake cabin.

When I finally experienced the freedom of a driver’s license, I threw it in the back of a crappy S10 and explored places I had never been before. I’m pretty sure the box is still sitting in a corner of my parents’ garage. I can tell you, after years of abuse, it still works the same way it did on day one. It just smells worse.

Just because I personally started using this box as a child doesn’t mean it’s a product designed for children. It’s a legit tackle box. The three-tray version allows for plenty of tackle storage for most hobby fishermen. There is a two-tray version, but this one isn’t all that much more expensive or bulkier, which means you can store more and stay better organized. Do yourself a favor and stick with the three tray.

When I was eight, it was only stocked with a couple of trout spinners and some panfish gear. However, as I got older, I filled it with all manner of lures for all manner of fish species. I used the divider tabs that come with the trays to customize it for my needs, making small compartments for terminal tackle and leaving large compartments for lures and spoons. Even if you have a small tackle selection now, this box gives plenty of room to grow.

The bottom of the box is great for storing larger items such as soft plastics, spare line, jars of bait like Powerbait, a fillet knife, and everything else you need for a day on the water.

I’ve found the box latches well, and the brass latch system has been a staple for years because it flat-out works. However, I’ve found that when you overload the bottom of the box, the trays won’t lie flat, making closing it temperamental.

You also have to ensure the top and bottom of the box align well when closing it. The price shows here, and you’ll find the thin plastic construction can be fickle at times. Overall, though, I only experienced that when I had it overloaded.

Serious, dedicated fishermen won’t have enough room to store loads of tackle, but for most, there is ample room. On the flip side, its compact size makes it much easier to tote around than the StowAway rack system. If you’re looking for a compact, do-it-all tackle box, the Plano Three-Tray is an excellent choice. It’ll last for years, store a variety of baits, and be kind to your wallet.

After searching for the perfect storage option for treble-hooked baits for years, I almost found it in the Evolution Outdoors Ballistix HANGR 3.7D Tackle Tray ($35). Most treble-hooked bait solutions fall flat for one reason: they can’t hold that many baits. This one holds more than any other box designed for treble-hooked baits that I’ve tested.

If you try to put treble-hooked baits like crankbaits into a tackle tray, you’ll run into two hiccups. The first is that they tend to tangle together unless they have their own individual compartments. But when you do that, a normal Stowaway tackle tray doesn’t hold many baits at all. It’s a terrible waste of space.

The Ballistix HANGR solves the space issue by providing individual slots, but turning them up onto an angle. This maximizes the space in the box and allows you to fit loads of baits into it.

The box comes with divider slots so that you can customize it to fit your needs. Each divider slot has grooves in the top for two treble-hooked baits to hang from. I found that I can get two standard-sized crankbaits in each slot, but large squarebills need their own individual slot.

Whether you need to store spoons, crankbaits, or small spinners, this is the perfect box. I’ve even used it to store chatterbaits and spinnerbaits. You can store anything that will hang on the divider tab and not be too long to stick out of the top of the box.

When setting up the Ballistix HANGR, I found it to be tough to align the divider tabs correctly, but once I got them in, they locked in place well. Unfortunately, due to its shorter height, it cannot fit jerkbaits or huge deep diving crankbaits with large bills. It’s relegated to standard crankbaits, trout spinners, smaller topwaters like whopper ploppers, and spoons. But, if that’s what you need to store, you can fit more in this box than any other box in this test.

The Evolution Outdoors Ballistix HANGR 3.7D Tackle Tray is my favorite box for crankbaits and spinners. If it could store larger baits, it would be all I need.

The Plano EDGE XL Crankbait Box ($70) addresses the issues I encountered with the Evolution Outdoors Ballistix HANGR, but it’s still not the ideal solution for every treble-hooked bait. Since the HANGR isn’t a tall box, it is entirely incapable of holding large treble-hooked baits like jerkbaits and deep diving cranks. The XL Crankbait box is 9 inches deep, which means it has plenty of room to store larger baits.

This box has one main latch that opens to a single compartment with silicone spikes sticking up everywhere. You insert baits vertically, and the silicone spikes protect your hooks and bend around the bait, locking it into place. There are no divider tabs or compartments. It’s ready to go right out of the box. Every crankbait I own fits well into it, and it’s extremely easy to use.

Don’t let the name confuse you; you can store more than just crankbaits in this tackle box. I’ve found jerkbaits fit great in it, as well as smaller treble-hooked swimbaits. The lure capacity depends on what you store in it. If you load it up with crankbaits, it won’t store as many baits as the HANGR, but you could still easily squeeze 35-40 into it, depending on the size.

Due to the lack of slots, this box cannot store spoons or spinners. They will fall between the silicone spikes and get trapped in the bottom of the box. Really thin-profiled jerkbaits also don’t store well in the XL crankbait box. They don’t have enough surface area to bow out the spikes and lock into place.

This box is also extremely bulky. It’s too big to fit into a backpack. It’s larger than some standalone tackle boxes, which means it’s a bit unrealistic for anglers on foot or in a small boat. It’s best used for those with plenty of room to store tackle.

However, if you need a place to store large crankbaits and jerkbaits, the Plano EDGE XL Crankbait Box is the best I’ve found. If I were a bass-only angler, this would likely be the only treble-hooked bait box I would purchase.

Bass anglers end up with piles of bags of soft plastics, and the Bass Pro Shops TUB Tackle Utility Binder ($35) will keep all those loose bags confined to one space.

While it isn’t the largest soft plastic storage system I own, I like it most because it strikes the perfect balance between capacity and portability. For every boat angler, there are scores of others on foot and in kayaks. Huge soft plastic boxes are too bulky for those anglers. This one comes with nine soft plastic sleeves on rings.

You can purchase more separately and add them in. Out of the box, I’ve found I can stick at least two bags of plastics into one sleeve, meaning when I fully load it up, I can comfortably have 14 different bags of soft plastics in it.

That math ain’t mathin, is it? Unfortunately, two of the sleeves that are provided are split in half with a divider, which makes them useless. But, even with the seven functional sleeves, I can carry enough soft plastics for a day on the water with this, and it fits in a tackle backpack or a large tackle box. And, if I really wanted, I could go buy more of the standard sleeves to replace the pointless ones.

The binder also expands and can accommodate a 3600-size tackle tray along with the soft plastics. The soft plastic capacity becomes a little more limited, but I used it in that configuration when pond fishing. I had weights, jig heads, hooks, and bobbers in the tray, and loaded the rest of it with crappie and bass plastics. In a package the size of a medium-sized book, I had everything I needed.

For big-water fishing, I would ideally have multiple of these sitting on my boat. That isn’t very economical though, so I store most of my soft plastics in cheaper, larger tackle boxes and keep this one stocked up with my most used baits. I take it from the bass boat, to my raft, to a backpack when I’m on foot. It goes everywhere.

If you’re tired of opening up your pack, tackle box or boat storage box to find soft plastic bags scattered everywhere, the Bass Pro Shops TUB Tackle Utility Binder will condense it all and keep you organized.

I swear, every company in the fishing industry makes a tackle tray, and all of them are pretty much the exact same thing. But Plano recently updated the Plano Stowaway Tackle Box (starting at $8), making it the most feature-rich tackle tray without changing the price.

Tackle trays are single, thin-profiled boxes that allow anglers to customize the slots with removable tabs. If you’ve fished a day in your life, you’re familiar with them. Most are cheap and simple, but don’t function flawlessly due to their price. The Stowaway changes that.

Most tackle trays come with divider tabs stuck together in a daisy chain, and you have to cut them apart to use them. Often, remnants of the connection points on the tabs prevent them from inserting properly. The Stowaway solves this decades-long problem by providing tabs that are already separated. Truly groundbreaking stuff.

Those same divider tabs are manufactured to lock into place in slots on the sides and bottom of the Stowaway. Many tackle trays have gaps in the bottom of the tabs, which allows hooks to migrate from one compartment to another, resulting in a previously organized box turning into a jumbled mess. I found you have to apply a bit more pressure until you hear a “click” when inserting the tabs in the Stowaway, but when you do that, hook migration disappears.

This tackle box also has more divider slots than others on the market, allowing anglers to maximize organization and eliminate wasted space. Whether you’re storing tiny crappie jigs or giant flipping hooks, you can make the perfect-sized compartment.

It also has a single latch, which is nice for ease of use. It is one of the only cheap tackle trays I’ve used that has a rust inhibitor system.

I personally think these boxes are terrible for storing treble-hooked baits. You either have to put them in individual slots or get a few in a single spot and deal with them getting tangled. Due to the box’s thin profile, some large crankbaits won’t fit well in it. I know a lot of people use them for treble-hooked baits, but if you’re like me and carry a bunch on the water, this isn’t a good option.

But, if you need to store soft plastics, terminal tackle, jigs, other single-hooked baits, and small spoons, the Plano Stowaway gives you what you need at a great price. The newest version is so much better that after receiving one at a media event, I went out and bought six others to replace my old ones.

For the pond hoppers, river rats, backcountry fishermen, and co-anglers of the world, the Evolution Outdoors Drift Series 3700 Tackle Backpack ($160) is the ultimate storage solution. It’s comfortable to carry, holds mountains of tackle, and is generally well thought out.

The main portion of the backpack is a massive storage shelf for tackle trays that clips closed. Since I already had all of my tackle stored in a bunch of different trays, I removed the included ones and started testing what would and wouldn’t fit in it.

Let me tell you, just about everything fits in it, making it my favorite fishing backpack. I stuck a crankbait-filled Evolution HANGR, a Plano Stowaway, a Plano Edge Hook Box, and an Evolution Ballistix terminal box in it. All fit, and the bag still clipped closed.

Being able to use different boxes in the bag is a huge deal to me for a few reasons. First, you can customize the backpack with any number of tackle trays that are designed specifically for the lures you plan on carrying. For me, having an easy way to carry a HANGR box on foot is a big deal. I like my crankbaits and spinners.

Second, I didn’t have to pull a bunch of tackle out of my existing boxes to fill the new ones. I could pull boxes out of my boat and throw them in the bag for quick foot missions.

And third (bringing me to the biggest negative of the pack), I don’t like the included tackle trays. They don’t have as many slots to customize the dividers as the Plano Stowaway, aren’t waterproof, and overall feel flimsy. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll do the job just fine. But being able to use the better ones I own (including some from Evolution) is nice.

Other cool features are a dedicated spool pocket with an exit port for leader material, a plier slot, two rod holders, three other pockets, and an upper storage shelf. The straps and back pad on the Evolution Outdoors Drift Series 3700 Tackle Backpack are very padded, making for a comfortable carry. If you’re an angler on foot, or are hopping in and out of boats as a co-angler, just buy this bag. It’s awesome.

No, the YETI LoadOut Go Box ($250) isn’t specifically designed as a tackle box, but it’s certainly a good one. I use this as my boat box on my raft, jet boats, skiffs, and driftboats. It has more than enough room for a day of fishing, and it’s the ultimate in customization.

I both fly fish and fish with conventional tackle, often on the same trip. When doing smallmouth floats in Tennessee, the size 30 Go Box has enough storage for me to put multiple streamer and popper fly boxes, terminal tackle boxes, a crankbait box, and soft plastics bags inside.

That particular size has enough storage for terrible tackle hoarders, but will fit comfortably in any small boat (including a kayak). And, with it being waterproof, there’s no worry of it ending up in the drink.

While the included gear caddy is removable, mine lives in the box matter what. It’s perfect for holding fly floatant, tippet, nippers, indicators, and anything else you need for a day of fly fishing and keeps it at the ready at the top of the box. When I’m conventional fishing, its great for small hooks, small spinners, leader, and weights.

The zippered pockets on the lid are a little more limited in use as they’re thin. However, I can usually fit fly fishing leaders and tippet, spools of line, and a few soft plastics bags in them.

There are a few minor drawbacks to the Go Box as a tackle box. First, it’s obviously expensive, especially when you consider that you’ll need to buy additional tackle trays and fly boxes to put inside it. The box is also heavy, but it’s at least durable.

Due to the bulk, I would never use the YETI LoadOut Go Box as a tackle box on foot, but on boats, especially those with limited storage lockers, it’s the storage system.

While Plano makes my favorite overall tackle tray, there are some advantages to the Flambeau Tuff Tainer Waterproof box (starting at $10). First, it’s ridiculously cheap for a waterproof tackle box. You can get waterproof Plano’s, but they’re going to cost you a few more bucks than a Flambeau. Second, you can get them in a deeper version, which is the style I tested.

The deeper version works well for crankbaits, especially round, bulky, oversized squarebills. It also provides a pretty cost-effective way to store other large baits like topwater frogs. If I didn’t have the coin to spend on some of the specialized lure-specific boxes on this list, the deep version of the Tuff Tainer provides a passable solution. You can put large baits in it without squishing and damaging them.

While the three-latch system is very secure, I find it to get a little annoying after a while. Having to unclip and reclip three heavy-duty latches any time I need to get in it gets old quick.

Flambeau’s divider system isn’t as refined as that found on the new Plano tackle trays, and now that I’ve experienced such a good one, the cheaper, flimsy tabs that come connected annoy me. It still works, though.

The deep-trayed Flambeau Tuff Tainer is a good fit for those needing to store large baits that won’t fit in thinner tackle trays and don’t want to spend a bunch of money.

I like to throw big baits, but storing them is a big problem. Most tackle boxes can’t store them, and with the prices of glidebaits, you certainly don’t want to leave them loose in a storage locker. What’s more, many tackle boxes designed for large swimbaits end up being so massive that you can’t store the box itself anywhere.

Enter the Evolution Outdoors Big Bait Bag ($45). This is a compact tackle bag, designed for baits that are anything but compact. You unbuckle the straps and unroll it to expose four separate compartments for your swimbaits. Each compartment can comfortably store two glidebaits, or one massive bait.

Drain holes in the bottom of each compartment ensure that your treble hooks won’t be bathing in water all day resulting in rusty hooks. The bag is built well with a durable finish and has a solid carry handle.

No, there isn’t enough room to store loads of baits, but there is enough room for a day of fishing. And heck, most people probably only have a few glide baits anyway, and if that’s you, there’s room for your whole collection.

The compact nature of this bag means it can fit in any backpack or storage compartment. If I’m planning on throwing big baits for big bass, this is the bag I take.

Similar to the XL Crankbait Box, I think the name of the Plano EDGE Frog Box ($65) leads people to believe it’s more specialized than it actually is. While yes, it stores frogs well- in fact, better than anything out there- it can do so much more.

The idea behind this box is to provide a storage space where round, soft-bodied baits won’t get crushed, and rubber skirts won’t rot and get destroyed. Every frog fisherman on the planet has run into that, and this box takes care of it. When you open it up, there are 50 hangers total on five separate sections where you hang the bait from the line tie. The baits hang freely in the deep tray, allowing them to dry off ,and rubber skirts to breathe freely.

Each of the five sections is removable. That’s good, because I’ve found that to store or remove baits efficiently, you need to remove the entire section from the tackle box. The sections pop out and store easily. You’ll find it’s nearly impossible to remove a bait without pulling the entire section out.

That’s both good and bad. It’s good because it ensures that baits won’t jostle loose in transit. It’s bad because it adds steps when trying to get in and out of the thing. But, I like it. I’ve accidentally kicked the thing across the boat, and every bait stayed on the hangers.

Most anglers out there don’t have 50 frogs, so I could see how the Plano EDGE Frog Box could turn some off, being that it’s named the “frog box.” But, in reality, it stores more than frogs. I have found it to be an excellent chatterbait and jig box.

So, for those with less tackle than a pro angler, you can load it up with any single hooked bait with a line tie. Storing treble-hooked baits will result in hooks getting tangled, so I wouldn’t recommend using it for that.

Don’t let the low score I gave the Flambeau Super Half Satchel Soft-Bait Organizer ($17) make you think I don’t use it. I do, and own multiple. It’s just not all that refined and doesn’t perform as well as it could. But for the price, it’s perfect.

I have three of these, and I use them for bulk storage of soft plastic baits on my bass boat. From a standpoint of keeping all my soft plastic bags contained in one spot, it works well. I can fit loads of plastics in one of these, and they’re cheaper than other bulk soft plastic storage options on the market.

That price comes with drawbacks though. First off, the divider tabs are complete junk. They are very flimsy and don’t fit in the grooves on the side of the box well. In the event you do get them to sit right, they pop out easily. I ended up throwing all of the divider tabs away.

Soft baits that come in a clamshell tend to make the walls of the box bow out. I can still get the latch to close when that happens, but the lid certainly isn’t closed tightly. It’s also too bulky to use on foot or in a kayak, so I leave bulk storage in these and then put what I need for the day in a smaller soft plastic storage container when I need to go compact.

Despite those drawbacks, the carry handle is solid and has given me zero problems. There are more expensive, over-engineered options on the market that solve my problems with this box, but I think that’s a waste of money. Storing soft plastic bags doesn’t need to be rocket surgery. The Super Half Satchel is a cheap, nifty way to keep things contained.

For the dedicated pond hoppers and creek fishermen, tackle backpacks have replaced the tackle boxes of old, and the Bass Pro Shops XPS Tackle Bag ($99) is a solid choice. It’s one of the better modular tackle backpacks I’ve tested, and it can store plenty of equipment in a mobile package.

The internal removable shelf is what makes it so modular. Out of the package, the pack comes with the shelf installed and four 3600-size tackle trays in the bottom compartment. The trays provided aren’t the highest quality, and I prefer 3700-size trays, but they will provide passable service for most anglers. And, when left in the out-of-the-box configuration, 3600s are the only size that will fit.

I use the bag set up like that mostly when I fish for trout and crappie. I keep terminal tackle, spoons, and small lures in the tackle trays and use the upper shelf for leader materials, soft plastics, lunch and a water bottle. I have to put a water bottle there, because unfortunately, there is no water bottle holder on the external part of the pack.

When I go bass fishing, I take out the removable shelf. That allows me to stick big 3700-sized tackle trays and boxes like the Ballistix HANGR into it. There is enough room to spare to put the Bass Pro TUBS Utility Binder in it to keep my soft plastics organized.

On top of the water bottle complaint, there is no rod or net holder on the pack. I like taking multiple rods with me when I bass fish on foot, and this bag forces me to carry them in hand, which I don’t like.

Overall though, the Bass Pro Shops XPS Backpack Tackle Bag is a decent quality product. It has a rigid construction, much like a soft sided cooler, which prevents the need to dig and search for items. The openings are large and square and provide easy access to every corner of the bag. It has an extra durable base, so it will withstand getting drug across rocks when you inevitably take it off.

I had high hopes for the Plano EDGE Hook Box ($70), but it fell a little short of those expectations. The box features a single leaf that has a silicone-type insert. In the insert, there are slots for anglers to store individual hooks and jigheads. When you flip the leaf over, there are six compartments to store packaged hooks and other terminal tackle.

On the face of it, the box is a fantastic idea. However, the execution is lacking a bit. The problem is that the slits in the silicone are too large, which means the box doesn’t hold some hooks securely at all. I have found the following types of hooks lock into place fine: single hooks with no jighead and heavy-gauge hooks. Finesse hooks with jigheads, such as ned rig hooks and swimbait hooks, pop out of the slots with the slightest jostle.

I found myself frustrated with jigheads ending up all over the place. However, if you want to organize heavy wire hooks and avoid them getting tangled, this box should serve just fine. Just don’t expect it to securely hold everything.