My feature on the Outdoors page of today’s Roanoke Times is about the importance of using the colder months to prepare for the upcoming fishing season.

One of the key jobs to get out of the way now is to organize tackle boxes that got messy last season. I wanted to take a picture to illustrate the concept, and I didn’t have to do much to come up with a messy box.

To put together the photo illustration shown here, and which ran with the story, I simply grabbed handfuls of loose lures sitting on a shelf in my basement and tossed the gear in an empty tackle box. As a bonus, I found a gnarled mess of lures sitting on the deck of my jonboat.

The only thing that isn’t realistic about the shot is that I wouldn”t have giant muskie and striper plugs in the same box as trout bait. Otherwise, this box looks a lot like my regular boxes.

Now I must practice what I preach and actually get to work. It’s going to take me hours to get my gear in order. Better now, though, than this spring when I’d rather be spending those hours on the water.