I spent most of my fishing life with a soft-sided bag that ate jigs. You know the one. Every hook finds the same corner, every spinnerbait tangles with every worm hook, and the one size of bullet weight you need is always at the very bottom. I bought the Plano StowAway 4-By this spring, used it for one full season on the floor of my 16-foot aluminum boat, and I am not going back. It is a rack that holds four 3700 utility boxes with quick-access top storage under a clear DuraView lid, and it is the closest thing I have found to a tackle system that keeps me fishing instead of digging.
Stop Digging for the Right Jig
The Plano StowAway 4-By keeps four utility boxes organized and within reach on the boat floor. Check today's price on Amazon and see why a tidy tackle rack catches more fish.
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With the clear DuraView lid on top, I can see the spinnerbaits, jig heads, and crankbaits in the top storage without opening anything. On a moving boat, that matters. I can spot the lure I want while I am still reaching for the rod, and I do not have to paw through three layers of soft plastic to find it. On a breezy October morning this season, the walleyes were hitting a gold blade bait while the boat drifted faster than I liked. I had that bait in the top tray, saw it through the lid, grabbed it, and had it tied on before the drift took us off the break. With my old bag, I would have burned two minutes digging and missed the window.
Four 3700 Boxes Mean Four Kinds of Order
I run one box for walleye jigs, one for bass plastics, one for crankbaits, and one for terminal tackle. The 4-By holds all four, so the system is only as organized as the boxes I put in it. That is the point. When the wind is up and the bite is short, I do not want to think about where a jig lives. I set the boxes up in late April, before the ice was fully out of the bays, and I kept the same four jobs all season. By September I could reach into the rack in the dark and grab the right box without looking.
It Rides on the Floor, Not in the Way
The rack sits on the floor of my boat and I carry it by the handle. It does not raise anything to eye level and it is not mounted, but that is exactly what I want. It stays put, it does not slide around, and it keeps the tackle low so the rod tips stay clear. On a 16-foot aluminum boat, floor space is precious. I tried a milk crate for a season before this, and it tipped over on every hard turn. The 4-By has a wide enough footprint that it has never tipped, even when I cut across a big wake on Gull Lake in June.
The Latches Work All Season
I have had cheaper boxes where the latches gave up by August. The latches on this Plano StowAway 4-By worked fine from the first trip in May through the last trip in October. That sounds like a small thing until you hit a wake and the top pops open. I hit a good one coming back across the lake one evening in July, and the lid stayed shut. The box slid six inches on the floor, but nothing came out and nothing got wet.
It Is Not Waterproof, and That Is Fine
The 4-By is not waterproof, so I keep it out of standing water. Rain on the top lid is fine, but I do not leave it sitting in a puddle on the floor. Knowing that limitation means I treat it right, and it has held up all season. A box that pretends to be waterproof usually fails when you need it most. I keep a small piece of indoor-outdoor carpet under mine, and that has been enough to keep the bottom dry on damp mornings.
It Cuts the Time Between Casts
The whole point of an organized tackle box is more casts per hour. When the walleye bite is on, I want to change from a jig to a crankbait in under a minute. With the 4-By, I open the top, grab the right box, and I am back to fishing. That is the difference between a limit and a story about the one that got away. One evening in August, Karen and I counted: I switched from a jig to a crankbait to a slip bobber rig in about three minutes total, and we landed two walleyes on the next three passes.
It Keeps Hooks Off the Floor
Before this rack, I found hooks in the bottom of the boat, in the seat cushion, and once in the sole of my boot. The 4-By keeps every hook inside a box or the top storage. That is a safety thing as much as an organization thing, especially when Karen is in the boat with me. She does not fish with treble hooks the way I do, and I would rather not have her step on one while she is reaching for the water bottle.
It Makes the Boat Easier to Clean
At the end of the day, I lift the whole rack out by the handle and set it on the dock. Then I can hose out the boat without moving four separate boxes and a tangle of soft plastics. That one move saves me ten minutes every trip, and it keeps the boat ready for the next morning. On a hot July day, that also means I can rinse the sand and fish slime off the floor before it bakes on.
It Grows With Your Tackle
The 4-By is flexible. I started the season with all four boxes and a pile of loose stuff in the top. By fall I had four boxes and a better system. The rack did not change, my organization did. That is what a good tackle system should do. When ice season comes I can swap one box for ice fishing jigs without buying a new rack.
It Makes Me a Better Angler
This sounds like a stretch, but it is true. When my tackle is organized, I try more presentations. I switch from a jig to a crankbait to a drop shot without the mental tax of digging through a mess. More presentations mean more fish, especially on tough days when the bite is subtle. On a flat-calm morning in September, the bass would only take a slow-rolled spinnerbait, and I had it in the water within a minute of figuring that out because I knew exactly where it lived.
What I'd Skip
I would skip the 4-By if you only fish from shore with a single small box, or if you expect it to keep water out. It is not waterproof, and it is not a bag you want to carry a mile down a trail. For boat anglers who want a rack that holds four 3700 boxes and keeps the top storage visible, it is hard to beat. For everyone else, a smaller Plano box might be the better call.
The whole point of an organized tackle box is more casts per hour. With the 4-By, I open the top, grab the right box, and I am back to fishing.
One Season In, I Would Buy It Again
The Plano StowAway 4-By has earned its spot on the floor of my boat. Check today's price on Amazon and see if it earns a spot in yours.
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