I thought I would share a quick review of a tackle box I used this past ice season and was very pleased with the results. I wanted to get a full season of use before giving my review; as some products I have purchased in the past, have had great initial impressions but never lived up to those impressions. Thankfully, the Maxcatch box both met and exceeded my expectations.
I had been looking for a container which would hold all of my jigging spoons for quite a while now, but had yet to find one which fit my needs. After seeing a couple of anglers post about this box in the fall, I decided to order one in hopes that it lived up to it's billing. I purchased the Maxcatch Box (model SDS-B) from Amazon for $30 and it came with free shipping. I am sure that there are local retailers who may carry this box, but I wasn't able to locate any in the Des Moines metroplex.
After patiently waiting for the box to arrive, I was very pleased when I opened the package and inspected the box. My first impressions were that the box had quality components (Stainless Steel pins, ABS plastic, and double clasps) and was constructed well. What I really liked about the design of the box is that the SDS-B model is entirely foam on the inside of the container and more importantly, it had full length slits that hold your hooks. Instead of having slits only in certain locations; by it having full length vertical slits, this allowed for infinite hook placement. That might not seem like a big deal, but when you have spoons of different sizes and lengths, it allows for them to be placed more uniform and is more accommodating to the various sized spoons.
The double clasp on each side of the container was a nice added level of security and the rubber gasket provides a waterproof barrier to keep your tackle from rusting. I am pleased to report that the box never accidentally opened when dropped, nor did I have an issue with rust forming on my tackle this season.
Sounds like a great product, right? Well it still did need some modification to fit my intended use for the box. One of my biggest complaints with spoon boxes is that the spoons either all end up in a tangled mess, or they bang into each other and ruin the paint job. I addressed this issue by adding strips of heavy density PVC closed-cell vinyl weather stripping. I opted for the 3/4" x 3/8" weather stripping and applied a double layer to firmly secure the spoons. I purchased this weather stripping, which comes in ten foot rolls, from my local Menards and two rolls was enough to do both sides of the box with a double layer of weather stripping. The weather stripping is very durable and has an robust adhesive which easily handled the cold and wet conditions and never once peeled.
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| Maxcatch Box |
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| Maxcatch Box |
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| PVC Weather Stripping |
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| Weather Stripping applied to case |
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| Finished Product |
As viewed in the pictures above, the Maxcatch box was able to hold 146 spoons with room for more. I was able to consolidate five Vexilar tackle boxes into this one box. Not only did it save on room; but it allowed for all of my spoons to be in one location, which took the guesswork out of where a certain spoon I was looking for was located.
If the Maxcatch box has any downfalls, it would be that it is somewhat large in size. The size of the box is roughly that of a a piece of paper and is a couple of inches thick. That may deter some anglers who don't want to carry that large of a box or prefer to have their ice fishing lures on their person while hole hopping. I personally never found that to be an issue this past winter, but other's may disagree.
The box isn't just for jigging spoons either, it will hold any of your lead or tungsten jigs as well as it's intended use for holding larger flies.
So if you're in the market for a new quality constructed spoon/jig box, be sure to take a look at the Maxcatch box. You will not be disappointed!
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