While he was working on the plans for his family’s new house on the water, Northeast Florida contractor Billy-Dale Tyson knew one thing he wanted was a space dedicated to fishing.
His father had owned and run a local tackle shop, Bald Eagle Bait & Tackle in Keystone Heights, Fla., and Tyson grew up helping around the place.
That experience with carefully sorting and curating tackle stuck with him, and he has always found satisfaction in taking care of his gear and in meticulous rigging and preparation. When it came time to furnish his new fishing space, Tyson called Boat Outfitters to help design and make his perfect rigging station from King Starboard.
Modular Solution
An avid inshore angler, Tyson had very specific requirements. He worked closely with Boat Outfitters' project manager, Jason Strub, to zero in on the ideal rigging station design.
The solution was a modular setup composed of two “base cabinets” connected by a work surface to form something like an angler’s workbench.
First, Tyson wanted plenty of slots to hold Plano tackle trays labeled for different kinds of fishing.
The solution was a modular setup composed of two "base cabinets" connected by a work surface
The left “base cabinet” of the rigging station comprises a cabinet door concealing a full dozen Plano trays.
“If the trout are running,” Tyson says, “I can grab my topwater stuff, throw it in my tackle bag, walk down to the dock, and go fishing.”
Second, he wanted bulk storage for larger items.
In the right base cabinet, three 4” deep drawers and one 10” deep drawer easily swallow up bulk line spools, larger corks, marine electronics (which he removes from his boat between trips), zip lock bags, gloves, charts, and so on. Each drawer box is roughly 20” from front to back.
The Work Surface
Connecting the two base cabinets is a 50” work surface. A row of trays at the back puts weights, floats, leader material, hooks, and other frequently used terminal tackle in easy reach, while an elevated, notched rail provides an easy place to hang lures and rigs.
A shallow, full-width drawer has plenty of room for smaller tools and components.
The work surface is covered in foam decking material with an engraved ruler for measuring leaders as well as a pair of milled pockets for holding “flight risks” like splitshot and rigging beads.
A vertical rod rack conveniently and securely holds three rods without danger of falling while they’re being rigged.
On the outside of the right base cabinet, a vertical rod rack conveniently and securely holds three rods without danger of falling while they’re being rigged.
Because the Plano trays in the left cabinet are only about 14” deep front-to-back while the cabinet is 20” deep, Boat Outfitters suggests adding a pair of open cubbies for assorted larger gear.
The work surface and top drawer are 7” tall, which, combined with the 35” height of the base cabinets, yields a work surface height of 42” — comfortable for either standing up or sitting on a bar stool.
Why StarBoard?
It’s no secret that King Starboard isn’t cheap.
So why build a rigging station out of Starboard instead of wood?
“I’m a contractor so I’ve got plenty of guys that could have built it out of millwork,” says Tyson.
“But it’s near a garage door that’s open a lot, and we’re bringing wet gear in all the time. With Starboard, I just have that feeling like ‘This thing’s going to be here forever.
I never have to worry about it.’ Plus, I just like the feel of it.”
For the same reason, Tyson chose to have Boat Outfitters make some 35 square feet of Starboard peg board for the wall behind the rigging station, where he hangs bags of soft plastic baits, hooks and sinkers, packaged hard baits, and other supplies — just as he did as a kid in his father’s tackle shop.
A Family Affair
When we spoke to him, Tyson and his family had only been in their new house a few weeks. “To be honest,” he said, “my wife would probably prefer I get some of the rest of the house set up instead of my tackle storage.” But the fact of the matter is that it’s not just his tackle storage. He and his wife have two young boys, and the rigging station is as much for them as for Tyson.
Tyson and his wife have two young boys, and the rigging station is as much for them as for him.
“They go in there all the time and rig up to go fish off the dock,” he says.
“Having a dedicated place for them to go and find tackle and use it and put it back was important to me.”
Tyson also added a locking box on the dock so they could move tackle trays back and forth.
“My boys,” he says, “especially the youngest, go down almost every afternoon and throw the cast net and put lines in the water.”
The rigging station also serves as a sort of classroom. “I want to teach my kids the right way,” Tyson says.
“They can both stand there with me while I do the rigging and show them how to tie knots. And it makes it easier for them to be part of it. I can say, ‘Guys, go to the second drawer and grab me the 1/4-ounce jigheads,’ and they know exactly what to do.”
Fewer Excuses, More Fishing
Ultimately, tackle organization and preparation is about making fishing easier and more fun. It’s easy to joke about people caring more about organizing and admiring their tackle than about fishing — and no doubt that’s true in some cases — but the fact is that if you keep your tackle organized and ready, there are less obstacles keeping you from fishing. And that matters.
If you keep your tackle organized and ready, there are less obstacles keeping you from fishing. And that matters.
“It’s easy to find a lot of excuses not to go fishing.” says Tyson, “We’re all busy. But we’ve made it so convenient that we actually go more now. I get to take these boys a couple days a week in the afternoons to go catch some fish.”
Well done, sir.