AllOutdoor Review: Lakewood Billfold – Storage Solution for Baits
Eugene L. 08.10.23
Ok admit it, almost everyone here is guilty of taking a plastic shopping bag full of soft plastics to the lake or river. I know I’ve done it plenty of times since I was a kid. Go buy a few packs of Zoom worms and then just take that Walmart bag down to the lake to go bass fishing. I mean I get understand why we all did it. It’s an easy solution for all those packs of soft plastic baits. It’s just messy and very temporary especially when that thin plastic rips and all those packs of soft plastic worms spill out. Lakewood Products has put out just the thing for this. The Lakewood Billfold, a storage solution for the packs of soft plastic baits, is a ton nicer than the plastic shopping bags. So just like the Lakewood Mini Sidekick I have been using the Billfold as my soft plastic storage option for the past 6 months now.
The Lakewood Billfold is made of mildew and UV-resistant mesh with two mesh dividers built into the pouch. Each pouch comes with a clear label pocket built into the side so you can label the contents or just put your name on it. The pouch has zippers going down both sides of it, with the handles leashed together with some nylon webbing. Then on the front of it there is some velcro that goes across the front. On the back of the Billfold is a clip so you can attach it to other bags, tackle boxes, or your boat/kayak to secure it.
Lakewood Billfold Key Features
- Fill with your fishing plastics, worms, tools, gear, or other small items.
- Keep all your baits, no matter the packaging, perfectly organized. Will hold baits that come in clam shell packaging (like Keitech’s).
- Clear pocket on side for labeling.
- Dividers for organization.
- Mesh allows air circulation for faster drying.
- Perfect for saltwater rinsing of items as well.
- Has snap for attachment to kayak, boat, or another case.
- Mesh has a UV inhibitor and is mold and mildew resistant.
- Dimensions: 9” L x 9” W x 6” H
- MSRP – $39.99
I’m not the biggest soft plastic bait user when it comes to bass fishing, I would rather just fish hard baits in a more active manner all day and catch fewer fish than slow crawl worms and crawfish. But even with that, I know soft plastics work and sometimes are the only thing that will get you a bite. Before the Lakewood Billfold, my normal way of organizing my various packs of soft plastics was to use some one-gallon ziplock bags. Each one was labeled and held one type of soft plastic; worms, craws/creature baits, and swimbait/flukes. This works alright but the ziplock bags got pretty ratty quickly, and if you get caught in the rain with one open have fun drying everything out.
I had more than 20 packs of different soft plastic baits in this pouch at a time. Anything from senkos to craws and creatures, there’s plenty of space inside the Billfold. With two mesh dividers inside of the pouch, you get three separate pockets to organize your soft plastics into. So all types of worms in the front, craws and creatures in the center, and flukes and swimbaits in the rear pocket. When it came to the swimbaits the pouch had no problem with the clear plastic clamshell packaging that a lot of paddle tails come with. The only thing that I couldn’t fit easily into the pouch were those jumbo 12″ + worms. I mean they technically fit into the pouch just you had to fold the packs, so not ideal.
The zipper and velcro layout is a smart way to set up a tackle pouch like this that you could be in and out of all day. For when you’re traveling and don’t need immediate access to your baits having the zippers pulled down along with the velcro shut makes sure everything stays in place. But if you’re on a hot bite and keep needing to reach for senkos or another soft plastic just use the velcro to keep the Billfold somewhat closed. That way easy to get into but also still keeps the contents pretty secure.
Overall I think the Lakewood Billfold is a good and well-thought-out product. I haven’t once used that plastic shopping bag of soft plastics since I’ve had this thing. Even when left out in the weather and Georgia sun and humidity this thing has been solid, with no fading or material degrading at all. The clip on the rear of the pouch has 360-degree articulation and is well built, easily capable of holding up the weight of the Billfold fully loaded. Even if it did have issues I have peace of mind knowing that, like all the other Lakewood products, it comes with a lifetime warranty. The only thing that makes me hmm and haw about the Billfold is the price. Coming in at $39.99 a pouch which might be too steep for some anglers to swallow. Though I guess the old phrase “Buy Once, Cry Once” comes to mind here. I can see this pouch holding up for a long long time.
