I prefer a homogenous mix of hooks, corkies, slinkies and leader reels in each pocket. This ensures that I will always have at least some gear after all the gear falls out of half the pockets as I pull the vest out of the back of the rig and pitch it into the boat. While the gear falls into the boat, it doesn't always make it back into the vest. This way, if at least one pocket stays shut, I know I can cobble together at least some kind of rig. This may have something to do with the funny noises my friends make as the review what I rig up, but I've never been able to get them to explain.

I attach various colors of yarn to each pocket's velcro patch, so that they are handy. I keep flourescent colors on the patches on the right side, earth tone colors on the left, for a racy two toned look.

I stain the bottom pockets with shrimp oil from a leaking container so that all gear contained therein will get a pretreatment with scent . The slow leak keeps the smell fresh, as well as keeping my wife from picking the vest up and moving it to somewhere where I can't find it as I am scrambling out the door at 5:30am. Not only will she not touch the vest with her hands, the oil treatment, combined with the Mucilin stain causes it to slip off the broom handle when she tries to prod the vest out of the laundry room into the garage.

The one of the bottom pockets contain about 5 lbs of slinkies in random sizes. They have woven themselves into a ball that looks like a pile of mating garter snakes. The other side contains 87 pretied leaders which have coalesced into a snarl which could mistaken for a good sized hair ball (if I had a cat, anyway), 2 dozen rusty steelie spoons in a plastic bag (haven't used a steelie since I moved to Seattle 12 years ago), a les davis leader box containing leaders that can actually be accessed, and about 75 corkies of colors that I once liked and wouldn't even give to my worst enemy now. I beg decent corkies off my friends who are actually catching fish. I never pay more than a buck apiece.

The top pockets on the left are where I keep the hook files and pliers for 15 minutes before I lose them when throwing the vest ino the boat. The top pocket on the right is seemingly empty, but down in the bottom, hidden in the lint and tangled in the seam are snap swivels. There are normal swivels in there as well, but they have slipped down into the seam, so you can't really get them.

The back pocket contains things that I need more rarely, such as an unused garbage bag in which to put fish (it dates back to 1982), unused lures in original packaging that I bought on spec when I was 22 and can't bear to part with (I'm 45 now), 7 lbs of spare pencil lead (I don't use pencil lead now, only slinkies), a sandwich baggie containing something that is grey, green and sort of beige that I really don't want to touch, and one wader gravel guard with a busted zipper. (I don't know where the other one is).

That's how I do it, what about you?