Fishing lures aren't cheap. Cracking open your tackle box at the start of spring only to find a tangled mass of rusty treble hooks and melted, discolored soft plastics is a frustrating (and expensive) mistake. Proper storage takes five minutes after a trip but adds years to your gear.
Putting wet lures back into a sealed plastic tray is a death sentence for hooks. When you cycle through baits on the water, leave the used ones out on the boat deck, hung on your steering wheel, or in a designated "wet box" to air dry. Once you're home, ensure they are bone dry before putting them back in their permanent compartments.
Pro Tip: Toss a few silica gel packets (the ones that come in shoe boxes) into your tackle trays. They absorb residual moisture and prevent hook rust.
Never mix soft plastics from different brands in the same compartment, and definitely never store them alongside hard plastic lures. The chemical compositions often react with each other, resulting in a melted, sticky mess that will warp your crankbaits and ruin the plastics. Keep soft plastics in their original manufacturer bags—they are designed specifically not to react with the bait.
If you do get a spot of rust on a treble hook, don't throw the $15 crankbait away. Buy a pair of split ring pliers and a bulk pack of high-quality replacement hooks. Upgrading the stock hooks on your lures to chemically sharpened premium hooks is one of the easiest ways to improve your hookup ratio anyway.
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