I have a good number of soft plastics. I am convinced that they are an excellent way to go. However, having spent the last two and a half years fishing where there are no largemouth or smallmouth , I have mostly used twister tails.
Many plastic baits are flavored with fish attractant, garlic, anise, salt, or other scents/flavors. Exude worms, Berkley PowerBait, and many other brands offer flavored plastics that are supposed to attract fish and make them hold on longer. I haven't fished them extensively, but I am not convinced yet that they make that much difference.
The major kinds of plastic baits are as follows.
Also known as grubs, these are a mainstay in my arsenal. I've caught many fish on these rigged on a round jighead. As I said before in Jigs , I swear by any combination of chartreuse, lime, and/or yellow for fish in the northern part of the country, but you'll have to experiment to see what works for you. You can jig these on the bottom, or just crank like hell for more aggressive fish.
This is the way to catch largemouth , I am told: a plastic nightcrawler in a Texas rig. This involves rigging an offset worm hook in a weedless manner with a bullet sinker for a head. I rigged one for you because I know I wouldn't be able to describe it very well; it's in the Zip-loc baggie. The one I have rigged is PowerBait, and is called the PowerWorm, because it has a twister tail on a crawler body. Good luck with it; I'm looking forward to trying it out for bass here in the spring. There is also something called the Carolina rig, which is in the book I sent. I've never used it, but it's another popular way of fishing plastic crawlers.
Also illustrated above are PowerBait leeches, which I am told work phenomenally well for walleye . Not of much use to you, unfortunately.
Most of the plastic craws I've seen aren't that crawdad-like. They usually have this crazy skirt, or a bunch of tentacles. These are usually rigged on a bass jig and fished in heavy cover for largemouth . I don't know what else would take them; maybe bigger smallmouth . Again, something I am looking forward to trying this spring.
Gitzit bass tubes
Micro crappie tubes
(1")
Another bass- or crappie-specific bait. You rig these with a jig. However, usually you push the jighead inside the tube and pop the eyelet out through the top of the tube, so that the entire jig is hidden within the tube, and the eyelet is sticking out near the front of the tube. I have not used these either, but a good number of southern bass guys swear by them.
You can get plastics that imitate specific bait, like these Gitzit baby catfish. These plastics are obviously designed to be rigged on very specific jigs; in this case, Gitzit catfish heads. In areas with large numbers of catfish or bullheads, this is probably a very effective bait for bass and cats .
Included in your kit is a pack of plastic Mr. Twister Sassy Shad, which I have never tried, but looked promising for bass. You can also get floating worms, which give a bit more realistic swimming action. There are also what are called jerk baits. These are plastic minnows that suspend in water, where you twitch and jerk them to draw attention. Again, very popular with bass fishermen.
Back to Jigs and Jigging
Next: Spinnerbaits
Back to the Table of Contents