Walleye plastics

Hey guys I just got done watch keith kavajezc and chase parsons seminar on you tube. They were saying they hardly ever use live bait anymore. Here in nebraska almost every body uses live bait. I know plastics are good in rivers but wondering if I should be using them? I fish mostly man made lakes. Should I be using plastics? What are the advatages and disadvantages of plastics compared to live bait? When should you use plastics? Also during a cold front are you better off with a live minnow or berkley gulp minnow? Also what’s some of your favorite plastics? Thanks for the help guys.

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They were saying they hardly ever use live bait anymore.

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I first fished P-4 with James Holst 9 years ago…While I had used some plastics before, I was amazed at the number and quality of Walleye/Sauger we caught…strictly on plastics. I took that presentation back home to Michigan and have been very successfull in Lake Michigan, Green Bay, the Menominee River, and in inland waters here and in Canada.

You can use plastics any time…In early spring when water temps are sub 40s plastics will outfish minnows…I have done it many times on P-4 in March.

Its when the water temps rise above the 60s when live bait is the better choice in my experience…but you can still get “reaction bites” from fish.

“During a cold front are you better off with a live minnow or berkley gulp minnow?”

In summer I would opt for a juicy live Fathead or Leech.

Go to videos and watch the Pre Spawn River Walleyes one…also the Reel Clip with Dustin Stewart and the Koonce bros. Those tactics can carry over to lakes …you just need to cast to structure instead of working the current.

those guys are great walleye guys.

they use gulp alive minnoows religiously. they thread on a regular one and then cut one in half and stack the tail on top of the other minnow.

the key to keith and chase are they fish for active fish. and active fish aren’t finicky for the live/plastic difference. whenever i watch their shows, the fish are slamming them.

the advantages of the gulp is that it will last quite a few fish. with the ability to recharge them in the bucket as well.

the disadvantages is that that stuff stinks.

i use plastics on a good to hot bite. there are times where the fish want live bait.

up on the rainy river, when anchored in a hole, i’ve never caught a fish on the gulp alive….ever….when drifting i’ve caught a few but they’ve never outfished live bait.

Thanks for the help tom. Do you use plastics in the cold water when using like lindy rigs or vertical jigging or just when you are casting jigs?

I use only two things EVER on Pool 4 in March, April, Oct, or Nov… Plastics and Blades.

I cast, drag, and vertical jig plastics. Vertical jig or cast blades.

May opens our Walleye (lake) season. I cast or drift jig/plastics instead of Lindy rigs/bait until mid summer. They hit the plastics a LOT harder! I tried Gulp Alive minnows both on the Mississippi and Green Bay with pretty poor results compared to Ringworms and PowerBait Grubs.

Another video to watch is Rainy River Walleyes with Holst and DeZurik. They really clobber some toads on strictly Ringworms early in the run…

Are you fishing those plastics mostly on a h20 precision jig? I’m on a cell phone so I can’t watch the videos but wish I could. Thanks for the help tom

Yes…the keeper on those jigs allows the plastics to last a long time and they are quality jigs.

Endorsements and sponsors.

on the miss you can get away with artificials MOST of the time, but not all of the time. Lakes-good luck fishing artificials all the time-

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Hey guys I just got done watch keith kavajezc and chase parsons seminar on you tube. They were saying they hardly ever use live bait anymore. Here in nebraska almost every body uses live bait. I know plastics are good in rivers but wondering if I should be using them? I fish mostly man made lakes. Should I be using plastics? What are the advatages and disadvantages of plastics compared to live bait? When should you use plastics? Also during a cold front are you better off with a live minnow or berkley gulp minnow? Also what’s some of your favorite plastics? Thanks for the help guys.

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The advantage of plastics is that you don’t have to buy bait or keep it alive. It’s also more fun to fish plastics in my opinion. The ‘eyes sure smack ’em hard! I use BfishN Tackle and Everts Ringworms and Paddletails almost exclusively. I use them successfully on lakes as well as rivers. In Nebraska, you’ll find that guys fishing the two Nebraska Walleye series use Ringworms and Paddletails with a lot of success. I use the plastics more in spring and fall, while the summer months tend to require a switch to crank baits.

If you’re looking for a good place to order walleye plastics, give Dean Marshall at Everts Resort a shout. He can get you set up with the right plastics and the right jigs to fish them with too.

Hey wade pretty sure you do some fishing here in nebraska. I’m gonna buy just a couple packages to see how it goes. What would be the two best colors for nebraska

A Peice of “humble wisdom” from Dean himself last week, “when it comes to plastics dont get hung up on colars, more often than not is the profile of the bait that the fish are after” This fact will help you be effective with plastics when fishing your man made lakes. Match your plastics with the forage of the eyes in your lakes then play with size, colars and tails. Dont get set on 1 type of plastic, some are stiff/thicker than others witch result in totly different movements off the baits tails. I fish alot of diffent lakes during the pre and post spawn periods and seems every where I go fish can be caught with the simple jig and twister tail, a little playing around and some dialing in and it can be deadly in the right hands. One thing to keep in mind when watching those shows is those guys have 2 key factors in thir favor compared to me or you….Zip code and unlimited time on the water Good luck as the season fires up for you

clear water…neutral colors like cotton candy, oystershell
stained water…brite colors like chartreuse pepper
low light/dark…darker colors like pro blue

I will tell you that there have been MANY times on P-4 that a specific color like purple/chart tail or GoldCracker
chart tail has absolutely outfished every other Ringie the same profile and size by a ridiculous margin…but thats fishing for you!

Can you post some links to the videos?

http://www.idofishing.com/videos/viewvid.php/Number/631540/big-river-prespawn-walleyes

I’m happy to see that someone else thinks Gulp is terrible for river eyes. I have had great success on Powerbait and unscented plastic. I have had hot bites going and drop gulp and they won’t touch it. Put the BfishN plastic down and they pound it. I know gulp has caught plenty of eyes , but I think you are better off with a good unscented plastic from Hutch or BfishN. I’m sure this post will bring out lots of Gulp fans ,but I just don’t think it’s your best option for river eyes.

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Hey wade pretty sure you do some fishing here in nebraska. I’m gonna buy just a couple packages to see how it goes. What would be the two best colors for nebraska

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These guys gave you some good tips already, but I’ll offer some of my favorites for these parts.

Firecracker with Chartreuse Tail
Pro Blue
Purple with Chartreuse Tail
Chartreuse Pepper
Oyster Shell
Cotton Candy

As Dean has said, you don’t need to get
too caught up on colors but there are times that one color will outproduce others, and there are times that you can switch up colors and get a school of eyes to start feeding again after they’ve stopped hitting the first color by throwing a new color at ’em. And you have to have the three main categories covered, bright, dark, and neutral colors. Also, if you’re going to fish these plastics, make sure you get the proper jigs for them. The jigs you use for vertical jigging are not the best for plastics. You want more of an inline head shape with a good bait-keeper on the hook. The jigs Dean sells at Everts such as the Everts brand or the BFT Precision Jigs are the best type of jig for fishing paddletails and ringworms. For jigs, I’d go with a black, a purple, and one or two of the bright colors.

Pic of jigs…

Thanks for the help wade. Does gulp work better in the lakes and reservoirs than in the rivers? Other than berkley and bandnfishing who are some other companies that make good walleye plastics. Thanks for the help guys

I probably shouldn’t say it on a “plastic” thread, but the H2O jigs work very well with live bait. Thread a crawler over the bait keeper and pinch half of it off and cast away. Set up a minnow in a similar fashion. I have no reason to push the jigs other than they work very well.

Personally, the only place I’ve had any success at all using gulp is on Lake Michigan.
I’m sure there are other places where it works, I just don’t fish in those other places.

The majority of my walleye fishing is done on Lake Wisconsin and by far, the plastics produced by B’Fish’N Tackle work the best. There H20 jigs are pretty awesome as well although there has been a few occasions where those glitter jigs from Evert’s Resort have been pretty impressive also.

Keep in mind, we are trying to match the hatch. Long as livebait is legal, there well always be a time when it will outshines everything else. Keep an open mind. Many good fisherman don’t use minnow very often, but have them along for the boat ride just in case.
Only reason you don’t see livebait much in bass fishing is it was made illegal to use in tourneys-which brought along much inovation, improvements in techniques well as huge boost in confidence. Otherwise, how many guys would be using shiners on the bass trail?????????

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Keep in mind, we are trying to match the hatch.

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Jason,
Amen brother.

where i live live bait is hard to come by… long drive.
great info on ringworms and such… color info right on too. I’d say find the right location on your cornhusker lake and give them a whirl. mu goto plastic for walleye is always a Zoom fat alberrt grub, smoke, on a 1/8 oz jighead…

I certainly do not get free plastics or jigs from BFT…Berkely does completely sponsor Kieth K of “The Next Bite” though…I’ll bet he doesn’t pay for the Gulp Alive (19.95 per bucket) or the Knuckleball jigs (.90 ea)… which are also an effective jig…but compare the prices and do the math. Fish what you like and have confidence in.
I buy 99% of my tackle(incl St. Croix rods) from Evert’s, mainly because I stay there and would like the resort to stay there for a LONG time…
Dean does no give me free tackle for praising him either but he will bend over backwards to help anyone…and he will give ya a rod, lure, or bait to try once in a while just to give him some feedback. Cant beat that!

If anyone knows of another equal quality jig, molded with a wire keeper…or unscented plastic for under 25 cents that is as effective I would definitely encourage them to post and let everyone know. Thats what we’re here for.

Lake Wisconsin is opening up going to try more jerk shad styles this year.Had good sucess on those in shallower water in Manitoba last year.

Welcome to IDO Frog Creek. I’ve had very good luck working BFT paddletails around the head of the lake right after the ice goes out. Not many people do that up there, but the fish seem to like it.

I ordered some last week when they get here I’ll give them a try.
Thanks

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I use Ringworms and Paddletails

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x2 by far my favorite choice of plastics

besides the BfishN plastics, i have had great success with lindy’s munchin grub. its a ring type grub that has a fat body and a triple cut tail. they are on clearance at lindy’s website right now.