Plastic Willow Cats

Just wondering if anyone has ever found an imitation for willow cats? The only one I have found is Bassassin’s 4″ Mud Minnow. There is a new bait for you B Fish N boys to work on. Dan Palmer

Post deleted by SteveO

Quote:

---

weirdest looking willow cat I’ve ever seen..

---

Well you know those cats like to hide under things like that footplate.

How does one put a hook on that thing ??

I’ve tried the madtoms and can’t catch much of anything on them. In the winter I can catch a few saugers vertical but for use on wingies in the summer they’ve just not done the trick for me.

You would think they would make a 7″ model…

Thanks for the link.

Would you fish them jig-style,or use a lindy rig?Unlike a lot of fishers I know,I like to keep in touch with the bait.Move it as needed,instead of leaving it sit.

Quote:

---

You would think they would make a 7″ model…

---

Brian, you can find an 8-inch one here.

The original owner of B FISH N Tackle (back in the pre-koonce days ) gave me a whole slug of them in a bunch of colors to field test. He was considering adding them to his product line.

Anyway…

I fished them side-by-side the real thing and the walleyes wouldn’t so much as touch them on days when they wanted a real willowcat.

Saugers would hit them in the winter, though.

I’ve never tried them for bronzies. I’ll give them a whirl the next time I’m up fishing with DeeZee.

F85 I would think vertical or pitching..maybe dragging??

I’ll tell you right now, I don’t know what I’m talking about but I always thought a larger plastic was prefered. I’ve never used one and certainly not an authority.

Ralf, unfortunatly the price is a little spendy for me. I could get two dozen live ones from Jimmy’s, Moores or Everts for that price!

But…it is an inch longer…

Mine doesn’t look as neat as yours but it has worked on saugers and walleyes in the spring, not as good as my buddies homemade jigs but they have worked. I think it’s called baby blue eyes but I couldn’t find the package. Guess I’m about out, seems to me I sent to Utah for these.

There are two main reasons I don’t feel you can imitate a willow with plastic. The first one is during the summer months when willow cats are really the ticket plastics don’t seem to work very well. The second reason is with plastics can’t match the scent that the willows release into the water. I think the slime is what really attracts the walleyes.

Mike Smith from HookedOnFishing and I beat these [madtom plastics] things to death late one winter and finally agree that they had a very narrow niche and as James said, it was vertical in the main channel current. And the water had to be cold.

Quote:

---

Mike Smith from HookedOnFishing and I beat these [madtom plastics] things to death late one winter and finally agree that they had a very narrow niche and as James said, it was vertical in the main channel current. And the water had to be cold.

---

I’ll bet a similar color superdoo could have the same effect,perhaps?

I know the bronzies would eat’em up.Years ago on the Menominee River,a motor-oil superdoo was the ticket.In fact,I do believe they were called VenomDoos.They worked when nothing else worked.The river had a high population of those rusty crayfish.

I also believe it is the slime/scent factor vs the looks.Somebody needs to come up with willowcat juice scent.The next best thing to a real willowcat that I have found,is a smoke/glitter Exude grub.

FW? Do you work at Joes by any chance?

A fella there was telling me the same thing just a few weeks ago! (venomdoos)