I never go on the ice without plastics. There are days minnows will catch more and some the plastics will win but it takes time to learn how to move it. Confidence is the biggest thing.
Thanks, any specific jig I should try? if it helps the body of water that I fish is moderately stained.
For me when I’m on the ice and I’m panfishing chances are I’m using plastic. There are lots of times when I don’t even bring live bait with, or if I do most of the time I just carry it around! This isn’t something that I did over night it took a lot of time on the ice using plastics to get the confidence I have today.
I have used a lot of different micro plastics over the years, many with success but one of the biggest thing I have found with them is the softer they are the better they seem to move in the water and the longer the fish will hold on to them. This year I started using a lot of the new Trigger X plastics especially the mustache worm and have had great success. These plastics are soft and move really naturally in the water, I don’t know how they taste but I have noticed while sight fishing with them that fish if they don’t take it in all the way on the first try they tend to come right back and eat it after they’ve had a taste. So for me that’s my new go to but there are lots of other great plastics out there as well, the biggest thing is gaining conference in them!
Good luck once you get hooked on ice plastics its hard to go back to meat!!
Best plastics I’ve found for ice fishing 1″ gulp minnows trigger x minnows J & Sorry plastics and micro spoons plastic fish them a loton ccrappies gobble them
Rubber bands dipped in Copenhagen and a bold Stout. Avoid hoppy beers.
Shrimpos and ratsos seem to be old school plastics and been around for a while. Both good lures.
I have been using the trigger X mustach worm this season alot and like bryan said it moves great on hook. I like to pair 1 and sometimes two with the 1/16 oz pugbug. Being able to use them and catch fish is what got me hooked on them. It is all about developing confidence and figuring out the jigging action that works for the fish on the body of water you are fishing at the time. – QB
Little Atom nuggies and micro nuggies paired with a 4mm tungsten head for us as well as a 1/16 oz slender spoon or Lindy Rattlin’ Flyer.
Custom jig and spins ratso (their finesse plastic on a tiny jig head) is #1 for me. #8 and #10 for winter crappie. Black in clear water, yellow chart and white in dark water.
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Best plastics I’ve found for ice fishing 1″ gulp minnows trigger x minnows J & Sorry plastics and micro spoons plastic fish them a loton ccrappies gobble them
These little guys are like the Microspoons baits mentioned here. Great crappie fodder.
The tail action on these tends to be a little tighter than on some of the whippier little tails. Most of the action is right at the very end of the tail. Where these shine, literally, is in the amount of light reflection that comes out of the semi-triangular tail shape.
Keith Pace, owner of Microspoons, and his company were mentioned in an article recently in one of the In-Fisherman publications. If you haven’t been to the company’s website you’re missing out on some serious fishing baits.
The Northland Impulse Mayfly plastics presented horizontally have caught a number of nice crappie, gills and perch for me this winter.
Was out this morning doing well on gills with waxies. Tried plastic for a couple minutes with no bites. Went back to waxies and continued to catch fish steady. I’ll try them again tomorrow but they were not the ticket where I was fishing today.
You obviously don’t know how to use them. 
There are no silver bullets to fishing, so you need to bring all types of ammo.
Thanks for the insight Mr Linder
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Thanks for the insight Mr Linder
Are you challenging me to a dance off?
It takes practice and confidence. I was out with a couple friends today. We had 8 tip ups out and one jig rod in the house. We would rotate fish in the shack on the jig rod. I could usually get a crappie to hit after thirty seconds or less on working the fish. THe other guy has never fished them and didn’t catch a fish. Same pole and bait. The third guy caught a couple. You usually can’t just drop it down the hole and expect to get bit like a waxie sometimes. Reading the sonar and how they react to what you are doing is vital in my opinion especially with plastics.
This exact question accounts for about 40% of my ice-fishing clients. Typical phone call starts out with “I see all these guys around me catching gills or crappies on plastics, and I can’t catch $#!^” This gets me excited, as i know 2 things are going oto happen. 1. I’m working wioth someone that wants to learn. 2. We are gonna have a fun day…even with a slow bite.
I invite them to bring their assortment of plastics and their favorite jigging rod or two. Time and time again, I see guys show up with two or three packs of misc plastics that are often a random grab at the bait shop.
To their surprise, I really don’t have a ton of different stuff. At face value it looks like more than what it really is.
I cover a few details well. 1. color scheme. In my experience, most “baits” need to be available in 3 to 4 colors. Black, Purple, Red, white, and green – (though it may be necessary to have variations of my primary colors.
2. Profile – bigger, smaller, thinner, thicker
3. Confidence & Patience- Have to believe in what your doing.
On a guide trip for this, we fish mostly with a camera. But as stated above, using a flasher and understanding how a fish is responding is KEY! I like to fish aggressively, so I usually start with long/thin baits, like a wedge. If fish come up and don’t eat, I change color. Usually a color change will prompt one of two things. They eat, or shy away. If they shy away, I change profiles to something smaller or less action like a Ratso and go back to the color they shown interest in. Repeat process,….
It is so much fun to see the light bulb go on when someone starts hitting fish. Naturally, its fun to watch then on the Camera. But watching someone go from negative to confident in plastics is awesome.
The other observation that I see frequently is over working the plastics. Working it too much is worse than having the wrong profile and color.
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The other observation that I see frequently is over working the plastics. Working it too much is worse than having the wrong profile and color.
Re: River Fishing For Walleye/Saugers
“Less is more” excerpt from a seminar by the Cookie Thief himself.
These were all caught today using B-Y BAITS micro plastics.
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Best plastics I’ve found for ice fishing 1″ gulp minnows trigger x minnows J & Sorry plastics and micro spoons plastic fish them a loton ccrappies gobble them
These little guys are like the Microspoons baits mentioned here. Great crappie fodder.
The tail action on these tends to be a little tighter than on some of the whippier little tails. Most of the action is right at the very end of the tail. Where these shine, literally, is in the amount of light reflection that comes out of the semi-triangular tail shape.
Keith Pace, owner of Microspoons, and his company were mentioned in an article recently in one of the In-Fisherman publications. If you haven’t been to the company’s website you’re missing out on some serious fishing baits.
Tom suggested I try some plastics thus season. So, while in Dakota, I did them when the live bait was producing nothing or smaller fish. I, too, have always been skeptical about plastics, so I wasn’t expecting a lot. I was very pleasantly surprised with the results. In fact, on day three, when tons of northern were roaming the shallow flats, and the panfish wouldn’t even go to the top of the weeds for fear of becoming dinner, the plastics were the only thing producing nice crappies. Dropping the jig & plastic into the weeds, and moving it gently to the top couple of inches of the coontail, you would feel extra weight. And another nice 10-12″ crappie would bite the dust! Confidence is definitely the key, and if you don’t try plastics, you will never get it!
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