No Confidence in Plastics!

The only plastic I use is the Mister Twister and that’s on a lead head often with a piece of crawler for walleye. When the walleye are tight it’s a solid aproach. Just lift the rod tip to 9 or 11 o’clock and let it slowly sink, wait a bit or drag it for a moment, then repeat.
I usually only catch bass by accident (not that I mind) while jerkbaiting for toothy critters. This to is a finesse technique. It takes time and patience to master such techniques until they are 2nd nature. The main thing is to have fun and if you know you can catch them another way then perhaps only designate a portion of your outing to mastering whatever plastic it is your trying to use?

58535]Mister Twister[/quote]

I wonder how many bazillion fish have been caught on a plain jig and a Mr twister?!?

On my brother’s lake…I mean the lake my brother has a cabin on, he trolls a bay with a mister twister and catches a lot of walleye and crappie. Basic, but effective.

Crappie55396…..

Find someone who is adept at fishing the plastics and go fish with them a couple times so you can see first hand how some plastic baits are used. Learning how to rig and present the plastic can be half of the battle in getting some confidence.

Here’s what helped me: watching my wife pound the smallmouth with a wacky-rigged yamasenko UNDER A BOBBER. That told me to slow way down, which works.

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I would be conservative when I say I got over 80 walleyes on plastics and jigs this year. They have been making twister tails for so long because they work. It might be the presentation that isn’t working for you keep with it hot July days in shallow water has been killer for me with big eyes

I am kind of in the same boat as crappie,and not intending to borrow from his post as I am wondering if both of us dont have a similar issue.
a couple of years ago,my wife bought me a jig kit for Christmas,you know the kind,came from one of the giant outdoors retailers,I think there were over three hundred plastic critters of every size and color in it,and they stink like plastic,could it be this smell is turning the fish away???? I have fished with plastics in the past,and they were of known name brands,dont remember those causing no hits,but since this kit has invaded my tackle box,I quit using plastics as I couldnt catch a thing on them where I could before,so I went back to live bait,any one else have this problem,with the “cheap plastics” that is??
if this is the case,I have to come up with a reason as to why my kit emptied so fast,may need some help on that one!!!

The plastics and their smell are petroleum based smells, not water based which the fish are better at detecting. Use the plastic, smell or no.

thanks Tom,I hate having things in my tackle box that I dont have faith in,or that I have spent hard earned dollars on and dont use. I usually use cranks for walleye in the fall,live bait in the spring,and would love to start catching something on these things,whether it be panfish,walleye,or bass.
I however still have to wonder at why when I started using jigs out of this kit that the bite seemed to turn off,but yet could get an eager bite on live bait,I know fish have their days of preference,kind of like last year at big lake when my son in law caught three walleye in five minutes and I hadnt caught one in three days using a Lindy rig,I about threw him out of the boat for showing me up since it was his first three ever,and when I quizzed him on what he was doing different than what I was,he was using the dead minnows out of the bait bucket,and I had been strictly using live minnows and leeches!! so the thing I learned that day was to forget what you know!!

2in white power bait twister tail with a 1/16oz pink and white northland jig

Tom Sawvell wrote:

Glenn? Aren’t you the one I told to sit on an egg and it would hatch?

nope. Don’t think so. You may have told me to go fly a kite on numerous occasions however.

Iowaboy….
I start open water crappie fishing while there is still ice in the bays and places along the main channel in the lake I fish the most. I’m fishing water that is between 36 and 42 degrees. I use plastic exclusively and I am not using tiny, small plastics. I have a minnow imitation that is 1.75″ in length that works super good on crappies and an even bulkier 1.5″ paddletail that is my go-to. If we have stable weather, these work fine. I have other plastics that are used for times when I need to down size, generally as a part of a front.

There’s no question at all that live bait, or even dead bait, has a place in fishing. I find very few instances where plastic can’t replace live bait though, especially in the panfish world.

glenn57 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tom Sawvell wrote:</div>
Glenn? Aren’t you the one I told to sit on an egg and it would hatch?

nope. Don’t think so. You may have told me to go fly a kite on numerous occasions however.

Maybe that was it Bud. I guess you could still run fast enough to get a kite off the ground, eh?

How are the meat raffles doing?

meat raffles take a break during the summer months!!!

I used a lot of lunker hunter plastics this winter. They straight up stink like plastic…and i put a lot of fish on the ice with them.

I don’t use any scented plastics. Too stinky, messy, and…unnecessary.

With fishing plastics, I find less is more. Don’t try and put too much action on the jig. I used to never leave home without the minnow bucket, but since I’ve learned to fish plastics I haven’t bought minnows in forever. When you fish them, know you’ll get a bite and fish will bite. Good luck!

Steve brings up a great point here. Don’t over-think plastic. I see way too many people beating the water with plastic when they should just be allowing the bait to do its own thing. There will be times when you’ll want to fish plastic with some action or speed up the presentation you’re offering but those fish will let you know when you are doing things right.

accidental re-post

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Crappie55369, I was feeling the same way. I felt confident with the basic rigs for bass but Walleyes were a different deal.

So last year after the springtime bite had slowed I made the decision to forego live bait the rest of the year and work on the plastics. It was pretty tough but well worth it! Bite detection was an area I feel I really improved on. I invested in a high end (to me) rod and reel and spooled it with 832. There were times bites were so light it felt like instead of fishing in water my bait was in syrup.
Knowing where the bait is and how it’s working is huge. I used to overwork baits just to feel them.

By years end I enjoyed good improvement but have a long way to go. This year I’m only using live bait about 20% of the time.

The word you used in the title of this thread is the key, CONFIDENCE! Being on the water and experimenting is a lot of fun. I kept a journal of what was working and that has been helpful for me.
Once you start seeing success the focus really spikes.

Don’t buy any bait the rest of the year!

after reading through this i think ive picked up some good pointers that i need to apply to my approach – SLOW DOWN! and find someone who knows how to fish plastics and fish with them to gain some experience. I think i will try those things and see results. I think part of my problem too is that its not really my style, i like to move fast and scan lots area fast so i tend to like ripping crankbaits but i cant let that impatience affect my technique for plastics. Once i get my new boat on the water im going to launch myself back into plastics with new vigor and try to apply the advice here. Thank You!

crappie55369 wrote:

my style, i like to move fast and scan lots area fast so i tend to like ripping crankbaits

Geez, that description fits ‘someone I know VERY WELL Couple things I think may help, as it did with me. Go too heavy with a jig and work lighter to develop your feel. If your pitching weeds – visualize working a ringworm through a block of swiss cheese – slow and methodical to get through EVERY hole.

Fishing plastics was one of the hardest things for me to evolve into using. I’m still changing over to cranks for walleyes when the water is over 42 degrees. But until then, nothing but plastics for me.

We’ve been clobbering them on 4″ swim baits lately. The minnows are on the edges of weed beds and the walleye are cruising around weeds to ambush them. Last Thursday 3 of us must have caught at least 70 on Z-man Diezels in a varity of colors. Triples were not uncommon. Try different retreives, sometimes they want them slow swimming, others jumping up off the bottom.

I too have never had a lick of luck using plastics. Until….I was in Canada this summer and went to a walk in lake and forgot my crawlers. Now I admit this was the place to try plastics and gain some confidence, but nevertheless I was worried cause I had my daughter with me and wanted to show her a really good day of walleye fishing. Went to the first Fishy looking spot, put a bfishn Moxie on a jig for each of us and just drifted through the narrows. no jigging just drifting. Long story short over 50 walleye that day every one over 16 inches biggest 27″ .

Too many good suggestions above to quote.

I’m not converted yet but a long ways from three seasons ago. Four or five years ago I started to try plastics. Watched too much of the Lindners and had to try this new fad. First few times were awful and kept zero confidence. Just work it like live bait vertically, right? Wrong. This was in Canada in an area full of active and supposedly suicidal walleye.

The next year a couple things happened. Attended a seminar from James Lindner on plastics(snapping vs subtle). Found IDO and watched some of the episodes(go see the one with James and Granrud on the Rainy river). Lastly decided to catch less fish on my next Canadian trip and focus on learning.

Found some different retrieves that work and more importantly some plastics that are confidence baits now. Don’t leave home without a bag full of Moxies from Bfishn!

Next step for me is to try to gain confidence in the winter. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m only semi-converted. Still have nothing against using meat as a tool in the toolbox, just good to have more options.

My current true fishing partner is a kid going to college out of state.. so I have had to recruit new guys to fish with. .this weekend was my second time to fish with my son in law.. my goal was to teach him a plastic worm.. I have a very long stretch of river bank that we can throw a four inch worm on .. and catch a bucket full of short smallies.. so we went out. .and for the first hour or so we, meaning him, couldn’t quite get the feel.. he had fish on.. I put a senko on for him texas style.. but he had no feel.. I have three little rock points that I call suicide points. meaning that there have been schools of juvie smallmouths on them.. so we went there .. I never cast .. I just talked him through.. JUVIE SMALLIES.. GUESS AGAIN.. yesterday they were the REAL DEAL.. He put two keeper smallies in the boat lost three other.. One who thought he was the SPACE SHUTTLE.. because that’s about how high he jumped.. and then the kid put the BIG FISH FOR MY YEAR IN THE BOAT .. a real nice bucketmouth.. 4 pound plus.. and that spinning rod was bend in half and so was my son in law.. it was a day we won’t forget soon.. and He know can feel a plastic worm..

buy some senkos.. the REAL ONES>. yes they are expensive.. but they Catch fish.. you can texas rig both sides of them and then wacky fish them in the middle.. but the originals are soft easy to set the hook.. the gander ones you can use to hang sheet rock with..

hey guys, i know this is an old post but i wanted to give you a little update. I havent been out fishing much of late and when i have been fishing ive been targeting walleyes and panfish but yesterday i got out with the idea of catching some bass and i wanted to finally focus on using plastics. I headed out to a spot i hadnt fished before and found this guy hanging out on a ledge on my first cast. i caught him on a 3 1/2 inch watermelon color salted tube bait with a 1/4 oz jighead. Just a few twitches and he was on. I wasnt even sure i had a fish on until he started jumping. Felt pretty good to land my first fish using these tactics. Next outing i think ill have a little more confidence to stick with the plastic presentation. Thanks everyone for your advice!

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Walleye or bass: Keep reading up on techniques, keep fishing them, keep fishing them, keep fishing them.

With walleye, I was that guy. Now, plastics are my #1 go-to confidence bait in most situations. All it takes is a couple of good days where everything clicks and suddenly you’re a convert. Hang in there; GREAT walleye gear!

I’ve had a lot of luck in the past using wacky rigged senkos for bass. Fish them slow and WATCH YOUR LINE. A lot of times you won’t feel the bite, but can see your line tremble/twitch, which is likely a fish.

I found wader fishing helped me get used to wacky rigging/texas rigging. Drop that bait right next to you in the water with some slack in your line and you’ll see the action. Definitely fish the wacky rig nice and slow. Most of my bites on wacky rigs come right on the first or second drop.

I think for some techniques that’s why people don’t ‘feel the bite’, because in order to get that sweet sweet slow drop and wiggle action, you need slack in the line. Tougher to feel bites with slack in your line.