Confidence in plastics

I like the challenge of using plastic for walleyes. This started back in 1977 when my good friend bought a mold to pour twister tails with. We poured, spilled, burnt, smelled up the house, stained the floor with more plastic than I care to remember. It was probably the second night before we finally figured out how hot the stuff should be before pouring into the mold. When we got our first batch of tails out to the river, I fished mine on a spinning rod with a 1/8 jig. Ray used a 1/8 oz jig on a fly rod to dip along the rip rap. We caught everything from strippers, cat fish, perch, small mouth bass, and I caught one walleye. I’m not sure who was hooked deeper, me or the fish. That was it for me, I knew then that walleye would bite on plastic. If some of you folks can remember back then, there wasn’t very much to chose from. As plastics have changed size and shape, not much else has. Presentations have not changed for the most part. Plastic threaded on a jig has been the standard. When Lucky Strike came out with a sassy shad type of plastic bait, I started using them over the twister tails. My success with them was unbelievable. CONFIDENCE grew by leaps and bounds in plastic baits. I have fished them with 1/8 oz. jigs up to 1 oz. jigs, but I always let the fish tell me what they want. I fished a large walleye tournament at Red Wing in 1990. I fished in a pack of about 75 boats at the Y below the dam. For about 3 hours that we fished there, with boats as close as 10 feet from us, it looked as if we were the only boat using plastic shad. All of the other boats were using jig and minnows. Most jig and minnow folks were getting short strikes. All of our fish were caught on plastic shad with the shad completely engulfed in the fishes mouth. That really taught me a lesson on pressured fish. SOMETHING DIFFERENT!! Super doos and ring worms are now part of my arsenal. The colder the water, the more I like plastic. The more you use a particular bait, the more fish you’ll catch on that bait. Then the more CONFIDENCE you’ll have in it. I have fished plastics from Dubuque to Red Wing, to Illinois River, to Saginaw Bay and some points in between. For pressured fish, my first choice is plastic. You don’t think it could be a CONFIDENCE thing, do ya?

Nice post there Mr plastic!….
it truly is no suprise how we stick with what gives us confidence…. Ive used plastic for years… but Ive not been as successful with the shad bodies as it seems you have….. though certainly Ive had success…. some days they are the main show….
so what sort of presentation do you favor for the shads? do you pretty much just vary it depending on the mood of the fish, ranging from a still presentation like a super doo… to a rip jigging technique? and including everything in between… like draggin, pop and glide, and just bobbing?….. do you have more success with the ringworms and superdoos these days? or are the shads still your main bait… and have you used the newer swiming style shads?

Nice post plasticman! I am going to have to agree with what you said 100%. For me, plastics are the only game in town on almost all occasions when the water temps fall in to the lower 40’s. It takes a really tough bite to get me going to bait in the cold water periods

I know enough about the fishing plastics skills of Art, James, and Dustin to know that if you guys keep sharing with the rest of us about fishing plastics in the river there will be alot more plastic fisherman on the river this year. Keep talkin and the rest of us will keep learnin and catchin them eyes on plastics too. Thanks, Bill

Response to Rivereyes
I’ll be glad to answer your questions the best I can. It doesn’t mean that this answer will be right in every situation, as you know. My all time favorite way to fish plastic is by casting them. No bait to fly off and you can really make a lot of casts to a particular spot in a short amount of time.

Vertical jigging is my second choice, when I’m fishing an area that I can catch fish in. If I have to fish wing dams to find fish, then my choice is 3-ways, or what some call a Dubuque rig. The jig must give me feed back to where my bait is in relation to the rocks of the wing dam. The jig could be any size from 3/8 oz. to 1 oz. Shad or any plastic is used on the jig. Anything can be used on the long line, live bait (OUCH!), or rapala’s. There are a lot of times that fish will only hit the jig. They will not come up for whatever you have on the long line. If that’s the case, take the long line off. Sometimes fish will only take the long line lure, then it pays to have it on there. At times when fish are suicidal, you may even get 2 fish on at the same time. Like I said the other night two 2 lb. fish going in opposite directions fight like a 6 pounder. So if you see a red Lund with a 50 hp Honda on it with two large nets in the boat it could be me. If you want to have a laugh watch someone try and get two fish in the same net at the same time.

Super doos are new to me, but I have them know thanks to EFN and Hoagie. We did fairly well with ringworms last year on your pool in the summer.

My wife says two pages is enough.
I write it – she types it.
Thanks for your reply.
Plasticman

Nice post. How long is your long line off of your dubuque rig. 18, 36 inches. thanks

I sure like all the attention that plastic baits are getting. I’ve been using artifical baits for walleyes for years, either soft plastics or crankbaits but allways interested in learning new tricks, thanks for the info!!!

It can be anywhere from 3ft. to 6ft. I run them on the long end usually.

I agree with you 100% plastic man. I really started using plastic about a year ago again, what a difference. Question, have you seen any of Berkley’s new 4 in. bass minnow(shad)? I have only used and found the 3 in. It’s been real hard to fine any real good river colors in the shad. Does Lucky Strike have a good selection of colors?

I too am now hooked on plastics… This year I plan to use K-Grubs even more… like over the weeds on Tetonka at night. Can not wait!!!! Have you seen the ” gold one”
2 cool
Dave “Hoggie” Hoggard

reply to Nord I have not tried the new Berkley Bass minnow maybe some one can chime in with info on them.I have not bought any Lucky Strike shad minnows in years mainly because I carry 2 1/2 cubic ft of plastic already.The Bait Shack in Dubuque has new Chart.and pink both with pearl.I did buy some of them today.They may work well in stained water. Thanks for your reply.////////plasticman