opinions?

[crappieman]

im looking to try new styles of bass fishing that involve soft plastic lures instead of crankbaits and poppers. i just want oppinions and how to use different types of plastics.

[bamabassman]

texas rigged worms, craws, and my favorite LIZZARDS,lol. carolina rig works great too. drag em, hop em, inch em along the bottom.

[IowaBasser]

Texas rigged plastic worms are perhaps my favorite bait... they're super versatile. I flip 'em around docks and stumps, swim them over weeds and lilly pads and let them flutter into openings in the vegitation. I will also fish them like a jig on a submerged creek, the outside edge of a weed line or almost any structure over 6 or 7 feet.

In rivers I use just big enough of a bullet sinker so the current keeps the plastic worm moving along the bottom. I landed quite a few nice small-mouth this way last fall.

Don't over-look the power of having a worm rigged on a second rod when fishing spinner baits... if you miss a fish on a spinner-bait, immediatly follow-up with a worm where you missed the fish. You'll be surprised how often this simple technique works if you've never tried it.

You can't go wrong with purple on cloudy day or in stained water. On brighter days and in clear water I like something like "green pumpkin" (a common color for a lot of Zoom baits)

[Bender]

The one plastic that just plain catches fish is a stick worm. There are tons of variations of the original Senko, and some work better than others. It is important that they are soft so they have the "wiggle" that makes fish bite it on the fall.

I prefer to wacky rig these most of the time. You can also Texas rig them weightless or with a weight.

I would suggest starting with Green Pumpkin color and maybe Watermelon Seed as well. Between those two colors you really can't go wrong.

Stick worms like this generally work better the slower you work them. Of any soft plastic bait out there, I believe this is the most popular and works the best in general. Of course I use the ones that we make, but to get started you can find these and any hook you want at your local tackle store.

[keithdog]

My favorite plastic technique is to pitch a t rigged beaver bait into cover and around wind blown banks. I use the Reaction Inovation Beavers and a 4/0 - 5/0 EWG style hook t rigged. I'll add a 3/8 oz. Tungstin weight and peg it up tight to the nose of the beaver with a BPS rubber bobber stop. Best plastic combo I've ever used.

[WatterBoy]

In addition to what the other guys have suggested, I would also highly recommend a 5" wacky-rigged senko or a creature bait on a dropshot set-up. This has worked incredibly well for me for both LM and SM.

[Bassboss]

Texas rig!

Old as dirt, versatile, and EFFECTIVE! All you need is a decently sensitive rod, a reel, and some low stretch line and you're good to go. You can rig pretty much any plastic on it, popular ones are berkly powers worms, and zoom lizards. I really wanna get some 8" purple mann's jelly worms this season to try out on the T-rig this season though.

[Jrob78]

I would probably say weighted Texas rig too. To me, it's the soft plastic technique to cut your teeth on. Get a bag or 2 of 7" Power worms, some 4/0 EWG hooks and some 3/16oz bullet weights and go to town.

[Fish30114]

I think this is technically 'shaky head' style, but it is a style with worms and soft craws etc. that I really like. The 'Spot Remover Pro Model' weighted hook, with the spring, makes a lot of soft baits really produce for me. I really like fishing various soft craw baits with it.

You basically 'screw' the front of the bait, worm/craw/grub onto the spring, and then 'skin hook' the hook of the Spot Remover through the bait. I love the way a Senko worm, grub (like the Yamamoto H-Grub) work on this rig. With the flat head of this rig, the bait flutters up in the water, like the craw 'claws' --and I have a ton of fish pick it up on the drop, right after the cast hits the water, or after I pop it up and down....I fish it more vertially than a lizard, where I like to just twitch it along the bottom, like a lizard would crawl across the bottom, twitch, twitch, twitch--wait a bit, and twitch, twitch, twitch, again, just scooting it across the bottom, over structure etc. and wait for the pickup. Using Flouro really helps the feel, and hookup percentage, plus the picky ones just don't see the flouro as much, so I really recommend trying some flourocarbon when you try these methods, ESPECIALLLY if you have really clear water.

Like others have said, I find it best to fish it slowly with these methods, it definitely takes a little more 'patience', but the anticipation is great!!

Some craw type baits, like the Yum Money Craw and Rage Craw, have reall good action, and you can rig them on the Spot Remover and get some extra casting distance, and kind of combo fish it, reel them along like a swimbait for a little bit, and then let it get to the bottom, and pop it along.

Have fun with your new techniques!