My first experience with soft plastic lures was a painful lesson. I was about 10 years old, but I distinctively remember ruining my Dad's prized tackle box when the plastic baits I insisted he buy for me created a chemical reaction and melted my lures and his new tackle box into a sticky oozing mess.
The scolding I got was enough to sour my taste for soft plastic baits. After all, who would spend hard-earned money on lures that melted at the sight of a tackle box?
That was 20 years and an untold number of fish ago. Plastic lures have made a major impact on the sport fishing scene during the last two decades. Better and larger assortments of plastic baits and the introduction of wormproof tackle boxes have combined to make soft plastic lures one of the must-have items of fishing.
The soft plastic lure craze caught on like fireworks on the Forth of July. Bass anglers were the first to discover their advantages. It wasn't long before every bassin' man had a selection of worms, grubs, reepers, and lizards in his tackle collection. Unfortunately, most anglers still haven't discovered the subtle advantages plastic baits provide the pike, musky, walleye, and panfishing enthusiast.
Twister tails, marabou-tipped grubs, shad bodies, twin-tail grubs, split-tail grubs, plastic worms, craws, reepers, lizards, jerk baits, spinnerbait trailers, and tube-style grubs are just a few of the plastic lure dressings anglers can choose from.
Most anglers have at least a few of these plastic lures in their tackle box, but few understand how plastic can make most fishing presentations better.
Dressing up a jighead, spinnerbait, weighted hook, or other lure with a plastic bait provides four important advantages: action, color, buoyancy, and texture/taste.
Action
Action is the most obvious addition plastic baits offer any fishing presentation. The twirling tail of a Mister Twister grub or tempting posture of a plastic crawfish imitation has been the undoing of countless game fish.
Most styles of plastic baits are designed to provide some degree of fish-attracting action. The type of action produced may be subtle as with a plastic worm rigged Texas style or aggressive in the case of the Mister Twister Double Tail grub fished on a leadhead jig.
The angler's job is to determine which type of action is best for the fishing situation at hand. In cool or cold water, a plastic bait that produces a subtle action is best. Bass anglers depend heavily on the Texas-rigged plastic worm or a jig dressed with a plastic crawfish body when fishing for inactive bass. These lures are conducive to being fished on bottom and can be worked slowly to tempt reluctant bass.
When the waters begin to warm, the rules change. Bass become more active and willing to chase and strike fast-moving lures. Switching to plastic baits that can be fished aggressively enables the angler to cover more water in his or her search for willing biters.
An action-tail grub matched with a darter-head jig or one of the new plastic jerk baits like the Slug-Go are excellent choices. Both of these lures can be cast long distances and retrieved at a brisk pace.
The same rules apply to walleyes. Often thought of as finicky feeders that require live bait, walleyes can be taken using plastic lures and an aggressive fishing style during summer.
"During the summer months, plastic baits often produce better than live bait," says Ken Ellis a walleye pro and plastic bait fanatic. "Jigs outfitted with an action-tail grub are effective when cast to fish-holding bottom structure or dragged along weed edges with an electric motor."
"Action-tail grubs must be moved at a fairly brisk pace to keep the tail wiggling," adds Ellis. "Fish these lures with a lift-and-drop presentation that keeps the bait moving and contacting bottom every few feet."
Ellis prefers to fish action-type plastic lures without the benefits of live bait. "Walleyes don't scrutinize moving lures," claims Ellis. "Providing an accurate presentation that puts the lure within easy reach of waiting walleyes is more important than tipping the lure with live bait. If an artificial plastic bait passes close enough to catch their interest, chances are good a willing volunteer will make the fatal mistake."
Live baits like minnows, nightcrawlers, and leeches are also difficult to work with under the warm summer sun. Minnows quickly die in lukewarm water, crawlers start to suffer the moment their bedding rises above 50 degrees, and leeches can't tolerate bathwater conditions.
Live bait also has the nasty habit of attracting non-target species like bluegills, perch, bullheads, and other small fish. Furthermore, live bait doesn't stay on the hook as well as plastic lures, forcing the angler to change bait often and waste valuable fishing time.
Color
Adding color is the next function of a plastic grub body. Available in color patterns the imagination can only begin to comprehend, colorful plastic lures provide a vital service in dingy or off-colored waters.
As water clarity decreases, the fish's zone of awareness or strike zone shrinks. Bass, pike, walleyes, and other game fish aren't going to strike or chase lures they can't see. A hook dressed with a brightly colored plastic bait is easier to spot in dingy water and therefore a more helpless target.
Spinnerbaits with a colorful plastic trailer are a classic dirty water combination. Deadly on pike and bass, spinnerbaits and trailers are produced in every color of the rainbow. On any given day it's tough to predict which color fish will prefer, but it's a safe bet that an assortment of the classics will be well served. White, black, chartreuse, green, orange, blue, and purple are the standards most anglers live by.
When adding a soft plastic trailer, select one that contrasts with the color of the spinnerbait skirt. The contrasting colors will make the lure more visible in the water and increase the number of strikes.
The introduction of multicolored plastic lures is an important breakthrough on the plastic bait scene. The Kalin Triple Threat grub is just one example of a plastic bait that incorporates three different colors into one lure. A special process allows multiple colors to be used with the colors running and bleeding together to form an ugly shade of yuck!
Adding a plastic dressing to spinnerbaits, jigs, or spoons is a quick way to change colors. Compared to breaking off the lure and tying on a different one, trading plastic lure dressings is a simple and inexpensive step that allows anglers more freedom to experiment with color choices.
Buoyancy
Buoyancy is the third virtue of plastic baits and one of the most misunderstood features of fishing. When a plastic bait is added to a leadhead jig, spoon, spinnerbait, or weighted hook, the combination becomes more buoyant in the water and sinks slower. If a small lure like a 1/16-ounce jig is matched with a large plastic bait the process is greatly exaggerated.
Adding buoyancy to lures can have a dramatic influence on their effectiveness. Slowing down the free-fall decent helps keep the bait in the strike zone a few precious seconds longer. Panfish and bass anglers can benefit from the buoyancy effect by using light 1/16- or 1/32-ounce jigs in combination with grub or tube bodies. The super slow descent of these lure combinations allows the angler time to impart added darting or swimming action to his lure.
Largemouth, smallmouth, crappies, and white bass simply come unglued when a lure darts within their zone of awareness. A great way to tease these fish into striking, plastic lures play an important part in the buoyancy equation.
The buoyancy factor also makes weighted lures easier for fish to eat. When a bass or other fish decides to feed, it approaches the prey, opens its mouth, sucks in water by flaring its gills, and inhales the prey along with the surrounding water into its mouth. The fish's gill rakers act as prison bars that prevent the prey from escaping.
A lure that's weighted has resistance in the water and may not get completely inhaled despite the fact that the fish tried to eat it. This is why anglers are often plagued by short hits and missed fish.
Grub bodies, plastic worms, lizards, reepers, and craws can all be used effectively to add buoyancy to a jighead, spoon, spinnerbait, or weighted hook. In doing so, these lures will be easier for fish to eat than other lures that are less buoyant.
On the flip side, if the lure becomes to buoyant, maintaining bottom contact can become difficult with certain fishing presentations. Vertical jigging in deep water is a prime example. A contact sport, vertical jigging requires the angler to keep in touch with bottom while drifting or using an electric motor to move the boat.
Over-bulking a jig or slab-style jigging spoon with plastic makes the lure too buoyant and tough to feel as it settles to bottom. There's a fine line between needing the color, action, and scent plastic lures provide and avoiding the over-bulked syndrome.
Many anglers avoid this problem by using small plastic baits or selecting a slightly heavier jig, spoon, or in-line weight. Tiny twister and tube-type grub bodies intended for use on panfish can be just the ticket for deep-water fishing when too much bulk threatens the angler's ability to maintain contact with bottom.
Texture/Taste
Texture and taste are also important elements of plastic baits. The soft, chewy texture of plastic baits helps fool fish into hanging onto plastic lures long enough for the angler to detect the bite.
Taste and scent are closely related. Scent molecules released into the water allow fish to taste something before their lips even close around it. Thousands of times more acute than our own sense of smell and taste, game fish use these senses to locate food at a level we can't completely comprehend.
It's unlikely that fishing scents can lure game fish from great distances or turn negative-minded fish into savage feeders, but there's evidence that indicates fishing scents can improve angling success. Scent and taste are strong stimuli among most species of fish. Some species like catfish use their sense of smell and taste almost exclusively when hunting for food.
Lures which smell good to a fish are likely to end up getting tasted in a manner we as humans can appreciate. Adding bottled scent to lures isn't a new phenomenon in the fishing business, but impregnating scent into plastic baits is.
Products like Berkley Power Baits, Bionic Bait, Bass Pro Shops Caterpillar Bait, and Doctor Juice Chewee Juice baits have fish-attracting scents impregnated into these soft plastic lures. Convenient to use and effective, scented plastic lures are rapidly catching fire on the sport-fishing scene.
Plastic lures that aren't treated with these new scent and flavor enhancers, are often impregnated with salt another natural fish attractant. Anglers also have the option of adding their favorite fish scent as needed. Plastic lures hold and dispense various scent products into the water better than hard baits, making them the ideal choice when using bottled scents.
Most of the early scented plastic baits were targeted towards the bass fishing market. Plastic worms, craws, lizards, and spinnerbait trailers started the craze. Soon after twister-tail grubs, shad bodies, tube baits, and other plastic lures hit the market.
A wide variety of scent-impregnated plastic lures are available for bass, walleye, pike, and panfish. Most of these lures are designed to be fished in the same manner as traditional plastic lures. The only difference is the scent has already been added!
Plastic lures are great fishing baits. Unfortunately many of these soft baits are often tough to keep on the hook. The thin wire hooks used when Texas or Carolina rigging are especially tough to keep positioned on the hook properly.
"If a worm, grub body or other plastic lure persists in sliding down the hook shank, a little Super Glue can be used to attach the plastic firmly to the hook," says fishing educator Mike Norris. "Begin by threading the plastic lure part way onto the hook, leaving about half of the hook shank uncovered. Place a one or two drops of Super Glue on the hook shank and one drop on the head end of the plastic lure. Slide the plastic bait into place on the hook, being careful to avoid getting glue on your fingers.
"Make sure the head of the plastic lure is snugged up tight to the hook eye and the hook shank is aligned straight along the midline of the lure," adds Norris. "The molding seam on plastic baits is the perfect line to follow when rigging a hook into the soft plastic."
Once the hook is positioned properly, set the lure aside for a few minutes to give the glue time to dry completely. The Super Glue will keep the plastic bait attached securely to the hook until eager fish eventually rip and tear the plastic to bits.
Pre-rig this type of lure using several styles of plastic baits and different colors between fishing trips. A straight leader can also be added and the rigs stored on a chunk of foam or cardboard with slits cut to accept the leader.
Super Gluing plastic baits to a fish hook can also be used with leadhead jigs, floating jigs, and other hook types. Gluing plastic works especially well with leadheads and other weighted hooks that feature a collar designed to hold plastic baits. The collar provides increased surface area for the glue to adhere to.
The possibilities for using soft plastic baits to catch bass, walleye, pike, and other fresh water species are endless. Used in combination with jigs, rigs, spoons and many other lures, soft plastic baits deserve more credit and space in your tackle box.
Copyright (c) 1996 Mark Romanack. All rights reserved.
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