live bait vs plastic bait

[robert aldrich]

i hardy use live bait in the winter because i found these soft plastic eyes( pink, white, red) eyes that the perch like. for walleyes i use a live minnow with its head cut off sometimes.

[reinhard1]

a small spoon with the head of a minnow is deadly for walleys and sometimes even perch. i even catch smelt on that presentation. when the fish are agressive even the gulp minnow heads work well, but you cant beat the real thing most of the time. good luck.

[Will]

+1

[Chad Peterson]

+2.

[fishersofmen]

They both have their place. It all depends on the application and the mood of the fish. I typically have both on me for this reason. The fish will let you know what they want.

[mww24]

I have always used waxies and minnows with a few plastics mixed in. This year for panfish I'm going to try and use only plastics and see what happens. I bought a bunch of gulp baits to get scent. I will still use live bait for walleye fishing though or jigging raps.

[Finlander]

I mix some of my non scented plastics with Berkely Powerbait plastics. Seems to work good that way!

[TylerS]

If the panfish are absolutely going nuts and you're sick of switching out the live bait, that's when I give plastics a whirl if for nothing else then their longevity. But 95 percent of the time, I'm using some form of live bait.

[JIvers]

I always carry waxies and spikes with me when I am going after panfish. Like others have said, most of the time the live bait outfishes artificial for me on panfish.

Occasionally I get in to a hot bite where the bluegill will hit Berkely panfish bait as well as live bait (also mentioned above), so I make the switch for simplicity's sake.

I did have one morning last winter where the bluegill in a small pond actually preferred a small Ratso-type tail on a small ice jig to live bait. I noticed the fish were hitting my live bait when I jigged it, tried a Ratso, and they actually liked it better. That is the first time that has happened to me ice-fishing for panfish.

With walleye I always tip my spoon or jigging bait with a minnow head, although here too I have had hot bites where the eyes would hit a lure with no meat on it.

[robert aldrich]

true, it also can depend on how murkey the water is.

[Borch]

For me it's plastics, darters, jigging raps 90% of the time unless I'm working two lines then I'll drop down a live minnow. Otherwise I'll have a minnow head on a jigging spoon.

[robert aldrich]

true, but one thing i would never leave home without is my marcum showdown troller because it is as small as a IPOD and has all the fetures of a big flasher. i can jump from hole to hole in 5 seconds flat.

[TravP]

Robert, can you elaborate your findings using live bait vs plastics in murky water?

[mww24]

Finlander. I love the idea of mixing non scented into the scented jars. More bang for your buck for sure. I will be doing that.