Plastics vs. Live Bait

[Matt Johnson]

There are a lot of options out there for ice anglers and live bait has been a top producer no doubt about it, but what about plastics? I often find myself dropping down small finesse plastics throughout the winter months and for a variety of species. Sometimes I fish them plain, and other times I'll tip them with a maggot or two. And then there are those days when live bait just plain old outproduces plastics.

Small finesee plastics are available to us in many different sizes and colors. And they resemble, in a larger fashion, much of what panfish and other species feed on under the ice.

I've had pretty good luck in the past with Custom Jigs and Spins Ratsos and Shrimpos. These immitate plankton and other micro-organisms, and can be very effective in different situations.

But, when plastics don't cut it, we always have our trusty live bait...maggots and minnows. I fish a lot of maggots, mainly Eurolarva or spikes, but waxies are brought out from time to time too.

Anyone else have any thoughts on plastics through ice?

When do you prefer plastics over live bait or visa versa?

Ice is coming!!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Blaine]

I've had great results with soft plastics. I use them year round but really got into them through the ice last year. I use a 2 1/2" Fin-S fish made by Lunker City. There are made locally so I'm not sure you have them out that way???? I match them up with either a 1/8 or 1/4 oz jig head and do verry well on panfish and bass. Another one that i really like is the 2" Storm Wildeye. They make them in some very realistic patterns. My favorite for the ice is the bluegill and baby bass.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Matt- as you know I mostly fish bluegills and crappie.. much like you do. I think plastics deffinatly have a place in the fishing industry. As they can be quite cost effective and also have a much larger variety of color than bait does. As you know I am all plastic during the summer.

With all that being said, I still reach for the eurolarve first when it comes to fishing the hard water. Its what I have the most confidence in, and we all know that confidence really does matter when it comes to putting fish on the opposit side of the ice than they are used to~

[Matt Johnson]

Blaine,

I don't think I've seen the Fin-S before, sounds pretty interesting though. I've seen the Storm though. So you like larger plastics through the ice?

Exude,

I thought you were going to say something about a Marmooska

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Deitz Dittrich]

O.K... now that you mention it.. I love them Marmooka's!!!!... may have to start paining my own up, because they could put a little more thought in the colors!.. LOL

[Northlander]

Take some of the tenticles off of your Berkley Power Tubes and put a couple on a small jig. Crappie and Gills love them. Experiment with colors and even split them down the center or trim edges for extra crazy actions.

[Ray Esboldt]

I would never consider winter fishing panfish without live bait. I'm sure you can pull some out of a suicidal bite with plastics, but most of the time you would be putting yourself at a disadvantage.

With that being said, I have had some success with certain live bait imitations. And, I have caught my fair share of crappies on the smallest size of jigging Rapalas.

Speaking of jigging Rapalas, here's a tip on when they really work well. If you get into the motherload of crappies, but many of them happen to be small, drop a jigging Rap into the pack and work it fairly agressively. The bigger fish seeing blipping amongst the little guys and rush into rip it.

[Seabass77]

I had great luck last year with the shrimpo's from customer jigs and spins. Although, my success is difficult to correlate with any particular weather patterns or lakes. I plan on using these even more this year to pull up some nice big slabs.

[Blaine]

Matt, they also make Slug-Go's. Have you seen them? The Fin-S fish in my opinion is one of the most versatile baits made. I use them from 2 1/2" of panfish all the way up to 10" for pike and stripers Here is a pic of the 10"

They come in a million different colors but I stick with the natural ones like Alewife, Arkansas shiner, Ice shad and Perch. When fishing in open water, I throw them unweighted 99% of the time. You work them like you would a jerk bait, When you get the right cadence on the retrieve, you can get them to walk from side to side nearly 3 feet! I rip them a lot too, the tail really gives it a good vibration that you can feel all the way down the rod. They work great as a topwater or slow them down and they get down deep, I'll use the 10" in 12 feet of water with no weight. Look up Lunkercity.com Their HSOforum is a little behind the times but it will give you a better idea of what I'm talking about

I use a combination of bait and jigs. Here in CT, we are allowed 6 lines so I usually run 5 tip ups and jig the holes inbetween flags...

[Perchpapa]

I have had great success catching perch at first ice with Berkley Power Wigglers. Generally the fish are more agressive at first ice and will hit that stuff pretty hard. But in the late winter Perch tend to prefer the real thing.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I've never used plastics under the ice before. I'm a spoon guy. However, after reading the posts on this topic I think it's time to give em a try.

If nothing else, it's a good excuse to go to the tackle shop and buy more stuff!!!!!!

[Matt Johnson]

Blaine,

Nice striper! I've heard of Slug-Go's. Sounds like I'm going to have to try and find me some of these Fin-S fish and give them a whirl.

Does anyone tip their jigging spoons with plastics?

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[Borch]

Last year the Ratsos and Shrimpos were my go to bait for crappies. They were out fishing live bait 4 to 1 on most of my outings last winter. In fact I only had three times where live bait outfished the plastics in my last 15 or so trips.

You'll bet I'll keep on using them and do some more experiementation.

Borch

[Rick]

I have to agree with Borch on the plastics. When the fish are hitting on plastics, you will more than likely heavily outfish live bait. So it pays to experiment with both.

You can see the Ratso, Shrimpos and other Custom Jigs and Spins plastics and MORE at:

http://TackleCity.com