Types of Panfish Plastics

[Matt Johnson]

[Note from Admin: Click Here to see CrappieTom Plastics.]

I've seen several people ask about the different types and styles of plastics that are available for panfish. It can be confusing sometimes and I thought I'd start a topic to identify the different types of plastics and when and what they are used for. Maybe this will clear up a few things when certain plastics are mentioned...

Paddle Tail

Curly Tail

Twister Tail

Minnow

Stinger- rat tail

Tube

Umbrella Tube

Minnow Tube

Craw

Assassin

Slug

Critter

Tiny Worm

Nymph

Double Tail

Shrimp

Swim Fin

Tassle Tail

Hard Head

These are just a few to start things off and are some of the more common plastic styles for panfish. There are also a huge assortment of insect plastic imitations as well by several different brands. Also, each brand may have something similiar to what is shown above but call it by a different name or may have altered it slightly. But as a general rule of thumb, when you hear the mention of a Paddle Tail or Paddytail, you can assume something similiar to the above picture(s), same with Twister Tail or Tube, etc.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[delmuts]

good job matt . this should help fill in some of the blanks for folks when all of the different kinds/types of plastics are talked about. del

[Lost]

Matt, thanks again for sharing some good information. I was wondering about some of these myself. Maybe this should be turned into a sticky for a couple weeks for all to have a chance to see.

We all need to keep in mind that what is shown here is not the primary color of these types of plastics. They come in a huge variety of color patterns.

[Oldtyme]

Great idea Matt.

I purchased these last week, thought it was an interesting design. Caught a few on them last week.

Called a "Crappie Pup" and are sold by a professional bass shop

[CrappieJohn]

I too have used these, but not with much luck. Another product that I have tried with the split tail is from Fall Baits and called the Hottie....a sister to the flicktail. I do not fare well on those either. For some reason the split tails and I are not good company. The puddle jumper is yet another.

Other anglers seem to do well using these split tailed baits, but I have little luch. I do have a theory though: I fish a heavily stained water. The normal secchi level is about 2 feet in times of "clear" water. Being fish that study and target baits, I think the crappies are zeroing in on just one side of the baits tail creating a lop-sided hit. The hook gets missed even though the hit seems solid. Without any way to argue the point, it will remain as my theory.

I don't have "hit/miss" problems with tubes or baits with single tails. And I have been able to catch fish using these bait mentioned, don't get me wrong. It is just that I have noticed a definite decline in the hooking percentages....enough to make me not use them on even a regular basis.

[delmuts]

i have had good luck with the small twin tails;( 3/4 in) but as tom said , they seem to work best in clear water.

[Matt Breuer]

I love using Crappie Pups from Bass Pro. I bought several colors awhile back and have had great success on them. One great option with these baits is for those of you who make your own beetle spins. They've worked great in this scenario for me for a couple of years now, and I don't seem to have the troubles with hooking percentages either!

[MNice]

How do you rig the plastics? I've had only marginal success with small jigs, both horizontal and vertical. Any rigging tips??

[Oldtyme]

I guess I didn't mention but I use the pups on a beetlespin type lure also. They are a bit heavier than a standard tube so it's easier to get a long cast.

I'm getting really good using the spinners as far as noticing strikes,etc. This is season 2 using them & I've had more success with those than live bait.

As far as the other question that was asked about hooking them...you just thread them on the hook, when the plastic starts to make the bend, push the hook through & continue threading on till you get to the jighead.

[CrappieJohn]

In open water all of my jigging with plastics is done with a horizontal jig. Tubes are done on a head (called a "slip-in" head) that slips into the body of the plastic itself. Some of the stingers and other random plastics are done likewise. They will all have hollow bodies to accomodate the jighead.

Solid bodied plastics are fished on ball head jigs. Weights are up to the user as is the preference to having a "collar" or a keeper barb for holding the plastic in place. I personally prefer those jigs without the collar or barb of any kind.

Colors are a matter of personal preference.

Custom Jigs and Spins has the Shrimpo (maybe the Ratso) that is a vertical jig equipped with a rat tailed plastic. If used in the larger sizes I see no reason a person could not tease some tight lipped fish in heavy cover into biting. And for another vertical presentation, I know of a couple of people who put a 2" twister on an aberdeen hook of about a #4 size, pinch on a large shot a foot above it, and rip-jig this up and down once a school of suspended fish are found. The only variation is how far above the hook they place the shot. They will lower this set-up a foot or so below the fish being marked on the electronics and then rip it up about four or five feet....then let it free fall back down. Most of the time the slack never gets out of the line. I have done this a couple times with limited success.

What you read here are generalities in how we fish. Use your imagination and try some idea that comes completely off the wall, you never can tell what will be a winner. I would hazard a guess though that 95% of the people who fish plastics are doing so in a horizontal fashion.

[ivegottabite]

Great post Matt! I was wondering what types of plastics some guys were talking about. Another good batch of information shared for all to see

[Lost]

I've been having a lot of luck on this little guy:

I've been using orange. They're actually only 1 inch long. The smaller panfish have been attacking it but I've only actually been hooking larger fish with it.

[Matt Johnson]

Good one Joe! That's another type of Nymph style plastic. I've done well on those as well. Only problem is that the long tails rip off very easy and before you know it all you have on is a stubby body. It doesn't take long to go through a package of those plastics when the pannies are snappin.

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[CrappieJohn]

A couple of newbies to the plastics world are soon to be available thru JRs tackle. Both feature a fine-ribbed body and either a rat-tail or a paddletail. With some help in a while we will get some pics of these up here.

The Crappie Rat Grub is a rat-tailed bait that sinks slowly and has that teasing tail to get tight lipped crappies to bite. These are excellent for using after a cold front passes and the fish have gone into deep structure. Not unlike those plastics used during the winter for tough bites, they shine when you need to put something right on the nose of neutral to negative fish to get them to hit.

Crappie Rat Grub

The paddletailed bait is called the Crappie Stub Grub. Shorter than the other commercial standard paddletails, these baits are also slow sinkers. The tails kicking action gets hits easily when the fish are doing their thing in stable weather.

Crappie Stub Grub

Both of these baits feature a soft, finely ribbed bodies. Not only does the ribbing trap air causing the slower drop rate that other similar plastics lack, but the ribbing gives the baits a very "soft" , natural feel. When hit, the fish feel a "give" like a natural bait....not the hard feel of other plastics.

I have been testing these baits for three years and they are fish getters. They will be available in, I think, 14 different colors in each style of bait. Just as soon as the final packing details are ironed out and they hit the shelves, I will let everyone know of cost and how to obtain these baits.

[Matt Johnson]

I'm very excited to try out the new line of CrappieTom plastics. The Rat Grub is going to be phenomenal for changing up on the stinger for several applications. The Stub Grub is going to be a new mainstay for a lot of anglers. The ribbed bodies of these baits are going to really incorporate a slow-fall approach that is going to drive pannies crazy! Some excellent color options are going to be available as well!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson

[FisherMissis]

Matt, thanks so much for starting this post with the awesome pictures. It really helps clear up some of the confusion.

[delmuts]

the crappies are starting to spawn here in N.E. iowa.( small lake;100 acres) don't know the water temps. but with the sunny days earlier in the week they have moved in. the males are very dark, and the females are bloated. they are every where around the rocks. with the cold front today; we started with dark body with a char. paddle tail. as the morning wore on , that bite stopped . after trying tubes,twister tails,and a smaller style of paddle tail. i resorted to trying the CJ&S wdgees. they worked. not a supper great day, but my uncle had come up and he got to take home some tasty fillets.as Tom has said. if one don't work; keep trying!

[Tom Johnson]

I've had good luck with a Stinger in red/white for crappies. I'm also a big fan of plastics for panfish.

[BDR]

Hey Tom, Welcome to FM. You look familiar, nice Crappie.

[EYEHUNTER10]

Interesting forum here wish i would have found it sooner, I too have tossed out the livebait and am using the good old tube with a 1/32 jig head, and honestly I have outfished everybody everywhere I have went wether on shore or by boat so far this spring, making a few people sore along the way I'm sure, but if they would simply ask I would glady share my secret, Its not rocket science, just plastic lol. I have played with just about every color tube I can get my hands on, and also invested in about 1000 1 - 2" mister twisters and have done even better on them when the action is good. I'm pretty astonished at how predictible crappies can be, once you know the body of water you fish you can actually make the swith to the right color before the weather changes like before the clouds come or sun starts to pop out, or if the wind strenghtens or dies down. After fishing three weeks I have noticed a strong pattern to make along story short I ran out of the black tubes with the chartuse tail today, and notice I only have a couple of the red/white tubes left, and next on my restocking list is the pink/white at a close third. The other colors have produced very limited results for me. THEM ARE THE TUBES, the twisters suffered simular damage with a solid orange 1 inch model running out first, followed second by the solid yellows, and black being next on the restocking list. Its been some great fishing, and I wont be buying any minnows or waxies again for open-water slabs. Ok now for the question. Tubes or twisters?? The tubes seem to out produce the twisters most of the time unless you are in the perfect conditions then the twisters rule, but only on the retrieve, in fact the best I've done was in 9 feet of water with 6.6 feet of line between the bobber, and the jig/twister and slow trolling with the electric, but they were smaking it at up to 2.2 mph which is really moving I dont even lindy rig for walleyes at that speed. I'm really not sure what i'm asking but the tubes come in a 2 tone color a solid main body, and then a differnt tail like red/white pink/white black green whatever, not the 1" mister twisters only 1 solid color so the only way to have 2 colors is to change up the color of the jig head. Well i've noticed 1 solid pattern all spring no matter what plastic i use I can never reproduce a better color pattern by removing the bright orange jig head out of the equation, thats the only constant, well as of tonight i ran out of the orange jig heads tried every color in the book, still caught fish despite the cold and snow and wind, but with out the orange jig head it was a night and day differnce. So my question lies in whats more important the color of the jig head, or the plastic put onto the jig?? Any thoughts or am I just going crazy?? Plastics Rule Man Great forum here keep up the great work guys, it nice to finally see some guys who get all worked up over crappies I love it!!

[CrappieJohn]

Eye...

Often times the head color becomes paramount....at other tiimes it simply doesn't matter at all.

I tend to look more at the plastic's profile than I do the head color before the summer heat sets in. After that happens the head color becomes much more an issue for me....but then too my approach to the fish is much different as well.

This is what makes plastics fishing so enjoyable and challenging. Its a lot like peanut butter though....some like the creamy and others like the chunky. And then there are those who will either eat both or won't touch the stuff at all.

[EYEHUNTER10]

Well put I thought the head color has been "paramount" as well, you would think they would smack the led head it self if they really liked the head over the tail, it must just get there attention, as my bobber never stays still most of the time I prefer to let them chase it down and end up with a few larger fish that way usually, sometimes it flip-flobs, and the over aggressie baby crappies prefer the chase and the big ones want to window shop before commiting I think thats where the tube versus the twister really shines because a tube even in a light chop never stops moving where a twister takes a retrieve or a troll to get its action going. Hey Tom could you explain the Egg Absorbtion thing to me?? I'm sure you know what i'm taking about even though I dont very well.

[CrappieJohn]

Many fish, if unable to spawn due to water conditions or weather or whatever, will old the spawn instead of just dumping it. These fish will "re-absorb" the egg matter....it goes back into being a part of their nutrition only by osmosis instead of being something eaten.

[EYEHUNTER10]

Osmosis man what the hecks that? Lol can this actually affect the way they feed clear until the next spawn like the terrible winter we just had for pannies state-wide?? I have had heard it said, but kind of wrote it up as hog-wash, and blamed most of the terrible ice-fishing specifically for panfish on lack-of snow cover and lots of high pressure systems and the fsct that it made 12 inches of ice in 3 nights which made a lot of noise, followed closely behind by massive vehicle traffic, and well you know the rest, mostly i had to fish springs most of the winter to stay on any crappie action at all and they were terribly nocturnal in fact 9:15 p.m at night was a better bet than just about any hour of the day for some reason, I still had a good seson just had to stare at the vexilar a lot longer and drill alot more holes and stay away from the crowds, I heard a few people blame the fishing on the explosion of fresh water shrimp and all sorts of stupid things that didn't make much sense, but I know this past ice-fishing season was slow state-wide, and now that I bought a camera I know it had nothing to do with the fish not being in the lake, but more to do with there feeding habits, or lack of appetite, I do know most of the fish in minnewaska never dropped there eggs particularly the sunfish I'm not sure of the crappies and other species, but i'm almost sure it had something to do with why they prefered zooplankton over traditional ice fishing tactics, the smallest ratfinky was the ticket with a very small waxie or eurolarve and a real patient stare at the vex it was tough but I love the challenge, in fact the pannies challenged me more than the walleyes this season on waska, opposite of a normal year If there is such thing as a normal year any-more, you might think i'm crazy but at times I swear fish hear my vexilar, and i'm conviced that over the last 10 years we've trained these fish to be picky with all of our electronics just a thought thats stuck in my head.

[Oldtyme]

I finally got the culprits I ordered.

I'm really excited to get out this Sunday & give these a try. I intend to use these on my beetlespin type lure as well as a jigging under a bobber like others have.

These are the perfect size for panfish. I was expecting them to be larger but was very pleased to see how small they were.

I am posting a picture to show the difference between the Culprits & the Charlie Brewer slider grubs. Very similar.

I bought some Charlie Brewer jig heads,but have read not to hook them weedless like they are supposed to be used. I may not use them at all.

(click for large picture)

(off topic: Could someone tell me how to add water to an Adjust-a-bubble to make them sit lower/straighter, I could of swore it was do-able,but haven't figured it out. I didn't want to start a new topic for this )