Walleye Plastics

[DARK30]

I like to bite a little piece of the body off (just like a good cigar) so the bend of the hook emerges just up from where the tail begins. This also will put the head of the jig nice and "comfy" close to the twister body too. My first choice is a 3" Meeny and an 1/8 oz sticky sharp jig on a steady retrieve.

Good Luck! I can't wait for those "up a creek walleyes"!

[Tony Boshold]

No body else uses "Walleye Assassin's"? They make a twister with the shad style body, my money bait in albino shad. These only come in a 4" size. They also make a regular twister same size but I prefer the shad bodied one. Cabela's sells them. This is unlike any other twister out there, the tail comes off side ways instead of up and down. The plastic is so soft it swims at the slowest retrieves. It is also thick and thumps harder than most others.

I go with the simple colors Pearl,( or white), black, and maybe chartreuse.

1/8th and 1/4oz jigs with a good gap.

I caught my PB eye here in Illinois on a 6" Zoom lizard while bass fishing. I always keep a couple bags of 4" and 6" black lizards in the bag with when I'm pitching plastics now. Walleyes love water dogs.

With all that said the most widely used would be a 3" twister on an 1/8th oz head. More fish have probably been taken on that setup than any other.

I like the ring worms also, the munchies ringworm is great at 3.75" size.

Another in the thumper tail is the Northland Mimick Minnow. Those swimming jig heads they come with are a huge part of the action they have.

Senko's work great on shallow fish, especially rigged texas style on current areas with snaggy bottoms. Accidentally figured this out while targeting smallmouths in a river. The eye's were so shallow they would hit and be on top of the water rolling, thought they were smallies.

If you are getting short hits on plastic you probably need a lighter jig head. They usually eat it so good they have them down there throat. No waiting, feel the hit and set the hook.

For all you's crawler harness users the rubber "crawlers" from gulp and others work great over live crawlers. Usually stops the little chits (like perch and rockies) from beating up live ones.

My .02.

[eyepatrol]

Thanks much Tony! More items to add to my shopping list. I might even have to add a new tacklebox to that list now.

Plastics seem to be making a big entrance in the walleye market. Maybe they have been for years, but I obviously have not used them to any degree. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming season to give these a try. Personally, I'd much rather be casting to specific spots than sitting on my rump trolling. However, I do realize there is a time and place for trolling and casting live baits...I've done it all my life. Time to make a change...and hopefully for the better!

Thanks to all for providing such insightful information.

I guess I do have two last questions regarding the use of plastics for walleyes....are the use of these presentations water temperature specific (i.e. - good for cold water situations only) or are they good to use throughout the entire open water season? Are certain plastics good for certain water temps (i.e. - shad plastics & twisters for cold water; rignworms for warm water)?

bc

[Team Otter]

Eric,

For river and lake applications, I like to use plastics during pre-spawn conditions, when the water temperature can be variable. But, I typically make the switch back to bait when the water temperature reaches 55.0 F for sure and then stay with that presentation until about the 4th of July. Then I slowly start to transition back to plastics and then let the fish tell me if they want a crankbait, live bait, or plastic.

Ringworms rule the roost in my boat during cold water periods, both spring and fall. I have found the swim and shad-style baits to perform slightly better in warmer water.

[eyepatrol]

Thanks for the info TO. I just didn't want to be fishing the heck out of the plastics, trying everything in my tacklebox, if it wasn't the right situation for it. It's really hard, IMO, to beat a good jig and minnow early in the season, and just because I'm stubborn , I'll probably start out the opener using that, but if I find them, I'll try making a switch and see how it goes (or if live bait isn't producing) Plastics and cranks will probably be the mainstay once we get towards July, as you mentioned.

Looks like Saturday will be the big shopping spree.

[Northlander]

Bass catcher when you get into the fish good this early season make a effort to try some different plastics. When you are catching fish and then they hit on your plastics you get confidence. Starting out with plastics on a slow bite will do the opposite. They are like everything else. If you dont have confidence in them you wont use them. Even when you should be.

[eyepatrol]

AGREED! (and a very good point!) Thanks for the tip, I will certainly do that. Hopefully I'll be able to update my avatar this year to a new pic with a fish I caught on plastics!

I will certainly post my experiences and results using plastics too. Always enjoy conversing on what has worked or didn't work, etc.

[eyepatrol]

Well, shopping yesterday was pretty fun. As for plastics, I bought a number of the Mister Twister products, but unfortunately, there wasn't much available in the way of the Exude plastics. I was though able to pick up some 3" Exude twisters in the black, white and chartreuse sparkle. Also got some shad plastics in the pearl white, black w/ gold sparkle and orange rust sparkle (not Exude though). Also got some Berkley products, but not as many as I would have liked. Couldn't find much in the way of ring worms that were on my list. Didn't find much for other plastics on my list as well, so I'll be doing some on-line shopping now.

Bought lots of jigs too. Had a hard time determining what to get as there are thousands of them out there, literally, but I did pick up some regular jigs along with a good supply of max-gap style jigs. A bit of a spendy day as I got more than just plastics, but it was long overdue for new tackle!

Thanks for all the great info.

[RandyR]

Northlander, you are right on when you talk about confidence building when trying a new lure or technique. You must absolutely believe something will work to have success, and the best time to try something new is when you are on a good bite. I tried plastics in Canada last year when we were on a hot bite and found that live bait still produced greater numbers (in this particular situation),but plastics definitely caught bigger fish. I spent about $50.00 on different plastics this spring and I am dedicated to experiment with them this season after having some success in Canada.

Another bit of advice that is similar is that I look for new spots on familiar water when the bite is on, it ties in to the confidence factor. If the bite is tough I hunker down on the higher percentage spots I already know about and tough it out. It is easier to concentrate when I am on familiar structure that has consistantly produced in the past.

[Northlander]

I agree RandyR. Confidence is HUGE in anything in life. I have thousands of dollars of gear. Some I have confidence in some I dont. Guess wich ones get wet.

[shae1986]

Ok i am probably going to be made fun of, but i guess that'll happen.

I have never tried just straight soft plastics for walleyes, i fish plastics a lot for bass, but not for walleye. So my question is this, when do i do this, what time of year, early, middle, late, or is this effective all year. I really dont know so please enlighten me and it will be something i will throuw in my walleye box this year. Thanks all.

A. Shae

[walleyeking#8]

shae, plastics can work anytime of the year. I have personally done well with just a jig and some type of plastic spring, summer and fall. It isn't always effective, but if the fish are feeding, a lot of times it will work. I would have to say the most effective times of year are the spring and the fall. Some plastics that can be very effective are the twister tails, or ringtail grubs in assorted colors, the berkley power minnows work well and I have personally done well with a red/white tube (crappie size) on a 1/16 ounce plain jig head in the springtime. There are many other plastics that are also very effective. Give some of these a try and you won't be dissapointed.

[Northlander]

All year long. Even under the ice. Spring and fall is always a good bite but midsummer plastics can also work. Its a long time experimenting with them and I still dont know much about them and how in certain water temps certain plastics work better than others. This is where Crappie Tom was a boatload of info. He knows his plastics.

[Team Otter]

shae1986, get made fun of here? Highly unlikely.

You can also browse this post from page 1 on through. Lots of good dialogue that has already answered your quesitons.