Plastic jigs

[snowman1251]

Does anyone have an idea how to keep plastic jigs and worms from sticking together? I started digging though my summer fishing stuff and had to throw away half of my plastic baits

Not a happy camper

any ideas welcome

snowman

[Deitz Dittrich]

Did you get them really cold.. Or are they older worms?. I have to admit, I have not had this problem.. and I have a ton of plastics?

I almost hate to ask... What brand plastics are they? OR are you talking about plastic and a jig sticking togeather... some paints on some jigs will react with plastic lures. Your better off storing plastics with only plastics and keep them in like colors.. and jigs by themselves.

[Chris Haley]

Deitz hit in on the head!!! You have to store plastics seperate from jigs AND weights. Or leave them in the bags they come in. Sun light heats em up and will lead to sticking together also. My bass bag is a soft sided bag that the plano boxes stand up in and is covered even when in the boat. It holds 5 plano boxes, ea with it's own technique.

[snowman1251]

They consist of twister tails and plasic worms. They were stuck plastic to plastic and they were in the original bags, various brands, they were never kept in the sun,removed from the boat when not being used, they were stored in the basement during the off season

I was able to save some by washing them in clean water, but have never had this happen before

[eurolarva]

I was fishing Buffalo today and I could sure use some help. My best luck was in about 20 ft of water and in 7 hours only caught 3. Tried flu flu, jigs and what worked best was a small white hook with minnow hooked eye to eye. Graph was showing them suspended at ten ft and that is where I had my bobber set. The three I caught were nice. 9.5,10.5 and 11. Does the snow have any effect? I caught them between 11 and 2 pm. Didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason the bobber would go down and I would catch one. Wish it would have done that seven more times.

[slab master]

I don't think the snow has as much of an affect as the rapidly cooling water temp also I noticed saturday when I drove by the lake the water looked green so I don't think the lake has turned over yet when that happens I think they will bite better

[eurolarva]

Seems to me it is easier to fish a lake before it turns. Maybe stress is an issue cause the crappies came in like logs but my thinking is there are only small pockets on the lake before turn over and after the entire lake has the same O2 levels. I have all week to experiment.

[hydro]

I doubt Buffalo ever stratified at all so it won't really "turn over", but it is cooling down. From your post, you probably found the best pattern for this time of year. I would get rid of the bobber and switch to a jig/minnow, as small as you can control at 20' and go after the pattern you found. Mark your fish with a float and then work them with the trolling motor. You'll find that they are all over the place. You should do well.

[eurolarva]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will give that a try tomorrow. I was hitting the three at 10 ft (suspended) I brought my LX5 and saw some activity on the bottom coming up to look but no takers. I am guessing this to be walleye or perch.

[hydro]

Try it at 18'-25' FOW there should be more fish at that depth.

[eurolarva]

I was in 20 ft of water. Fish were suspended at 10 ft. Not sure if the jig trick will work when they are suspended. I am on my way out soon.

[eurolarva]

Fished again for about 7 hours and kept 3 crappie. Best success was using a jigging rap with wax worms on the belly. I was using my LX5 and it was just like ice fishing. Caught a couple small crappie with jig and minnow. Could not seem to get them to bite on minnows.

[jigginjim]

Are you fishing on the north side of the lake? I was going to stop today and ask you were doing any good? I have been stuck shore fishing this past month. Looking for good shore spots for now, also trying a little bow hunting.

You could try using your ice fishing jigs. Maybe anchor?

[eurolarva]

Yeah North Shore in about 20 ft of water. Graph shows fish all over that area. My best luck has been with an anchor and using my flasher. Next time I go out I am bringing my ice fishing rods. My regular poles are too long to work with the flasher. I will get some Eurolarve from Vados as well. Crappie minnows do not seem to be doing the trick.

Shore line on the lake is pretty shallow. I was trying bobber fishing and beetle spins into shore and not even a nibble. I caught a couple of small perch but no sunfish at all.

Jim I am going out there probably Thursday and Friday around 10 am. If you are interested you are invited to come along.

[BartmanMN]

If you can fish later, I'd try the 4:30 to 6:30 PM period. If they are eating in their ice pattern then you should have luck during those times. Save some for us though.

[hydro]

Bartman,

I may be interested in that time, weather and work permitting.

Send me contact info at j hoppe at bwig dot net

[eurolarva]

Went out till 6pm on friday and the best I could do was some small crappie on a jigging rap. Lots of interest in the lures I put down there but no takers. Nothing interested in Crappie Minnows. Going to try BeeBee or Sylvia next. Lake is way too green. Local guy explained some Creamery that used to be near the lake polluted it real bad. He was not sure what kind of clean up they did.

[jigginjim]

What did you have for water temp. on friday? I saw you on the water, I was going to yell out to you but traffic was going by to fast. Next time hit Buffalo get me a shout. I get the bait of your choose.

[eurolarva]

Around 47 degrees. I stayed till 6 and could not coax the fish to bite. Caught some small ones on the jigging rap. Rain kind of made me anxious to leave. Forgot to bring my rain gear and got pretty wet then cold.

[hydro]

As far as growing crappies goes, green is good. Buffalo gets a lot of runoff from agricultural and residential areas and as such has all sorts of nutrients for algae to grow. The recent rains have washed plenty of fertilizer into Buffalo.

I think the guy mentioning the creamery may have been referring to the Clearwater river watershed which used to have problems from the effluent put out by the creamery in Watkins. During the '70s, they dumped many tons of pollutants into the Clearwater river and subsequently polluted the entire watershed, including Clearwater Lake. Things are much cleaner there now, but there are also significantly fewer crappies with the cleaner water.

[jigginjim]

Launching a little be tougher now that docks are pulled.

[eurolarva]

Buffalo has a nice deep launch. Waders are key though.

[jigginjim]

You must be launching at the Northwest ramp. The ramp in town is JUNK.

[hydro]

Took advantage of the nice weather this afternoon and went out on Buffalo for some crappies. The pattern is solid and very typical for this time of year. I worked a flat of 19'-21' water in the north central part of the lake. The fish are everywhere, I covered hundreds of yards and marked groups of fish the whole way. Got my 10 in about an hour, fishing a yellow jig tipped with a minnow. The bite is very light but consistant, from the bottom up a couple of feet. Fish the jig fairly still and keep the boat moving painfully slow, as a tight vertical line is critical.

Go Get Em!

[BartmanMN]

Man, wish I could have made it out there with you today. Let me know.

[federline]

Hydro, that's my favorite pattern for fall crappies on Buffalo. I put my boat away for the year, too busy with work and fall chores. Thanks for the update, I'm fishing vicariously now. :-)