Favorite Plastics

[Mr. Pike1]

With the panfish season upon us I was wondering what everyones go to plastics might be. My favorites are as follows:

1. Mike Boettchers 1/32 "Pegleg"

- Pink head white body, green head purple body top the list but all work awesome.

2. Exude 1" twister tails. White and Yellow are my go to

3. Berkley 2" power minnnow and 1" power tubes.

4. Culprit paddle tails

5. Exude Micros

* I have yet to try the "crappie tom" stub grub or rat tail but I like the look and think they will do great. I intended on getting some to try at JR's last Saturday but the doors were closed.

** I also really like this soft artificial minnow I found but can not at the time think of the name. Very life like on a 1/32 jig and so soft that the fish hit in and hang on.

[harvey lee]

My favorite crappie jigs are

1-1" tubes white

2-Ratsos & Shrimpos

3-CT rat tails & stub grubs-new this year for me.

Sunfish- just a bunch of different of small ice jigs with a spike or a Ratso or a Shrimpo.

I would sum it up and say I never stray to far from the Ratos& Shrimpo,but this year I'm going to really fish the dickens out of the CT plastics.

Now,all I have to do is stop talking about fishing and start doing it.

Kind of funny,when I was a youngster,all I would use was a canepole with a small plain hook and bobber with a hunk of angleworm and it seemed to work very well.Maybe sometimes we worry to much about equipment and forget that it does not take that much to go and have some fun with the panfish.

Its still alot of fun to take out the canepole and sit and catch a nice bunch of pannies.

[Tyler Holm]

For crappies, I had my best outting last year using 2" Gulp minnow grubs (white) and for gills I like mini-mites and Exude Micro-shads.

I like the Exude 1" twisters as well. White & Pink

I've got plenty of power minnows to try for this season as well as a few peglegs.

I like CT stud grubs and paddles, but I seem to have more confidence in the factory scented plastics.

[Matt Johnson]

This is tough question, as there are so many different plastics that work. But, I'll spill the beans on the ones that worked for me the best last year...

With a jighead...

• JR's Tackle Stub Grubs - Variety of colors

• Exude Micro Shad - Pearl and Pink

• Berkley 2-inch Power Minnows - Gold/Speckle

• Culprit Paddle Tails - Junebug or Chartreuse Speckle

• JR's Tackle Rat Tails - Variety of colors

• Southern Pro Panfish Stingers - Pearl, Red/white, Blue/white, Chartreuse/white

• Exude 1-inch Twister Tails - white

With a plain hook...

• Exude Nymph - Pumkin Pepper, Pearl, and Lime/Black Flake

• Exude Micro Crawfish - LA Craw and Black/Red

• Berkley Power Nymph - Orange/Chartreuse

I'm sure there were several others that I'm forgetting, but those are the ones that come to mind...

[Mr. Pike1]

MAtt- I like the power nymph as well. When you mention JR's Tackle Stub Grubs - Variety of colors I assume these are the Crappie Tom ones sold at JR's. Correct?

[Matt Johnson]

Correct, Tom helped design those plastics.

[Mr. Pike1]

That is what I thought. I tried to pick some up from JR's a couple of Saturday's ago but when I got there they were not open for some reason. I like the design and slow fall of these.

I know you are a panfish guru and field test many things. I strongly recommend that you stop at Joe's sporting goods and pick your self up a pack of Mike Boettchers 1/32 "Pegleg"

- Pink head white body, green head purple body top the list but all work awesome. They are a sented plastic that I tried a few years back and they consistantly outperform many of the plastics I mentioned and some that you have mentioned. Last year I pointed out the Exude micro's to crappie tom. He appeared a bit skeptical at first but I know he has tried and endorses these as well.

Oh and Matt one more thing. I have discovered a lake North of St. Cloud that puts out true 10-12" bull sunfish. It is relatively large body of water but shallow and muddy with many floating bogs and structure. To find them is truely hit or miss but when you find a bed of these it is a dream come true for the trophy panfish angler. They look like your average sunfish only differnce is they are the size of a dinner plate.

Long ago up in Ely, Minnesota on a lake named Garden I got into some trophy 11-12" sunfish and never thought I would again see sunfish of this size. The lake North of St. Cloud gets very very little traffic as it is not talked about by the locals. As a matter of fact if you were to ask about the lake most who know it would quickly tell you it is a mudhole and nothing but carp and bullheads. I plan to get there a few times again yet this spring. If the bite continues I may have to share with you as I know you are still chasing the elusive 12" bull.

[Corey Bechtold]

A-hem!... (fingers tapping)

Corey Bechtold

[BDR]

Right now I am having good sucess with 1" white exude twister and a black/purple Micro shad. In a week or two when the water warms more rattails and stub grubs will become my goto plastics for much of the summer.

[Matt Johnson]

Mr.Pike,

I'll have to check out those Pegleg's next time I make to Joe's. What do they look like?

As far as the lake north of St. Cloud, I'd be game for a day on the water in late May

[Mr. Pike1]

Matt, the peglegs are a paddle tail style. They are ribbed and more slender profile then lets say the Culprit paddletail. The other differnce is they are scented with almost a candy fragrance. They are sold at Joes in about 10 differnt colors. The package comes with 2 pre-rigged 1/32 ounce colarless jigs (I know you are a huge fan of the colorless) and about 8-10 plastic body's so you can put the bodies on any jig type you would like.

I will see what late May looks like on the calander. That time frame I start to get heavy into the Walleye/Pike and I also believe the bass season opens the last weekend of May. Once that gets going I am a "River Rat" I have found that the mighty Mississippi has some of the most phenomanal fishing for small mouth that a guy could ever ask for.

The month of June all I am thinking is Senko and Tube for those smallies on the river. I also begin to spend time up at the cabin on lake Vermillion. Again chasing those bronzebacks.

[Matt Johnson]

Are they like the Southern Pro Tiny Worms?

[Mr. Pike1]

Matt, go to Google and enter pegleg jigs as search. You will see Luretech: Pegleg Scented Jig. Click on this and it will have a picture of what I am talking about. The jig heads are also glow jigs.

I always to try differnt things. I have tried many of the plastics you have fished and in many cases this peglegs have outperformed. Like any plastic I do not know exactly why the fish like them all I can tell is that they do. The only place I have seen them local is joe's so I do not think they dominate the MN market. I know they are popular down south.

Field test them yourself and let me know. I have not only got crappie, sunnies, and perch but many a bass and pike have attached these as well.

[Matt Johnson]

Yep, those are similar to the Tiny Worm from Southern Pro. And I agree, they work well in a lot of conditions. Another good choice for a panfish plastic. I've never used the Pegleg, but I'm assuming it fishes similar to other like models...

[DEADhead]

I've been having a lot of luck the past few days using the eXude 2" curly tails on the slabs. Yellow was the hot color. White curly tails and power tubes seemed to catch more LM bass, and the occaisional crappie.

straight plastics worked fine yesterday, but today the crappies preferred the plastics tipped with a fathead.

It was definitely a great day on the water today; sunny sky, light to moderate breeze, water temp was 55 degrees in 4-5 FOW in a bay Fisherdog and I were fishing. We managed many doubles and even a triple! Average size was 1 lb plus, 12" plus range.

This is what ice out crappies are all about!

[Mr. Pike1]

Deadhead, very funny you should mention the bass on the white exude twister tail. I as well ran into this today. I got 4 largemouths and one pike on the white twister tail but no crappie. My go to presentation today for the crappie was a green tube with a 2" berkley power minnow. I got 10 fish in the 10-11" range. they were all hanging on a breakline in 9 feet. I could not get a sunfish to hit strait plastic presentation to save my life. Finally got into some nice 8-8.25" sunfish in 3 feet of water but needed some type of worm or waxie to get them to hit. The water temp there was 58 and muddy water.

Anyone have suggestions on plastics that are more geared for early season gills?

[walleyeking#8]

My ultimate panfish plastic both for large gills, and crappies is a red/white tube jig. I found this to out produce almost any other plastic early in the spring. As a matter of fact, I was out on friday and saw several other fisherman attempting to catch pannies, they stayed for about 15-20 minutes before packing it in. I managed to catch 20 or more nice sized gills and a half dozen crappies in about two hours. The neat thing is is no one else was using the tube jigs. It out fished live bait and any other presentation the others were using. The reason I like this plastic, is because I have confidence in it everytime out. Once I see someone outfishing me then I will switch to a diferent presentation. The tackle box is full of panfish plastics that I am sure produce at times.

[Mr. Pike1]

Hmm, good go to bait. I have Mepps tube jigs in white, and the white and red that I have used with success as well. My box is now so full of stuff I am certain to have future back problems due to lifting this monster.

[Matt Johnson]

The 1-inch white Exude Twister Tails usually work well on sunfish. Or else Southern Pro has a tiny 1-inch tube that works well on sunfish. Those smaller plastics will result in more sunfish until the water warms up. For crappies it could be a different story though... as I know of several reports where crappies are coming in on 2-3 inch plastics...

I would give the 1-inch twister tail and 1-inch tubes a shot next time you try targeting sunfish. Fish them slow and under a float, trying to keep the plastic in the strike zone as long as possible...

[bgreen82]

i had some good luck with some southern pro's last year. 2-3" tubes and grubs, so im gonna go primarily with them this year mostly cuz i got a 300 piece collection. on silver and red jigs and gum ball jigs - 1/16 to 1/8 oz.