A little over a year ago, I put up a post to ask how to get started fishing soft plastics, specifically fishing in ponds. This is all about how it went, and what worked for this rookie. (Per @Paul Roberts comment “let us know how things pan out.”).
I'm now catching a lot of fish and learning a lot more about bass behavior and habitat thanks to everyone's input. As others have stated, the experience of fishing plastics has been a great way to learn about bass, and ultimately become a better angler.
This post is also a request for general input on “where to go next in the second year."
Maybe this post will help out another rookie, although this is by no means intended to supersede the excellent advice for anglers starting out already on the forum, e.g:
I had been fishing for bass for a year using hard baits (crankbaits, poppers, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, etc), with the odd T-rigged trick worm here and there. Many on the forum will find this hard to imagine, but I had never actually seen anyone else catch bass on soft plastics except on videos, and had nobody to teach me in person.
Some revelations (widely known to most on the forums, but news to this rookie):
Basically anything soft plastic that wiggles, kicks, flutters, shimmies, or shakes in the water will get bit, when presented the right way at the right time. Not surprisingly, some are generally better than others.
Most soft plastics are great for pond fishing, because they can be rigged semi-weedless or completely weedless, and that’s a huge benefit when you can’t just motor over to unhook a snag.
Don’t worry excessively about what action to impart to a lure – that will come with experience. I was really hung up on this at first. Sure, most plastics don't exactly have built-in action like a Rapala minnow. Just think about the terms you see in articles on the forum, it's only by practicing will you learn to intuitively impart the right action: hop, drag, swim, jerk, twitch, deadstick, and above all, let it fall!
When anglers say they get bit “on the fall” they mean it. Yep, you can chuck a lure in and just let it do it’s thing as it falls through the water column and a bass will often swim over and nail it. You don’t necessarily have to be tossing at a specific piece of cover for this to work; so go ahead and fling a bait into open water when you’re experimenting and then do nothing but get ready to set the hook.
Don’t worry about spooking fish too much, when they are active. If you see a splash near shore or anywhere else, cast as close as you can, splash down, and 8/10 you’re plastic will get slammed. Its worthwhile to try and get better (more subtle) with entries, but a splashdown, even a big one, will often provoke strikes, not prevent them.
Regarding “fundamental” rigs, I have learned a lot with 3 basic methods of putting plastics on a hook, with a few types of hooks and jigheads:
Texas-rigging (tex-posing really, as covered in a video from Glenn). I’ve learned that for bass you use bigger hooks than you might think first starting out.
(As @Catt suggested: "Weightless Texas Rigged anything ")
Jighead rigging, the simplest way possible: putting the plastic on the hook shank so the point sticks up. Comes through weeds fairly well.
Nose-hooking or wacky rigging (while some night say there's more to it, just put the hook through the nose or midpoint: couldn’t be simpler than that)
Above all, I’ve found there is just no substitute for experimentation and building experience. Rig it like you see in the videos, and cast to likely targets, or fishing along the bank as recommended in the how to get started threads (or sometimes, it's also OK to cast aimlessly at open water). As you will notice, I like to raid the Yum boxes at my local Wally World, and that’s lead to me ordering direct from the source via Lurenet. I've used plenty of other baits, too. Here’s what’s worked for me:
Paddletail swimbaits. The easiest lure to transition to because I could rig on a jighead or T-rig, and just cast and wind and vary the retrieve, just like a good old crankbait or spinnerbait.
Just great advice from @Paul Roberts and @Ads7633 - they were right about paddletails and flukes being a super place to start coming from hard baits. They said:
"Since you are comfortable with cast-n-retrieve, how about a paddle-tail swimbait? Good in open or light cover." And,
"Try a fluke. You don't have to fish it as slow as some other plastics so it may be a good transition from hard baits to plastics. It is also one of the most effective."
I learned a lot about fishing soft plastics in general using paddletail swimbaits by experiment and by accident. More than once when I stopped a retrieve and deadsticked the bait, it got nailed on the fall, and just as often, a bait was picked up on or near the bottom with the fish just mouthing it and apparently not swimming far. Lures also got nailed on surface when reeled in fast to go home. I now will toss a paddletail on a jighead and just let it flutter down, and carefully reel in the slack getting ready to set the hook after the fall. My favorite by a long shot is the Keitech Fat Impact, but Zoom and Yum paddletails have also produced.
Ned rig. For a rookie, hard to believe fish even hit this, just looks like a stick (of jello). I followed Glenn’s video to a “T” and this is responsible for all of my multi-bass days. I've mostly used Z-man TRD's, but I've also used Yum Craw Papis in the tiny size. Not sure if that is a legit Ned rig, but it's worked. There is plenty out there to read and learn about, but for me the basics have been to just cast out on light gear, and maybe it hop a few times. Ned rigs have been a go-to for older kids that can follow directions well. My 8 yr/old boy is great with a Ned Rig.
Grubs on a jighead. To many this will seem backwards, but I got into grubs experimenting putting them on Ned Rig heads. I’ve found this to be a great way to cover water quicker with a light bait. I fish with kids a lot, and they like them and they often get panfish on smaller grubs.
Senko/stickbaits. I respect the recommendations of a lot of experienced guys to start here and learn from fishing them. But for me they weren’t my natural go-to. I use them a lot more these days though. I know so many guys love wacky-rigging, but personally I prefer T-rigging weightless, in part because I don’t get pond junk on the point. If I see swirls from bluegills schooling tightly, I toss one in. I’ve caught fish on several brands, but Yum Dingers are my favorite and I really like the blue and olive green “bream” color. After this initial year of fishing plastics, I don't think anyone should get too hung up on color, but that's a color that I like, and the bass in my nearby ponds seem to feel the same most of the time.
Craws and creatures. Mainly fish them T-rigged with a weight or weightless. Weightless I will drag on surface to churn the water like a frog, and let flutter down periodically. Yum Mighty Bug, Craw Papi, Mighty Craw, Wooly Hawgtail, Netbait paca craw, the list goes on.
Worms. Also T-rigged. I know worms are where it started, but apart from stickbaits I probably fish them the least. I know I should probably spend more time with these fundamental lures. I use Zoom Trickworms the most. I should probably spend some time just working worms more in the coming year.
Flukes. T-rigged and weightless nose-hooked. I used flukes a lot in the heat of the summer and fall, especially cast near where bass were chasing schools of baitfish close to surface. Lots of colors work of course, but pink is by far my best producer in our stained southern ponds.
Thanks to everyone who weighed in on my post over a year ago, and hope this is of interest. Go ahead and suggest where to go next in year two!
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