Used Plastics - Keep or Toss?

[Goose52]

Is there a consensus on how long you can fish a plastic or whether to keep it after it's been fished? Say you've fished a certain plastic for a while and you quit for the day, or you change baits - what do you do with that plastic if it's still in good shape?

Leave it on the rod and fish it the next time?

Take it off the hook and put back in the original bag?

Do you have a separate bag for used plastics?

OR, do you toss it due to possible degradation of the scent/salt (since it's been fished)?

In the old days, before salt/scent, we would fish a plastic worm 'till it fell apart. Just wondering what everyone does nowadays since we have all these fancy scented and salted (and somewhat expensive) baits :-?

[JigMe]

I kept a small plastic bag in my tackle box. Wasted lines, lures will get stored in there. By the end of the day, I will just dump it in a trash can.

[grimlin]

It gets stored in a plastic plano case.They get reused again.If the plastic is really beat up and unusable by my standard it gets thrown away.

You can always add scent to your baits.

I must add though....I'll lose the bait during the fight or a snag for the most part...so it's rare i'll have to store that bait away. ;D

[Jig Man]

I don't have a set rule for those baits.  I leave them on the deck of my boat until I get home. 

Sometimes I use a Power Zap to repair them and put them back in the box.  Sometimes I throw them away if they have a lot of salt in them. 

If they don't have salt then they go into the remelt sack and become part of a brand new bait.

[Mike 12345]

I'll usually keep them unless they are really badly damaged.

Even if you have to tear a worm in half, for example, you could use it as a trailer on a jig or spinnerbait/chatterbait, etc.

[SirSnookalot]

I pitch em and use new next outing.........that being said , my wife is anything but a fisherwoman, on her rod she had a 7'5 culprit worm hanging in shreds for about 2 years.  I take her out to the pond one day and that worm immediately caught fish, I just stood there in my role has dehooker.

[OIFBasser]

I turn all of my used plastics into new 3" grubs.

[Raul]

I 'm not a crafty kind of guy, if I were I would have molds n 'stuff to pour my own creations, so I don 't recycle used soft plastics. What I do is I use them until they are repairless and then into the trash can.

[Goose52]

Thanks for the replies.  Sounds like a lot of folks are like me, and will keep using the bait while it's serviceable (including secondary service like trailers).

For now, I will just keep a zip-lok bag handy to store the used baits until they wear out. I can fish nearly every day and I hate to throw out a plastic in the evening that I could use the next morning. It's not like I'm fishing weekends only and could then justify starting with a fresh bait every Saturday morning...

Anyone feel that there is an issue with the remaining salt or scent on a used bait? After time in water, is the scent/salt depleting and reducing the "catchability" of the bait? If scent/salt DO contribute success factor of the bait (which I imagine it would - that's why they salt/scent it to begin with isn't it?), perhaps I will have to do a sniff test on the bait and when it seems "out of juice" then I will toss.

[A-Jay]

Keep'em.

I use mend it. I'm pretty sure it's been talked up on BS before. From my limited experience, it's some fairly amazing stuff. It is especially effective when a used bait is still mostly intact but the initial hook insertion point and/or the exit area is ripped open and no longer will support the hook correctly. I save those baits and repair them at home for another trip.

I usually allow the mend it to set up overnight before the next use. During storage, I try not to mix different brand/type baits - unless you're looking to get some wild new shades and color variations.

A-Jay

http://www.menditglue.com/

[Goose52]

...During storage, I try not to mix different brand/type baits - unless you're looking to get some wild new shades and color variations.

Good tip !

[roadwarrior]

I say toss 'em. I don't get to fish enough to

waste time with compromised baits or lures.

More importantly, I tend to lose soft plastics

before wearing them out!

8-)

[Goose52]

...

More importantly, I tend to lose soft plastics

before wearing them out!

Hopefully they're lost due to catching fish!

Problem in my home lakes is that they're not very good fisheries with a lot of little stunted bass and not very many big ones. Plastics tend to last me a long time since they don't get hit very much

[BARON49_Northern NY]

Most used plastics get put in the trash with the execption of soft swimbaits and maybe a beaver that had the head torn after one of two bites.  A little drop of Mend-It and they are back as good as new.

[basser89]

Keep'em.

I use mend it. I'm pretty sure it's been talked up on BS before. From my limited experience, it's some fairly amazing stuff. It is especially effective when a used bait is still mostly intact but the initial hook insertion point and/or the exit area is ripped open and no longer will support the hook correctly. I save those baits and repair them at home for another trip.

I usually allow the mend it to set up overnight before the next use. During storage, I try not to mix different brand/type baits - unless you're looking to get some wild new shades and color variations.

A-Jay

http://www.menditglue.com/

Great stuff IMO! I use it mostly on my Rage Tail Shad and Toads! The little bit of the Mend-It I've used repairing the legs on these baits has more than paid for the bottle already and I have plenty left.

[Pitchinkid]

I 'm not a crafty kind of guy, if I were I would have molds n 'stuff to pour my own creations, so I don 't recycle used soft plastics. What I do is I use them until they are repairless and then into the trash can.

x2

[Hammer 4]

Depends on the bait..example: if a 5" senco gets beat up, but there is a good 3" left, I'll reuse it, same for twintail's..ect..ceaws get tossed, unless I can trim them for a trailer. I also reuse roboworms. The short ones, i.e. 3" or so catch bluegills pretty well..

[D4u2s0t]

when it's nice out, i'm on the lake 3-4 times a weed on average.  I often use the same baits, so I just keep them on the hook until they'll no longer stay on.   I find taking them off the hook, then putting them back on lessens they're life.  I'll normally take off and put on new hardbaits on a separate pole, and many times my soft plastics will just stay on the same pole until they're no good anymore.

[bassfisherjk]

Toss,I put them in something while on the boat then they go in the trash.

[b.Lee]

I've decided last season instaed of throwing away my old plastics just to use them as trailers for my spinnerbaits. Like my old senkos, I will cut the tails on them and but them on as trailers

[J. M. Richardson]

I will usually texas rig a plastic until it gets chewed up a bit or the bite slows down. Then i rescent the used plastic and put it on a wacky rig for a different presentation and usually a couple more strikes. Has helped me get a bit more life out my plastics

[Goose52]

Sounds like what I was doing is similar to a lot of you.  Now, I'll have to shop for Mendit...

[bilgerat]

Well, I'm a cheap b*stard and a tinkerer to boot. Two kids and a mortgage will do that to you. So mine gets saved until cabin fever season. Some of them get repaired and some gets fabricated into jig trailers, creatures, etc. And yes they catch fish.

[bass or bass ?]

If the bait is still in good condition , I return it to it's original bag. I keep a large ring loose leaf binder filled with plastic sleeves for file papers, and put the original bait bags in each sleeve. Keeps baits organized and easy to find.

[A-Rob]

haha i dont throw many out, coincidently i threw some out that didnt look too fresh today. I should do it more often cause i have so d**n many!

And roadwarrior is correct, I don't have enough time on the lake to be using a soft plastic thats lame and costing me fish. I don't remember the last time I ran out of an entire bag of 20 zoom worms!