Worms, creatures, craws, oh my! How do YOU choose?

[Fishin Dad]

Ok Fellas, I have hundreds of bags of soft plastics.   Have used creatures, craws, worms, frogs, etc.   I have some criteria for where I use each, but I am wondering about your system?   Is it cover, water temp, water clarity, weather, fish size, etc.   

Just curious as I have gravitated more towards creatures and craws and away from power fishing worms.  
What do you choose and why?

[scaleface]

Its whatever floats my boat at the  time but if encountering heavy brush I like a stick worm . I dont want any appendages , fire tails , curly tails... standing out that tempts little fish to grab hold of it .

[WRB]

Trail and error until the bass strike what your are using.

We all have developed our favorites and tend to go to what has worked from experience.

Don’t under estimate the Rate Of Fall, it’s usually the most important factor to get bass to strike as the soft plastic sinks towards the bottom. When the lure hits the bottom then retrieve pace and technique determines success. Hopping, shaking, stroking, dead sticking and dragging can induce a strike. 

Then comes profile, length, appendages and color. Lots of factors come into play, nothing trumps confidence in what you are using and that is why experience is so important.

For me it’s determine what depth the bait and bass are in and location where I believe active bass at located, then all the above are tried. Fishing by guess by golly is fishing blind and hoping to catch bass.

Tom

[Mike L]

26 minutes ago, WRB said:

Trail and error until the bass strike what your are using.

We all have developed our favorites and tend to go to what has worked from experience.

Don’t under estimate the Rate Of Fall, it’s usually the most important factor to get bass to strike as the soft plastic sinks towards the bottom. When the lure hits the bottom then retrieve pace and technique determines success. Hopping, shaking, stroking, dead sticking and dragging can induce a strike. 

Then comes profile, length, appendages and color. Lots of factors come into play, nothing trumps confidence in what you are using and that is why experience is so important.

For me it’s determine what depth the bait and bass are in and location where I believe active bass at located, then all the above are tried. Fishing by guess by golly is fishing blind and hoping to catch bass.

Tom

Not much to add, Kinda covers it all!

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Catt]

4 hours ago, Fishin Dad said:

Is it cover, water temp, water clarity, weather, fish size, etc

 

None of the above!

 

 

I'm pretty much a worm guy but will throw whatever gets bites.

 

@WRB pretty much nailed the rest.

[LCG]

For me personally...

 

Worms anytime 

 

Creature baits with action ie brush hog when it's warmer and the bass are more active 

 

Beaver style creature with little to no action when the bite is tough or something different is needed 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Team9nine]

I tend to oversimplify soft plastics, but it works for me. So I go with either long and skinny or short and fat - which in my mind translates to either a baitfish profile or a crawfish profile. So a worm or a creature/craw. I have a couple favorites in each, in just a few colors, and that's what I roll with. Don't need hundreds to figure out they're either biting one or the other; and if they aren't biting either, that's fine, too - I'll throw something else instead of wasting all my time trying to fine-tune some weird daily/lake preference. 

[thediscochef]

Fair warning, I throw exactly one type of lure 99.5% of the time. So choosing a plastic is basically just about motion and sometimes color which does absolutely make a difference in catch rate. In my situation I'm using little chatterbaits which naturally swim with a side-to-side motion, much like an actual fish. So I tend to use plastics that accentuate or compliment that motion - bass pro split tail stik-o with the fins rigged vertical, zman finesse shadz, bruiser mcminnow. Occasionally I'll throw a 4.5" fat dropshot worm on there or a 3" senko but I only start reverting to creatures/crawz/chunks if I'm not getting anything with the vertical finned baits. Then again, if those aren't getting bit...chances are I'm not catching bass there that day.

The only thing I really struggle with is color, but even then, a chartreuse head with any plastic with a pearl color in it has been absolutely smashing it for me all year. Namely KVD Baby Bass, BPS Baitfish, Houdini, and watermelon pearl jam. For elaztech it's more smelt, shiner, blue steel, white lightning, bad shad. Any of that on a chartreuse chatterbait micro will get bit by just about any predator fish that sees it. It's common for me to show up at my usual spots and pull a bass in the first three casts. Occasional watermelon red flake for clearer water.

If I'm fishing a place with more sunfish and such I tend to use a ned rig with a trd crawz. A lot of plastics are just too big for the pressured waters I fish so I have to stay at least somewhat compact and subtle, which naturally limits my options (not a bad thing). I don't buy anything bigger than a classic 5" senko. And those get cut in half.

[Bankbeater]

The bait I start out with depends on what type of cover and structure is in the water I'm fishing.  Sometimes I get lucky and choose the right bait.  Other times I'm changing baits until I find what they want.

[scaleface]

For River Smallmouths I almost always use a craw , hula grub or other lure that has appendages that can be mistaken for crawfish . Largemouths on the lakes  I  fish dont give a hoot . If they hit a craw , creature bait  , lizard or worm they most likely will hit any of the others too .

[Hook2Jaw]

I try to choose my plastics based on the conditions, clarity, and cover presented to me.  Stable weather sees the most experimentation, and an incoming front will cause me to choose a more aggressive plastic.  A cold front, like I dealt with today, will cause me to tone down my plastic choice.

 

If I'm throwing a Texas rigged something or another, chances are I've tried dragging a jig first. 

[Catt]

5 minutes ago, Hook2Jaw said:

If I'm throwing a Texas rigged something or another, chances are I've tried dragging a jig first. 

 

Or vice versa ?

[fishwizzard]

23 hours ago, Team9nine said:

I tend to oversimplify soft plastics, but it works for me. So I go with either long and skinny or short and fat - which in my mind translates to either a baitfish profile or a crawfish profile. 

 I take it one step further and divide plastics up like this:

• Long Skinny
  • Lots of action
  • Not a lot of action
• Short Fat
  • Lots of  action
  • Not a lot of action

 

 

[CrashVector]

No "system" for me at all.

 

I'm a hardcore finesse fisherman.  I fish finesse tactics 99% of the time, even when they're not "supposed" to work, and they always do.

 

I always tell people this:. Power fishing catches active fish.  Finesse fishing catches all of them.

 

My main "confidence" lure is a bama bug colored pit boss on a 3/0 thin wire EWG hook with a 1/8oz tungsten weight pegged.

 

Next is a shakey head with a sweet beaver or some other beaver style lure.

 

Next is a reverse rigged Ned rigged big TRD in green pumpkin goby.

 

Then, various rigged stickbaits, but primarily on a shakey head.

 

I'm not too complicated with colors, and mostly just go dark or light, with very few select lures in baitfish colors.

 

My darks are usually bama bug, green pumpkin, etc.

 

My lights are watermelon green, watermelon with red flake, or tan-colored.

 

Baitfish is ghost shad, sexy shad, etc.

[Munkin]

2 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

 I take it one step further and divide plastics up like this:

• Long Skinny
  • Lots of action
  • Not a lot of action
• Short Fat
  • Lots of  action
  • Not a lot of action

 

 

 

This is how I break it down. 

 

Allen 

[Fishin Dad]

I actually divide my containers by action, size, and color.  Those meet most of my criteria for choosing a bait.  Trailers for jigs, T-rig baits, shaky head baits, etc.   I don’t make over complicated with 30 containers.   I just keep colors together in a small craw container for example.  I am not nearly as organized as some on here……………A-Jay!   

[king fisher]

I found the craw on the left on a snag.  It works great.  Would like to find more like it.  Any one have any idea who makes it?  The other craw I use on the right is a rage bug.

[Fishin Dad]

I am pretty sure that is a Berkley Chigger Craw

10 hours ago, king fisher said:

I found the craw on the left on a snag.  It works great.  Would like to find more like it.  Any one have any idea who makes it?  The other craw I use on the right is a rage bug.

The only thing that throws me off is the size.  If that is the standard rage bug on the right, the craw on the left looks BIG.  

[king fisher]

1 hour ago, Fishin Dad said:

I am pretty sure that is a Berkley Chigger Craw

The only thing that throws me off is the size.  If that is the standard rage bug on the right, the craw on the left looks BIG.  

That is the standard size Rage Bug on the right.  What made me fish this craw, is  I always tie on found lures as soon as I find them.  Kind of a strange superstition.    I have caught a couple 8 lbs. bass with the one on the left since finding it on a snag.  It wont last for many more fish.  Would be nice to if I could find a buy some more. 

[Hook2Jaw]

On 11/6/2021 at 9:59 PM, Catt said:

 

Or vice versa ?

Can't do it, I've gotta start with the jig!  I do respect your love and mastery of the Texas rig.

[JbroBass]

@king fisher

 

I think it's a Yum Craw Papi in 3.75" in black blue flake.

 

 

Edit: Hmmm I guess it cannot be this if the standard Rage Bug is 4", but it sure looks just like it. 

 

 

[Catt]

25 minutes ago, Hook2Jaw said:

Can't do it, I've gotta start with the jig!  I do respect your love and mastery of the Texas rig.

 

As long as you throw both I don't care what order ya put em in. 

 

Throwing them does what I call catching "bonus" fish, you fished the area with either one & caught. Before I leave a productive area I double back throwing the other one. Quite often this produces "bonus" fish.

 

Y'all gotta understand the #1 & #2 most productive lures year round are Texas Rigged plastics & Jig-n-Craw. 

[Choporoz]

 I begin with a Rage Bug or CutR (and a jig).  I generally decide between the CutR and Bug by using whichever is still rigged from last trip.  If one doesn't work, the other often will.  There's times and places for other worms and creatures ... trick worms, big worms, small stuff....but probably half my days I start and end with one of those two.

[scaleface]

2 hours ago, Choporoz said:

I generally decide between the CutR and Bug by using whichever is still rigged from last trip. 

Sometimes I use whatever pack I pull out of the soft plastic satchel first .

[PressuredFishing]

On 11/6/2021 at 7:08 AM, Fishin Dad said:

Ok Fellas, I have hundreds of bags of soft plastics.   Have used creatures, craws, worms, frogs, etc.   I have some criteria for where I use each, but I am wondering about your system?   Is it cover, water temp, water clarity, weather, fish size, etc.   

Just curious as I have gravitated more towards creatures and craws and away from power fishing worms.  
What do you choose and why?

In my opinion, yes this all matters, but if you find the fish you are already golden, adjust from there and see what works better.