How many stretch there soft plastics as far as they can despite the bait monkey keeping you well supplied

[Bankbeater]

My torn up plastics get a new life as jig trailers.  Plastic worms I will keep trimming down.  Once the hook is more than 1/2 way past the center of the worm I get rid of it.

[Munkin]

If they still work as intended I will use them.  Otherwise they are thrown on the deck to be reused as something else or melted down for jig trailers. I have way too many soft plastics to be screwing around trying to save a single bait.

 

Allen 

[roadwarrior]

On 5/18/2022 at 10:32 PM, Munkin said:

 I have way too many soft plastics to be screwing around trying to save a single bait.

 

I came to catch fish not work on saving a nickle on a soft plastic.

[Cgolf]

36 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

 

I came to catch fish not work on saving a nickle on a soft plastic.

 

I thnink there is a balance on this. There were times in my life that I really needed to watch that. My fishing budget still isn't limitless, but I have collected enough over the years I need to use some up. 

 

This isn't a critique of your statement, just to point out there are those fishing on limited or fixed budgets. Also many plastics are getting quite spendy now as well, even some brands that weren't in the past. Over the years I have gravitated to durable plastics that catch fish and stay away from the baits that last 1 or 2 fish. Just don't go with Zman much because I am concerned I will accidently mix the two and waste a huge amount of plastics.

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

I came to catch fish not work on saving a nickle on a soft plastic.

Lemme know where you buy your senkos. They're $8.99 + tax per bag around here.

[J Francho]

10 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Lemme know where you buy your senkos. They're $8.99 + tax per bag around here.

I skewer them with the hook, so it's not like I am trying to prevent them from getting torn, but I definitely heal them up if I can quickly to get a few more bites out of them.

[roadwarrior]

TackleWarehouse $7.49 and currently 15% off during the Memorial Day sale.

$6.30

 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Yamamoto_Senko/descpage-YAS.html

[Bankc]

I often super glue my plastics on jigs and stuff, and will fish them until they wear off.  I've often found that fish will bite torn up plastics better than new ones.  Not always.  Probably not even most of the time.  But often enough that I don't swap them out just because they're getting torn up, unless it effects the bite.  I think sometimes bass prefer a defenseless crawfish with no claws.  But if I'm Texas rigging them, and the hook will no longer stay buried in the plastic, I'll either reposition the plastic, like cut down the head of the plastic a bit to shift the hook position so that it will stay buried, or swap it out for a new one.  

 

I've got more soft plastics than I can carry with me.  But I see no need to swap them out just to get through them quicker.  If I want to buy new lures, just to buy new lures, I prefer to buy crankbaits.  

[Catt]

1 hour ago, roadwarrior said:

 

I came to catch fish not work on saving a nickle on a soft plastic.

 

Exactly ?

 

What did I say earlier, if it catches one bass it did it's job. 

 

I'm not here just to fish, I'm here for your fish!

[Big Rick]

10 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

TackleWarehouse $7.49 and currently 15% off during the Memorial Day sale.

$6.30

 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Yamamoto_Senko/descpage-YAS.html

FYI, according to the site sale doesn't start until 5/26. Got my cart on standby!

 

[PhishLI]

Everyone gets to do their very own thing however they like. Personally I never stop fishing to fix baits. I do it during down time, and at maybe 10 seconds per repair, if that, I can find the time. IMO, superglue repairs wreck soft baits, especially GY senkos. I've blown up a few spools after they've split apart just outside the rigid repair. Talk about a time waster on the water.

1 hour ago, Catt said:

What did I say earlier, if it catches one bass it did it's job. 

That's an understandable way to look at, especially if it works for you. However, I have clear enough memories of when I couldn't just buy what I wanted when I wanted to. Me and my monkey have already lit enough money on fire for green fish, and I'm never going to stop spending on this hobby, so I can justify doing so by stretching a buck where and when I can. Besides that, I've always liked fixing things.

[J Francho]

I've had days where it would have been more fun (and less expensive) to just take a few rolls of quarters and chuck change into the lake.

[the reel ess]

Once the hook pulls through the front of the worm I bite off about 1/4" and re-rig it. You get more bites on a smaller worm anyway. Most of them just taste like salt.

[Cgolf]

31 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I've had days where it would have been more fun (and less expensive) to just take a few rolls of quarters and chuck change into the lake.

 

This has been most of my trips this year. The strange spring has both the trout creek and bass lake in a state I have never seen before.

[GRiver]

I don’t spend time on the water trying to fix plastics, I do however save them, use what I can for trailers, Ned rig or anything else. 
I melt the rest and pour them in some molds I have.

I have never caught anything on the baits I’ve poured but, it’s fun to do. 

[Catt]

20 hours ago, PhishLI said:

However, I have clear enough memories of when I couldn't just buy what I wanted when I wanted to.

 

Totally misunderstanding

 

I buy a sack of worms knowing full well I'm gonna lose every single one. Hard baits I understand the odds are extremely high I'll hang it & lose it.

 

It's the cost of fishing & I accepted that 

[Mobasser]

I try to fish plastic baits as long as they last. Once they won't hold a hook, I pitch them out, and put on a new one. In the whole scope of things, bags of soft plastics are some of the cheaper things in bass fishing, compared to hard baits.

 

, 

[Mike L]

As others have said, I’m not messin with a torn up, messed up, beat up piece of plastic. 
 

Have I done it in the past?

Sure, but if I want to be consistent and pattern a bite to catch more, a hit on a shorter or ripped bait doesn’t tell me much. 
 

 

 

 

Mike 

[Catt]

When neccessary I do have a Doctoral degree in pinning worms together with a hook!

[NYWayfarer]

With the exception of Z-Man plastics I general change them out once they are beat up. A raggedy bait is not going to run true. 
 

With Z-Man baits I am more likely to lose it to a bad snag before it becomes to beat up to fish.

[Munkin]

13 hours ago, Mobasser said:

I try to fish plastic baits as long as they last. Once they won't hold a hook, I pitch them out, and put on a new one. In the whole scope of things, bags of soft plastics are some of the cheaper things in bass fishing, compared to hard baits.

 

, 

 

I disagree that soft plastics are cheaper than hard baits.  Not sure about everyone else but I rarely lose any hardbaits? On a good bite I can go through $20+ in flick shake worms in a day.

 

Allen 

[MyKeyBe]

I might use a plastic longer than I should. Found a slightly used pit boss in my tackle bag from sometime last year, today. Put it on a hook and fished it for 7 bass. It was pretty beat up after the 2nd or 3rd fish. Just kept on rigging it on however it would hold all because I didn't feel like walking 20 feet to my tackle bag to get another one out of the full bag of the exact same color. Lol. If I didn't need to retie it would probably still be rigged up.

[scaleface]

Caught a dozen smallies on this tube this morning before finally snagging and losing it . It was good for a few more fish .

[Cgolf]

Well I re-rigged my baits for this season with some spares for quick changes. The bins have holes in the bottom to drain of water and help with airflow. 
 

Honestly I think I have gravitated to baits that last a long time. The menace in the opening post probably pushed it farther than I normally go, because it looks the the tail probably has some extra wiggle. I get why some would want to change out because that bait is now a one off, can’t ever make another like it, but it is impossible to remove it when the fish are just jumping on the bait. 
 

The bait monkey also won, as I realized I needed mor3 Slider Spide4 Pro heads lol. They have gotten a lot of business from me the last 20+ years. 
 

Also, I need to figure out what I am doing about 5he menace. Always bought it on sale because it isn’t the cheapest bait in the world. Seeing how many I have rigged up and in the boxes on backup, I will need to buy in bulk anytime I see a good sale. The good thing is 8 probably get 7-10 fish a bait on average. That is a gut feel, I don’t track stuff that closely. 
 

This has been an interesting thread with lots of different opinions. It is also interesting how expensive plastics can get. I think because we know they have a limited life span we generally never do the math to see how much cash we burn through fishing them. 
 

 

[J Francho]

Caught 6 bass on the same senko Monday.