Plastics

[Mobasser]

Somewhere in a past thread here on BR, I remember reading about someone fishing plastic crawfish baits. Two guys using the same bait. They were catching consistently, when the bite slowed down. One of them caught several more fish, on a craw bait with only one craw.                                                     The other angler put on the exact bait, tore off a claw, and caught a couple more fish, before the bite shut down.                                       I've heard guys talk about this before. Tearing off one claw on a crawfish bait, or a couple of legs from a plastic lizard etc. The concept is to make this creature appear wounded, helpless or hurt. An easy target for bass. But, many of the baits we use are made to look hurt or helpless, which we think draws more strikes.          I've never purposely torn things off my plastic baits. I just fish them as they come in the package. I do know that many times, I've caught bass on plastic worms that have already caught several fish, and are torn and rough looking. I can't explain why? Has anyone else noticed an increased bite on plastic baits that have been torn up, or missing things? If so, please explain your experience with this.

[Jig Man]

Can’t say as I remember.  I’ve never done it on purpose.  But might try it sometime.

[scaleface]

  There may be something to a raggedly looking bait . When fishing tubes I get as much use out of one as possible . They will be ripped up  , tail pieces missing and they work just as well and maybe better than a fresh one . 

 

 I have pinched the claws from craws and saw no difference in bites .

[gim]

Let's bring in the record holder on this subject, @Team9nine.  I bet the z-man elaztech he used for that record looked like it had been through a meat grinder near its end.  Maybe he can share his thoughts on altering a plastic or using it how it was designed out of the package.

[WIGuide]

In my personal experience I've seen the opposite effect. If the baits are missing something I seem to get less bites on them. It could just be a confidence thing for me too, but anymore if a bait loses a major appendage it goes into the scrap pile unless it's my last one, or it got ripped off from getting bit. I'll usually make another quick cast or two to the same spot if I don't have anything similar rigged up in hopes of at least putting something in front of the fish before it moves. 

[BrianMDTX]

Unlike us, who prefer food that looks appetizing and pleasing to the eye, wild predators are looking for the maximum reward with the least expended effort. A raggedy soft plastic likely looks like prey that was bitten, injured and escaped being a meal. Ergo, an easy target. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I fish Zoom mag lizards heavily in the summers......even when one of those little legs gets bitten off, new lizard time.   

 

Those little legs and such on creature baits matter big time imho.  

[Bluebasser86]

Once an appendage is gone, so is my confidence in that bait and I change it out. 

[roadwarrior]

37 minutes ago, WIGuide said:

...but anymore if a bait loses a major appendage it goes into the scrap pile 

 I like mine fresh, too.

[Drawdown]

There was a survey I saw someone cite on here a year ago, and they found that craw baits with no appendages got bit more than the ones with one or two attached.

 

I interpret that as simply meaning the fish wanted a smaller profile, for whatever reason (whether they were stressed in a tank or it was one of those bright days with clear-ish water). That means less movement. So I suppose you could hang on to your busted craws and fish them like Ned rigs when they flappers aren’t doing it for their customers.

[Jar11591]

Not saying it won’t catch fish, but if my plastic craw loses an appendage, it gets replaced. 

[Team9nine]

Don’t give the fish too much credit here ? 

 

I do tend to pinch off excess  appendages like little legs and such, but that’s only because they are unnecessary and get in the way more than anything. Any soft plastic has a shape and profile, and that has some effect on how it fishes. Removing appendages and such tends to streamline a bait, and makes it fish with a little less bulk or drag, which most days I tend to prefer. That can also decrease profile size, and even affect fall rate.
 

In a muddy water scenario, I might leave everything intact. Same with shortening a bait, removing claws or tails, etc.

 

Removing large pieces like a single claw might make the bait unbalanced, and hence a little “wonky” on the retrieve - similar to why some recommend shortening one set/side of legs on soft-bodied frogs. That may help, hurt, or make no difference in terms of bites. My general rule of thumb is to just keep fishing a bait until the bites slow down or stop coming, or until I don’t like the way it fishes. But often that’s left me catching fish on some of the worst looking, pieced-together-on-the-hook pieces of plastic imaginable - but the fish obviously didn’t care. They’re not counting things like how many legs my bait has left, why the glued on eyeballs fell off, etc.

[Catt]

I'll admit I'm a plastics freak!

 

Many times I've pinned a worm together with my hook.  Can't tell ya how many plastics I've bitten the head off. 

 

When the bite is on I'll do whatever to get bit!

[Bankc]

I won't say that I've caught more fish with a clawless crawfish, but I certainly still catch fish with them.  I won't throw away a soft plastic craw just because it's lost a few appendages.  But I won't clip off the pinchers on purpose either.  I typically just don't replace the plastic until it has problems staying on the hook.  

 

Honestly, I think it all has more to do with the action, color, and size than any details in the shape.  I don't think bass are smart enough to recognize a claw or leg just by looking at it.  If they could, I highly doubt they'd ever eat a spinnerbait.  

[Mobasser]

8 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Don’t give the fish too much credit here ? 

 

I do tend to pinch off excess  appendages like little legs and such, but that’s only because they are unnecessary and get in the way more than anything. Any soft plastic has a shape and profile, and that has some effect on how it fishes. Removing appendages and such tends to streamline a bait, and makes it fish with a little less bulk or drag, which most days I tend to prefer. That can also decrease profile size, and even affect fall rate.
 

In a muddy water scenario, I might leave everything intact. Same with shortening a bait, removing claws or tails, etc.

 

Removing large pieces like a single claw might make the bait unbalanced, and hence a little “wonky” on the retrieve - similar to why some recommend shortening one set/side of legs on soft-bodied frogs. That may help, hurt, or make no difference in terms of bites. My general rule of thumb is to just keep fishing a bait until the bites slow down or stop coming, or until I don’t like the way it fishes. But often that’s left me catching fish on some of the worst looking, pieced-together-on-the-hook pieces of plastic imaginable - but the fish obviously didn’t care. They’re not counting things like how many legs my bait has left, why the glued on eyeballs fell off, etc.

 

7 minutes ago, Catt said:

I'll admit I'm a plastics freak!

 

Many times I've pinned a worm together with my hook.  Can't tell ya how many plastics I've bitten the head off. 

 

When the bite is on I'll do whatever to get bit!

I remember one hot morning. I caught several fish on a Zoom finesse worm, on a shakey head. It got so torn up I cut it back to rig it again. After a while I reversed it and had to cut the tail back to keep it on the hook. Finally it was unusable. If I would have had a lighter I probably could have heated it and melted it back together. I put on a new identical worm, and the bite was over. These are the things I can't explain...

[gim]

1 minute ago, Bankc said:

I don't think bass are smart enough to recognize a claw or leg just by looking at it.  If they could, I highly doubt they'd ever eat a spinnerbait.  

Not really a fair comparison.  A spinnerbait is generally a fast, aggressive approach.  A bass has a split second to see it and make a decision on whether to bite it, also known as a reaction strike.

 

Whereas a plastic craw missing an appendage or leg, fished on its own is almost always a slower, finesse approach, often on or near the bottom.  Bass have time to swim up to it and look at it.  Whether or not it makes a difference is the debate here.  Randomly throwing in a completely different lure, using a completely different approach is a bit of a moot point.

[Mobasser]

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Not really a fair comparison.  A spinnerbait is generally a fast, aggressive approach.  A bass has a split second to see it and make a decision on whether to bite it, also known as a reaction strike.

 

Whereas a plastic craw missing an appendage or leg, fished on its own is almost always a slower, finesse approach, often on or near the bottom.  Bass have time to swim up to it and look at it.  Whether or not it makes a difference is the debate here.  Randomly throwing in a completely different lure, using a completely different approach is a bit of a moot point.

Especially in clear water. Bass can look things over better.

[Rockytop]

I try to use my baits until I can't keep them on the hook. If I've got a bait that's catching fish I hate to change it out unless I have to, but I ain't ever started out by tearing anything off from them myself. I could see it working but I'll just let the fish do it.

[Team9nine]

53 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

 

I remember one hot morning. I caught several fish on a Zoom finesse worm, on a shakey head. It got so torn up I cut it back to rig it again. After a while I reversed it and had to cut the tail back to keep it on the hook. Finally it was unusable. If I would have had a lighter I probably could have heated it and melted it back together. I put on a new identical worm, and the bite was over. These are the things I can't explain...

The older I get, and the longer I fish, the more convinced I am that this “need to explain” is the greatest hinderance to catching fish that most anglers face. This was the genius of Bill Murphy and Buck Perry, two sides of the same coin ?

[casts_by_fly]

i change out my plastic when it no longer stays in place on the hook where I want it to be or if it loses function like a paddle tail.  Ragecraw/bug/menace loses an arm?  No biggie keep fishing it.  Keitech loses a tail?  That's a critical piece and I have to change it. Anything that doesn't stay up on the hook though is gone unless a spot of superglue can fix it.  For texas rigged beavers that's why I really like palmetto bugs because the elaztech goes forever and doesn't move on the hook.  

[Catt]

K.I.S.S ?

[Spankey]

I don’t see an increase in productivity when a plastic bait looses a tail, claw or appendages. 

[Fishlegs]

I usually change a craw lure when they lose a claw. I may care if it only has one claw, but I don't think a fish cares.

 

I used to catch crawfish to sell to fishermen on the weekends when I was a kid. We caught thousands and thousands of them. Many only had one claw. I think it's a fairly normal occurrence for a fish to see a one arm crawfish in nature. I believe the fish eat them before they count the arms. ?

[BrianMDTX]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

I'll admit I'm a plastics freak!

 

Many times I've pinned a worm together with my hook.  Can't tell ya how many plastics I've bitten the head off. 

 

When the bite is on I'll do whatever to get bit!

I’m a head biter! Senkos, Zoom Tricks, if the head gets ripped, I’ll bite the ripped head off and re-rig it. 
 

Not so much with Neko Machos. Too fat with the head gone! 

[Bird]

I lose confidence in a tore up bait so it's not on the hook long enough for me to make a legitimate claim.