Plastics

[Mobasser]

41 minutes ago, Catt said:

K.I.S.S ?

Catt, because I think about fishing so much, I've been guilty or "overthinking" things sometimes.  I agree sometimes K.I.S.S. is the best way.

[Skunkmaster-k]

Gene Simmons prefers roughed up baits. 

[MAN]

I can't imagine a bass sitting there and studying a bait for appendage count before considering striking, but I can imagine many bass fisherman overthinking it. 

[Dogface]

3 hours ago, Drawdown said:

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.

 

I saw that also. 

 

I have trouble bringing myself to tear up a good-looking crawfish bait but I have tried it. if you tear the claws off some crawfish baits they look a lot like a hellgrammite another great bass bait.  Is that the reason claw-less crawfish get bit? 

 

 

[TOXIC]

A bass would starve to death pretty darn quick if he only ate craws with no claws. Most Everything a bass eats has claws spines or other appendages to defend themselves with.  

[gim]

3 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

Most Everything a bass eats has claws spines or other appendages to defend themselves with.

Most everything?  That is an obvious exaggeration.  I don't think minnows, frogs, bugs, worms, or leeches have claws or spines that they use to defend themselves with.  Come to think of it, the only prey that would actually defend itself would in fact be a crayfish.  Everything else would simply try to hide or flee.

[TOXIC]

5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Most everything?  That is an obvious exaggeration.  I don't think minnows, frogs, bugs, worms, or leeches have claws or spines that they use to defend themselves with.  Come to think of it, the only prey that would actually defend itself would in fact be a crayfish.  Everything else would simply try to hide or flee.

Most Every fish a bass eats has spins either dorsal or side.  You haven’t scratched the surface of what they eat.  Minnows aren’t the only baitfish they eat.  Bluegills, crappie, white perch and many others do have spines.  No leeches here, I don’t ever remember catching a bass with a frog in its mouth but plenty of crawfish…..with claws.  Not to split hairs but my point is the bass don’t care about claws….or spines….or anything else that pokes them in the mouth including hooks.  

[Catt]

17 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Come to think of it, the only prey that would actually defend itself would in fact be a crayfish. 

 

While crawfish will go into a defensive posture it's 100% a bluff. 

[gim]

15 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

You haven’t scratched the surface of what they eat.

Neither have you.  My point is that most prey are going to flee, not fight.  Whether its a bluff or a real fight.

[BrianMDTX]

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Neither have you.  My point is that most prey are going to flee, not fight.  Whether is a bluff or a real fight.

I’ve seen some big crayfish. I don’t any of them would last a NY Second if a 5 lb. bass decides it’s supper time! 

[WRB]

I don’t know how many BR members have bass fished using live crawdads?

Back in the mid 60’s when FLMB started to grow to giant size the primary bait in San Diego lakes was live crawdads fly lined no weight.

We dyed live craws in food color and often removed a big claw by pinching it until the crawdad released it’s arm.

No arm , 1 arm or 2 arm crawdads all worked at times. When nose hooking a crawdad with 2 claws the Bug tends to hold onto the line instead of trying to escape and didn't walk along the bottom. Removing 1 arm with the larger size claw the Bug was more lively, kicking more increasing strikes, same with no  claws. So it depended on the crawdad behaved. Generally 2 arms with claws worked but not as well as 1 or no claws.

Tom

 

[Deleted account]

3 hours ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

Gene Simmons prefers roughed up baits. 

Yeah, but...

 

 

[Friggs]

Last year I watched a YouTube video that said someone did a study on this subject. I don't think it was a official study. Like a huge university. But they found that bass will eat craws with both pinchers. But they noticed when they pulled one pincher off, they would be more apt to eat it. They thought the bass felt it was wounded. That is would be less likely to get pinched by the craw. Then they tried pulling both pinchers off and the bass hardly bit them at all. Not sure how true this is. I wish I could find that video. But I haven't been able to.  I have been tempted to try and pull one pincher off and see if it helps. But I haven't yet. If I find that video I will post it.

 

Bill

[Bankbeater]

I've noticed sometime when my plastics get too beat up the fish stop biting them.  I change them out when the bite starts to drop off.

[DitchPanda]

I've noticed my elaztech baits fishing better after they are beat up but not my regular plastics.

[detroit1]

There was a soft plastic craw from the 70's called the"mad dad" that i'm not sure who made       it( mister twister?) It looked like a craw but only had it's right arm/claw. I bought a kit of them that came in 4 colors and 2 different sizes, and i  think it had a couple jigheads too. Don't remember using them much, and i know i didn't catch anything on them. Now i want to know who made them. Team 99, Catt, or somebody else help?

[BrianMDTX]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

I don’t know how many BR members have bass fished using live crawdads?

Back in the mid 60’s when FLMB started to grow to giant size the primary bait in San Diego lakes was live crawdads fly lined no weight.

We dyed live craws in food color and often removed a big claw by pinching it until the crawdad released it’s arm.

No arm , 1 arm or 2 arm crawdads all worked at times. When node hooking a crawdad with 2 claws the Bug tends to hold onto the line instead of trying to escape and didn't walk along the bottom. Removing 1 arm with the larger size claw the Bug was more lively, kicking more increasing strikes, same with no  claws. So it depended on the crawdad behaved. Generally 2 arms with claws worked but not as well as 1 or no claws.

Tom

 

Tom,

 

Back in Maryland in the 1960’s-1970’s it was common to drift crayfish along the bottom for bass in reservoirs. Pretty much everyone pinched the claws off as it greatly reduced the chances of the crayfish climbing into rocks and getting snagged, as well as (so we were told) inducing strikes. 

[Team9nine]

7 minutes ago, detroit1 said:

There was a soft plastic craw from the 70's called the"mad dad" that i'm not sure who made       it( mister twister?) It looked like a craw but only had it's right arm/claw. I bought a kit of them that came in 4 colors and 2 different sizes, and i  think it had a couple jigheads too. Don't remember using them much, and i know i didn't catch anything on them. Now i want to know who made them. Team 99, Catt, or somebody else help?

Mister Twister 

 

 

[detroit1]

Thanks 9-9...my memory relatively still intact!  haha

[Big Hands]

I had a bass fishing mentor back in the 80's-early 90's that I worked with. He is the one that taught me to nose hook live crawdads and slowly walk them along the bottom (among many other techniques). He told me that when he had crawdads that had big gnarly claws, if they were not getting bit, he would remove one or both claws. 

 

He contended that bass will also smash crawdads with their mouth closed to stun or try to otherwise incapacitate them before actually eating them. I can't verify this to be true, but I know that his, his wife's and both of his sons were among the very best anglers I have ever known and their results verify that. 

 

Keitech makes a pintail bait that catches fish. I have them and use them. 

 

Bass will eat a piece of perfectly cubed piece of meat. I know this because I have seen them do it. Sometimes I have no idea why a bass would eat some of the things they eat. My conclusion is that bass will strike for more than one reason and they are apt to eat anything they perceive as food. 

[Columbia Craw]

All right!!!  I’m tearing one of the legs off on every one of my frogs and more important, my duck lure.

[Mbirdsley]

I think with certain baits like the Berkley maxx scent or any of the scent products.  I think the more it gets beat up the more scent it releases.  
 

Generally speaking I’ll fish a plastic bait untill it won’t stay rigged on the hook.  If I have to re-rig it on the hook after every cast I’ll change it out.  
 

loosing 2 or 2 craw appendages though is no bueno for my self.  

[Catt]

7 hours ago, Big Hands said:

My conclusion is that bass will strike for more than one reason and they are apt to eat anything they perceive as food.

 

Caught on a McDonald's Chicken Mcnugget!

 

[MN Fisher]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Caught on a McDonald's Chicken Mcnugget!

That's about the only thing McNuggets are good for.

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

That's about the only thing McNuggets are good for.

 

Unless you are going to stay at the club for a while, then you need some conversation topics with the dancers...