Soft Plastic questions:

[NJbassman]

Hey, I've been using live baitfish for quite sometime and I recently switched to spinnerbaits. Spinnerbaits (most  are Strike Kings/Booyah Buzzbaits) have been working pretty well (but not as well as baitfish) and I've been catching about 1 or 2 less bass than I would with baitfish (around 3-4 per day w/ spinnerbaits)

The problem is, I've never been introduced into the soft plastic world of fishing, and I'll need a bit of help on that. I already know how to TR/Texposed rig the lures, & the soft plastics I'll be using will be "5 Senkos, "5 Flukes, "6 Slug-gos. I've never really tested the lures in action. I plan to test the lure in a local pond as well w/ a max depth of about 6-7 feet of water. The follow questions refer to Senkos, Flukes, and Lunker City Slug-gos when fishing in a pond.

What type of structure would you normally fish these lures?

The way you retrieve most texas rigged soft plastics is to: (slowly or quickly) lift the rod up and down?

Do you add jerks when you lift the lure?

Once in the water, when will you raise the lure and when will you let the lure sink?

When will the strike occur the most?

Thanks in advance  8-)

[BucketmouthAngler13]

when i use 5" senkos in open water,  i texas or open hook rig them in the middle. then i cast them out and wait intill they hit bottem. once that happens, i reel a little bit and jerk up, (so they are about half way to the surface)  then  wait for it to hit bottem, then repeat.

most of the fish slurp it up on the drop, so watch out for weight on the end of your line when you start the reel/jerk part.

[fishingrulz]

Look here first...http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1121527643

You'll find everything about plastics in there

[liquidsoap]

Anywhere you are fishing, fishing near structure is always your best bet.  SUre casting in the middle of the lake might catch you a few fish but if you are going to fish senko's, flukes, or slugos, cast them near weeds, trees, lilypads, or anything that is structure in the lake.

I seem to have most of my luck, on or near weeds with senkos.

And I fish senkos really slow.

[Hooked On Bass Fishing]

When will the strike occur the most?

The strike will mostly occur from when the bait hits the water and when it hits the bottom

[Craw]

You picked 3 excellent baits to begin with. I'll try and answer your questions in order.

What structure-all 3 of these baits excel in shallow water but the action they have will draw fish from very far away. When the fish are aggressive they will appear out of nowhere to attack these baits. Most people just cast them around shoreline cover but you can work them around structure also. Work them around points, over shoals and across breaklines.

Basic retrieve-I like to begin by working these baits aggressively and then slowing down if I need to. The bread and butter retrieve is to cast the bait out and work it back with quick jerks. The most important thing to do is throw the bait slack after every twitch of the rod tip so it can dart erratically. It's the unpredictable movement of these baits that make them so effective. Use your wrist to apply these twitches and experiment with different rhythms until the fish tell you what they want. A standard cadence would go like this...jerk, jerk, pause    jerk, jerk, pause. By varying the speed and intensity of the jerk and the length of the pause you can create all different types of action. You can keep the bait moving at a pretty good pace or twitch it a couple of times and then let it sink slowly to the bottom. All 3 of the baits you've selected have a natural baitfish profile and can draw strikes when doing nothing at all. The Senko in particular will get clobbered when sitting perfectly still. When snapping the rod tip to give these baits their action, I like to keep my rod down. Either snap the tip down or out to the side. Sometimes I will hold my rod tip high also. This will keep the bait just a little higher in the water column and will keep the belly out of your line if current is an issue.

When strikes occur-for me, the best part about these lures is that you will see the majority of strikes. The bass are likely to hit the bait at any time during the retrieve so ALWAYS have your rod in position to make a quick hookset.

I hope this helps. Once you get these baits out to the pond you spoke of for testing, I think you will be impressed with how they look. During your quest to learn about all the great soft plastics available keep this in mind...The Fluke, Slug-Go and Senko are in a different catagory than the plastic worm, craw and other such plastics. Worms and such are uaually weighted and dragged or hopped accross the bottom. Good Luck