Plastics......

[mistertwister]

Aside of personal preference, what qualities do you look for in a good plastic bait? I see so many on the market these days, and own so many. I just thought it would be interesting to hear everyone's thoughts on why they choose what they choose. Please, no brand bashing if you happened to have had a bad experience or feel that a product is inferior because... I also recognize that for different applications, there are different plastic jig bodies.
In a nutshell my question is this, for you, what makes you go with Type A, over Type B, C, D, E,... When they are the same color and material. What factors ultimately affect your choice.

THanks
Chris

[mrwillis]

I agree with you. There is so much stuff out there, that you can spend more money on lures/plastics than you do on your boat. Things from length, to texture, to tail types...and I am one that has gotten caught up in buying all the "new stuff". However, I keep going back to my old $1 for 20 jigs. I have found that it isn't what plastic you use, rather what you tip it with. I am an AVID FAN of Crappie Niblets, and primarily Neon Chartruese with Glitter. KILLS THEM EVERYTIME. So much so I bought an entire case of them. Good thing they have a good shelf life. It might take me a while to run through 16 jars of it. I couldn't find it anywhere else for over 2 month...had to buy them out!

[skiptomylu]

I don't use the soft plastic very much since I tie my own jigs, but I do have quite a few different ones.

I like just regular tube baits especially blue/white
I like the Wolly Beavertail
I like the kind of new crappie thunder.

I probably will use my jigs 95% of the time though and could stand to have less plastics than I have. I have this sickness of buying way too much stuff when it comes to fishing.

[GRIZZ]

what qualities do you look for in a good plastic bait? What factors ultimately affect your choice.

Action, color, size, smell, and less often uniqueness, I have a ton of plastics, but I always end up using berkley power micros or grubs - or kalin triple threats or one of thier copies like bps or souther pros, or because they really work and they are unique BPS crappie beavers. The berkleys have the first 4 attributes. Kalins have 1,2,3, and the beavers have1,2,3,5.

[england]

Size matters down here in Mississippi. we have large numbers of large crappie so I go with the bigger bodies. Super jigs from Mid south tackle in Jonesboro Ar. BIG BAIT, BIG FISH

[caseydrew]

I've caught them on pretty much every jig I've ever tried, but the only one that I seem to consistantly outfish everyone else in the boat on when casting is a slider jig. Colors vary w/ my favorite being black w/ a chartruse tail, but there is something about that paddle tail that drive crappie crazy!

[willsjwills]

cost

[slabbandit]

For years a good size black/chart. tube on a 1/16 head is all that I ever used. I've used a crawdad colored beetle spin a lot of years ago too.
Lately though I have had real good success with Yum Beavertails and 3/16 Southern Pro Chart. jig heads.
We have also grown very partial to Pink as a productive color in our stained to muddy water. Some of you that know me from my pics comment about the Pink jigs hanging out of their mouths.
As far as casting I like a Roadrunner in open water and a Slider grub in the brushpiles.

[Glowgood Jigster]

I've been kinda partial to any kind of jigs that glow, (duh)... Since I first started using them for trout, then panfish and bass. I have always had more bites on glow jigs than anything else, in every color of water. Sometimes it would be a paddletail glowjig, others a curlytail with a plain lead head, but usually something that glows. Especially nightstalking.
I do think that the use of crappie nibbles helps a whole bunch too, but when the bite's on, you don't really need them so much.
I am also a lure buying addict, I like to have WAY more than I will ever use, in WAY more variety than I will ever need. I have been on a spree this last few months getting ready for the next few years, or as my wife puts it, the next decade after we retire. I have been very selective in my lure choices, I think, based on the things I've learned about crappie and bluegill since I've been reading the message boards on the subject.
I'm just about completely set up for life on plastic jigs, but I need just one more thing, and that's a jig Crappieday is making for me. It's a glow blue with bug eyes and it looks just like my sig jig:

[crappiefarmer]

I troll sliders and crappiesnacks and tubes and sometimes the fish prefer one over the other so I would say they are equal but have their place for certain conditions. CF