Thread: Plastic vs live ?

Yes, the pro's use minnows, but I'm not a pro.
I'm sure that the minnows will up the catch rate some, but I'm not looking to catch every fish. Just the dumb ones. Selective harvest.
I'm sure that minnows are the way it's been done for many years, we used to ride in horse drawn wagons too.
I'd rather fool em than feed em.
If I can catch em without minnows and the bite slows, I have another option. Do you?
I don't have a problem staying awake when fishing with jigs, but I have caught a few winks waiting for the float to not float.
I spent many weeks learning the habits of Crappie with a short UL rod and 4lb line and a 1/32 jig. What works and what doesn't matter is a real eye opener.
All that said, to each his own.

Since one of my posts was deleted, please forgive me if I in fact offended anyone. I am relatively new here and really just trying to learn. I tried to respond in a humorous way to an obviously controversial subject. Please forgive me if I have added fuel to the fire. I will keep my gun in it's holster.

Originally Posted by ET Fish

Since one of my posts was deleted, please forgive me if I in fact offended anyone. I am relatively new here and really just trying to learn. I tried to respond in a humorous way to an obviously controversial subject. Please forgive me if I have added fuel to the fire. I will keep my gun in it's holster.

No worries, wan't anything you said, just an incidental part of what I moved off. If anyone has questions about what I did move, you're more than welcome to PM me. Thanks.

I decided a while back not to be hard headed when it came to catching fish, I used to be. I was a die hard jig fisherman for 20+ years. Now I carry minnows sometimes, learning to spider rig some. Figured out I like catching fish, don't really care how. Purty relaxing watching the cork sometimes, purty hectic sometimes too, Lol
Doesn't matter how you do it, long as you havin fun !

I fish with both. I just don't like others belittling others that use them. It's just not right.

Originally Posted by jusanothajoe

I decided a while back not to be hard headed when it came to catching fish, I used to be. I was a die hard jig fisherman for 20+ years. Now I carry minnows sometimes, learning to spider rig some. Figured out I like catching fish, don't really care how. Purty relaxing watching the cork sometimes, purty hectic sometimes too, Lol
Doesn't matter how you do it, long as you havin fun !

AMEN

Me, well I am an old school crappie fisherman and proud of it!
I fish with one rod rigged with a slip float to fish anywhere from 2-30 feet. Whatever the depth of the water is I divide it by two and that is where I start this particular rod. This had a double rig on it so I can offer two baits with different choices and colors. On the top hook is a minnow and the bottom hook is soft plastic with a crappie nibble rolled in garlic and anise.

I fish the other rod with a slip float to be 3 feet off the bottom no matter what depth of water.

Now whatever rod or technique starts to constantly produce is what I will do for the rest of that particular day. If they want meat then I will feed them meat to catch my meat for dinner. If they want soft plastic then I am just as thrilled to fool them and catch them on something that I personally made like these paddle tail minnows.



So I guess I am saying ..To each his/her own preferred method. I just use the WW. method (Whatever Works)

I just have a confidence issue with jigs. I've had a couple of really good trips with jigs but not anything consistent. Recently I learned to push Kentucky rigs with minnows and have had decent success. Here we're only allowed 3 poles, so I'll usually push 2 poles with minnows and cast a jig with the other. I almost always get bit on the minnows and not so much on the jig. After reading some of these posts, I'm wondering if by casting it's being retrieved too fast. Maybe trying Ships method with the slip float will help. Can I just switch out the minnow hooks with jigs on the Kentucky rigs? Should you go light in that case with 1/32? I guess I just need to make a few trips without minnows and just force myself to switch up until I find something that works.