Minnows vs plastic.......the winner is?

[DockShootinJack]

A good scent ( Slabsauce) makes those plastics that much closer to minnows

[BobC]

As said jigs (casting with or with out a float or jigging) has a learning curve. Having confidence in what your using is key or you will never give it the chance to build your confidence.

Having confidence in your bait is so crucial to success. When I started this year with Trout Magnets I was a little skeptical - it didn’t take long to prove itself and now is my number one go to. It just flat works. Having that confidence lets me work on technique.

[Gen273]

I catch more on minnows, but I want to learn to fish a jig more effectively. This thread was an interesting read.

[bigdoug03]

I've always held that if you only consider the amount of time that the bait is in the water, minnows will almost always outperform plastics. The problem is I get way less time with my bait in the water when I fish minnows. I think it evens out in the end, for me at least.

Anyway, my fishing partner is 9 years old right now and she definitely catches more with minnows, so I'm bringing minnows every trip!

[Ketchn]

sometimes minnows will out produce jigs .
but not often enough for me to use them .
besides a minnow can never be trained to stay out of the brush .
a jig is way easier to train I promise

[Spoonminnow]

Natural is as natural does and few lures move naturally. Live bait must move naturally - unless dead - whereas a curl or shad tail grub has a unique unnatural action fluttering along at a certain speed either vertically or horizontally. Live baits move subtly and in place, whereas lures cover more water and challenge more fish to strike that they pass near enough to.

As state above, the nice thing about lures are the huge variety of lure shapes, sizes and actions that are capable of catching fish on any one outing. I've posted many on crappie.com and have caught many fish of all species using soft plastics just for the lure variety alone. Live bait provokes fish to strike, but lures provoke fish to strike moving objects that unnaturally challenge its space even when they are suspended and inactive. Not all fish are in a feeding frenzy when they strike baits and I'll bet few are.

Fish under the ice may catch more fish using worms or minnows, but there are many times when both live bait and lures catch just as many fish. Ten years ago a buddy and I fished tubes rigged on light ball head jigs through 9 holes cut through the ice in a large circle. Turns out a large school of crappie were under us and over 50 fish were caught in any hour. Could that many have been caught using live bait? Maybe, but going from hole to hole and catching 3-4 fish per hole using jigs saved time vs re-rigging live bait damaged or lost from one or two fish.

All have caught fish on one outing:

[BobC]

Nice fish, Spoon. Thanks for comments.
Bob

[BuckeyeCrappie]

I always take plastics and minnows to make sure my bases are covered. This spring I am adding Slab Sauce to the arsenal.

[Slab]

just say'in

and it's Billbob approved.

["G"]

"G" Sauce is better....