Thread: Soft plastic for small panfish??

How small do you want to go ?
I have good luck with the Mini Trout Magnet .
I’ve fished them with their 1/200th jigheads and with a size 12 sickle jig hook and tungsten beadhead .
I prefer the tungsten bead headed jig . I can cast them farther.
Also had some luck with ice fishing plastics .

Many soft plastics will get the job done. All I use is Trout Magnets, and I have caught thousands of fish with them. But if you’re not prepared to use a 2# test line I wouldn’t suggest them.

Regards


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

What’s already been said is spot on. I use jigs that are less than 1/32 and I have more plastics than three of us need. About anything 1” does pretty good. Southern pro mini tubes, Charlie Brewer 1” paddle tails but the gills take the tails off pretty regular. Bobby Garland also has some small offerings that keep me busy. But you can’t go wrong with the trout magnet stuff. There’s a good kit with lots of colors and some jigheads called the panfish magnet kit of something close to that.

I’m using Bobby Garland itty bitts on 1/64 unpainted heads with size 8 hooks and doing very well. I fish them under a clip on bobber with a tiny shot to get it down if I’m fishing deeper than three feet.

So I will give the trout magnets a try. My understanding is the trout magnet and the panfish magnet are the same plastics just packaged with different jig heads, is that correct?

So the reason I bring this up is one spot we fish has tons of small panfish and my son has a blast catching them however the only thing we can hook them with is a small hook with a worm. While he has been catching them I’ve been testing lures to see what will hook them. My goal is to find an artificial that will constantly hook them then give him that setup so we can build his confidence with artificial. On our next trip I have a handful of small hand tied jigs/flies to try and some smallish soft plastics. Just wondering if there’s anything I’m overlooking or if it’s just a matter of trial and error.

Mini or regular size trout magnets work great. TMs are my go to and always come thru in bison, Bulldog and a couple of others.
Bob

With the price of tungsten bead heads becoming affordable, I’ve gone to fishing hand tied jigs for most of my fishing.
Simple tie of rabbit hair for a tail with the jig shank wrapped with chenille.
Hard to beat solid black , although dark olive has been producing pretty good lately .
Just about replaced my plastics .