Northwest Fishing Reports

I have been bass fishing for a couple years now, but I usually only use rapalas and spinners. I'm getting into some plastics now but not sure what set ups and techniques I should use to be successful. If anyone has any good advice for a plastic newbie I would sure appreciate it. Thanks. skimpy@comcast.net

some good basic plastics to have are senkos, grubs, lizards, baby bruh hogs, and some worms.

a good rig for most any plastic is the texas rig. you can add weight right above the lure but i've found that the less weight the better (ie: fish weightless if you can).

another good one is the dropshot, especialy for smallmouth. you can either nose hook, wacky rig, or texas rig your bait on a dropshot. i like gamakatsu split/dropshot hooks in size 4 for nose & wacky and i like owner downshot hooks in 1/0 for texas rigging. some good worms to try are GYCB 3.5" cut tails, sniper snus, and KGM tad poles.

thanks CK14. I can use all the info I can get.

oh, and i ment sniper snubs and baby brush hogs

and another thing to remember, i would get mostly natural colors like watermelon, green pumpkin, brown, etc.

colors like black, blue, and purple work better in stained water most of the time. but natural colors seem to work anywhere.

i think a texas rigged worm or grub is the way to go when starting with plastics. The movement of the tail on a straight retrieve is fairly automatic, and you dont need to impart much/any action on your part: just lift and drag the plastic back to you.

Senkos are good as well, but after hearing about how magic they are, and how you pretty much cant fish them wrong, I still dont catch nearly as many fish with them. Plus if you are used to fishing cranks and spinners, senko fishing might be just a bit too slow for you right now. (that and any totally weightless plastic fishing)

My advise is take time and fish one plastic bait at a time . pick one and fish it to the max ..get a lizard 5 to 6 inch get two colors , watermelon & purple / fish them many ways / carolinia rig : texas rig : weightless : and keep in mind to let the fish tell how they want it .. the best way to find out is judge by the stricks you get .. your overall mission is to get that aggressive bite or how far down the fish is taking the bait in there mouth ...and i cant stress enough to FISH THEM SSSLLLLOOOWWW as possible .. you also have to become a good line watcher for alot of your stricks will come from this ...you have know how fast your bait free falls you they way if you ever notice any difference in fall time thats more than likely a fish or brush ....All of my bigger bass on plastics have the same pattern , i never feel the bite but my line either stops and runs reaaly fast .... i can go on & on but hopefuly this is somewhat helpfull ....BBD

My all time favorite to get the feel out of plastics is fish a Zoom finess worm texas rigged with a 1/16 oz sinker. You will catch many shorts but will figure out that sometimes you do not feel them but only see your line moving.

Thanks to everyone. I'm going try out some of your suggestions on saturday. I will remember to FISH THEM SSSLLLLOOOWWW as possible.

I like to use a quarter ounce jig head with my grubs. I usually get the jig heads that are painted with an eye. For some reason, I like the black or white headed jigs. I attach to that a few different grubs. My favorite are the Gary Yamamoto double tailed hula grub (Watermellon seed color seems to work great for me). I also use a lot of Kalins 5 inch lunker grubs (watermellon seed, pumpkinseed are my favs, but I have other colors too). I attach the jighead straight to my line, and the quarter ounce is plenty to get a nice long cast if needed. I use this rig when fishing from shore and it has been successful for me in many different waters.

Joe

what about the banjo minnows? I use to see that commercial all the time, but never actually seen it in person.:batman:

When fishing a Senko t-rigged, how far should you cast it and whats the best way to reel it in? I try not to cast, cause the weight of the line tends to pull the worm in and there's a belly in the line. So, I'm not sure if I'll feel a strike. One thing is for sure, all of my strike have been when the worm is falling.

When reeling it in, should I use a jig like action (pull up, let it fall, pull up, let it fall, etc.) or do a slow retrieve?

Edit: Found this useful article by Yamamoto himself.

ive always had the most succes fishing weightless senkos, cast em out and let them fall for maybe 10 seconds or longer depending on how deep it is and give the rod a couple three twitches, just enough to move your rod from a 9oclock position to 11, and let it fall again and repeat. ive also noticed that most of the "strikes" i get are more so just weight at the end of the line, its amazing how long the fish will hold on to them even if you put pressure on the line. i usually use watermelon with black flake or just plain watermelon, or cinnamon with black flake in the 4 inch size with a 3/0 gamakatsu extra wide gap worm hook. im sure there are alot of other baits and techniques that work just as good if not better but this is how i catch almost all of my fish. good luck

Mikey, since with a senko you are usually trying to let the bait fall with a slack line, a huge part of senko fishing is to watch your line and note any twitches or side movements rather than trying to "Feel" the bite since at many times you are not in direct contact with your bait.