When/Where to use creature baits?

[The Quadfather]

I've been fishing like a madman lately. I am all caught up in fishing Senkos. As I look over all the crap I've bought over the last year, I seem to have a lot of creature baits. Somehow I am not sure even how to fish them?
Can someone tell me in what conditions I would use them? Late in the season as top water lilly pad walking baits, or twitched under the surface? Mostly I"m talking about stuff that looks like salamanders, or crawly looking soft plastics.

[bassmasterderek]

Quad,
Depending on what type of creature baits you are talking about most creature baits I use, I flip with on a texis rig with a 1/4 oz bullet weight. I usually flip isolated cover or any cover that involves stumps, trees or bushes.

[tagwatson360]

Hey Quad,

Which creature baits are you wanting to use specifically? I am a big fan of creature baits and have had a lot of success on them. I will be happy to give you some pointers and let you know which rigging methods and techniques I like best for the particular creature bait styles. My experience is that certain creature baits excel with certain techniques/rigs.

Good for you for wanting to put down the Senko and learn a new lure. You will be happy you did. Creature baits are much better summer baits in my opinion. The guys that soak Senkos all summer long instead of actually fishing are missing out on so many good bites and big fish.

[HillbillyGeek]

Senkos work. Why do you think they are so popular?

Having said that, I will admit that there are times when other baits are more effective. The Yamamoto kreature works great in shallow cover. It's heavy enough to cast without adding weight, and when texas-rigged, it's a great bait for hopping on top of lily pads and casting into thick grass. Greasing it up with some lunker lotion helps it slide through cover without grabbing. Another great lure for this type of fishing is the GY 5" double-tail grub. They are MUCH cheaper than the kreature, but harder to cast. 15lb power pro works well.

Another go-to lure is a plain old 1/8 oz lead head jig + 5" SINGLE-tail grub (color 176). Wide gap hooks are best because 5" grubs have wide bodies. The 1/0 matzuo sickle is my favorite. A 1/4 oz head is OK for deeper water, but I've caught WAY more fish with 1/8.

Having a torn achilles tendon has really messed up the fishing for me this year. Hopefully I'll be more mobile when it's time to slay the humpies. :bounce:

[islandbass]

Hey Quad,

Which creature baits are you wanting to use specifically? I am a big fan of creature baits and have had a lot of success on them. I will be happy to give you some pointers and let you know which rigging methods and techniques I like best for the particular creature bait styles. My experience is that certain creature baits excel with certain techniques/rigs.

Good for you for wanting to put down the Senko and learn a new lure. You will be happy you did. Creature baits are much better summer baits in my opinion. The guys that soak Senkos all summer long instead of actually fishing are missing out on so many good bites and big fish.

Tag,

I too would look forward to your tips and advice. I have used creatures (hula grubs) in with success in Cali, but not here. They were t-rigged with and without weight.

[fishaholictaz]

When I started "bass fishing" I was using 3" tubes and they worked well. I then wanted something different so I picked up a pack of creature baits and texas rigged them and was not having much luck. I went back to the store and got a pack of GY double tail hula grubs and that is when I found out what it is like to have 25 + fish days. With that bait I also had two fish within an hour time over 6 lbs.. I love to fish the hula grubs with 1/8 brass and glass. I found that most of my bites come on the fall so I would use a softer tip on a 7' rod and give the bait a little shake on the way down. The scent that was the best for me was crawdaddy from smelly jelly that is a bass candy!!! And for GY color 318!

But I can't wait to hear from others on how they use them:cheers:

[Nik]

i barely fish senkos anymore thanks to creature baits. i prefer the ones that have a wide, thick body, like the "beaver" type baits. those things glide around all over the place, like under docks and around stumps. they're similar to a senko in that all you have to do is lift them and let them fall again and the appendages do all the work for you. they imitate a crawdad a lot better than a senko, and that is what a lot of those post spawn hogs are looking for; a nice, easy, big meal.

[BucketMouthCatcher]

The guys that soak Senkos all summer long instead of actually fishing are missing out on so many good bites and big fish.

LOL so true. I have a buddy that fishes nothing but senkos. It does work , but he also gets skunked often. Stick baits have thier place , just dont get stuck fishing it all the time or you will miss many quality bass. I used to fish the slugo's wieghtless tex rig or wacky before senkos ever existed. It worked great for neg bass. hmm I wonder how a baby slugo would work on a drophsot rig. I would try it but I have not seen any slugos in a long time. sniper snub or yum french fry is probably better anyway cuz of the soft pour. ok back to topic.

Creature baits I have very little experiance with. I've had some luck with YM creature tex rigged with a 1/8 bullet weight by throwing it near cover and docks and the fish will hit it on the drop. I've never crawled them on the bottom or used them over lillies though so I"m not sure how well they work for that.

I've heard that football jigs are good for skirted double tail grubs. This is a meathod I'm planning to use very soon.

Thats all I know about creature baits though =/ . Any advice would be great. Like what creature baits work as jig trailers on skirted jigs?