Learning to Fish with Artificial Lures

[user 7806]

99.9% of my fishing has always been fishing with live bait. I mostly fish on the bottom using a taught line or suspended the bait under a bober. Up until recently my bait of choice has always been worms or night crawlers. Recently I started using minnows. Never has much luck with any kind of artificial bait whether it be plastics, spinners, or crank baits.

Now that I have a boat I want to learn how to fish with the artificial bait. There is tons of it out there and really have now clue where to start. I have never chased one certain spies of fish and was for the most part happy with what ever got on the hook. This spring I started fishing for crappie using minnows and that was a good time, so for a while I targeted crappie but still only used minnows and a booper.

Here's my theory start out with one presentation using one type of bait and stick with it till I learn how to use it and can catch fish with it. I am thinking doing this with a drop shot rig using worms and/or lizards. MY thought process here is that it is sort of close to the way I have been fishing already to a certain extent. On the right track here?

Choice of worms/lizards, there 's a bunch of these to choose from too. I mainly fish a river and old sand pits off the river that are now lakes. The water is never what I would call clear it's what I would call merkey or dark at all times, never what I would consider clear. So my understanding is that in dark water you use dark color bait, doesn't make sense but okay. I'm thinking get a couple of packs of some dark colored worms and lizards. I'm also thinking I need to get the ones that float so that will move better.

I hear people taking about using Sencos if you Google it what you find is worms by Gary Yamamoto so has Senco become a generic name for a plastic worm, much like Kleenx is for tissue?

Am I on the right track here?

 

[redbug]

if you are going to start out with soft plastics I would suggest going with the basic colors. green pumpkin, watermelon seed, blue fleck and black
senko's are a common name for all stick baits they are most likely the easiest way to catch bass on a plastic worm.
i would suggest rigging it wacky style (exposed hook through the center of the worm) then casting it close to cover ,let it sink , then small twitches of the rod tip.. you will see the line start to swim away or feel some weight when the fish picks up the bait.
I hope this helps
good luck

 

[200racing]

think of murky water like fog. whats easier to see a black car or silver car.


https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=24360

jugging for catfish is a blast.it is also good for catching supper while you fish for other species.
you will need to check with mizzou fish and game for rules.

live sunfish can get you some huge cats.
i catch sunfish/brim around structure in the backs of slews. i use a small popper fly and a casting bubble in a med. light spinning rod.

in 1 night i caught 48lbs of blue cats on brim ,and that was 4 fish!

if you have any questions ask away.

 

[Tim Murphy]

Dear gramps,

If you want to fish for crappies get some unpainted jigheads in 1/32 and 1/16 ounce and a mess of 1 1/2" and 2" tubes and Twister tails. All you need to do is drift over crappies and they will hit them most of the time. I have my best luck with all white, and white with either a chartreuse, or red tail, for crappies. Bluegills and other sunfish will hit any color though all chartreuse, purple, black, and motor oil are the only other colors I carry.

You can drift fish with the jigs under a slip bobber or just free line them, either way works. The slip bobbers are kind of nice because you can rig the bait to stay at the same depth. For crappies you can keep the jigs right over top of the brush piles but still keep the baits from getting snagged with a bobber. For bluegills and other panfish work the edges and tops of weed beds.

For bass in lakes I have luck with rubber worms by Culprit in Moccasin or Crawdad color and Mann's Original Jelly worms in Blueberry and Grape. They are the only colors I use because I can always catch a fish or two on one of those colors. I like 6" or 7 1/2" worms, I never throw those big ol' watersnakes. I rig the worms Texas style and have a selection of cone shaped slip sinkers to get to the desired depth I want to fish.

I still fish Sluggoes and Fin-S-Shad too. I'm old school and like to stick with what works.

For crankbaits a few Rapala or Rebel or Bomber minnows and a few topwaters like Rebel Pop-R's, Smithwick Devil Horse, and Heddon Zara Spooks and Torpedoes should cover most of your bases. Some fat plugs like a Big-O or maybe a shad or two will hit the mid depths.

You don't need to buy dozens of lures to get started. You can spend $ 20 or $ 25.00 and get all the Twister tails and jigheads you'll ever need and be able to get a bag or two of rubber worms and some sinkers and worm hooks and still maybe be able to pick up a crankbait or two. You save money in the long haul on the rubber baits by buying 100 packs but you can buy 10 packs for like $ .99 all day long. Unpainted jig heads are like $ 2.00 for 10 and sometimes 25. Check you local tackle shops for homemade rubber tails. They work just as well as the name brands and cost far less.

Just work those lures like you don't mind losing them and you will catch fish.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Mizzie]

An easy way to get results with an artificial bait is my trick for bass. Take a Powerbait 7" worm (I usually go with motor oil). I cut off about an inch and a half from the head end of it and put in a bright chartreuse colored/red hook'd jig head. Cast it where you want it and reel very slowly with occasional rod tip lifts. Not the traditional way to fish a jig but it always works for me. This setup is not weedless so be prepared to loose a couple of snagged rigs before you get the hang of bouncing it off logs and such.

I started off fishing live baits as well, it's fun at first but it's almost like cheating.. I only use lures now, I don't even let friends bring shiners or live baits on my boat haha. :roll: Once you get the hang of lures and start catching fish on them, it's way more satisfying than catching with live baits! I'm not a professional and I'm still learning to fish certain lures correctly as well, it all takes time!

Youtube has a lot of good instructional videos as well.

Mike

 

[rusty.hook]

My suggestion is to take any color of 6" plastic worm that is good in your area and try what we used here in Texas, we called the Wacky Worm. Curly tail or in some cases a straight tail tail, whatever they were hitting that day. Take a 3/0 worm hook and hook it thru the worm sack or in the middle of the plastic worm and add a little fishing nail to the head so it will fall head down a little. If no strikes, remove the nail and just fish it without any weight at all. Throw it out and let it sink down a little depending on the depth of the water, and sweep your rod back towards you with a little pop, let it fall and hang on. Throw this on lite tackle for better results. I used a 6' graphite rod and 15lb line because there was a lot of brush where I fished. It worked for me, try it. I used a heavy duty gold crappie hook a lot also.
See pic below:

 

[Sean.buehrle]

IMO
The best all around artificial lure is a chartreuse with sparkles twister tail.

I have destroyed fish in ten states with it .
It is a no brainier to fish too, just cast and retrieve.
Get creative by bouncing it off the bottom.
Bass of all sorts, walleye can't resist em.
They come in assorted sizes.

 

[Socal399]

IMO
The best all around artificial lure is a chartreuse with sparkles twister tail.

I have destroyed fish in ten states with it .
It is a no brainier to fish too, just cast and retrieve.
Get creative by bouncing it off the bottom.
Bass of all sorts, walleye can't resist em.
They come in assorted sizes.

What brand?

 

[nlester]

All the suggestions above work in Texas. Most brands will work until you find what gives you the best results. In the lakes around here Motor Oil and Pumkin seem to be commonly used colors for bass. I would buy whatever is on sale until I got the feel of the lure. I think the name brand hard body lures seem to work better than the bargin brand but that is probably just a personal opinion. I like lipless crankbaits a lot unless there is a lot of cover and seem to have better luck with the chartruse and lighter colors

The soft tubes with solid bodies work well for crappies in warmer water but in the winter most people seem to switch to live bait. The 1/32 and 1/16 jig heads work well if you have a good feel for the lighter jug heads but you might want to use a 1/8 oz lure until you get the feel. A touch of super glue will help keep the soft lure on the jig head. Don't jig up and down but keep your rod steady and let the wave action give the motion to the lure. You can slide the line through your fingers to feel the lure and check for fish but be gentle with it. White bodies with chartruse or black tails are the most used colors around here.
In warm weather, I have a friend that fishes with live bait and I mostly use plastic. Some days he wins and some days I win.

Carolina rigs are the most common setup for bass but wacky worms and shakey heads seem to do good along the bank.

 

[Sean.buehrle]

...

 

[Sean.buehrle]

IMO
The best all around artificial lure is a chartreuse with sparkles twister tail.

I have destroyed fish in ten states with it .
It is a no brainier to fish too, just cast and retrieve.
Get creative by bouncing it off the bottom.
Bass of all sorts, walleye can't resist em.
They come in assorted sizes.

What brand?

There are many brands these days and they are all built the same.
Just go to your local tackle shop and ask for some jig heads. Get an assortment from 1/8-1/4 ounce painted or not and get the twister tails that go with that size jig head.
Twister tails cost about a dime each and jig heads range from 20-50 cents each.

I'm not a huge purchaser of artificial baits but last Thursday I got a few rapala lures to throw at the walleyes here in the Mississippi River.

I was up on lock dam 14 and noticed the gulls goin crazy on the shad minnows and also noticed the Stripers nailing them too.

One of the lures I purchased was the SSR 5 in silver.
I cast it into the frenzy and retrieved it a few time and got no strikes.
So I decided to just let it float thru the area where the gulls and Stripers were feeding and BAM I kid you not it was a strike every time through there.
The gulls were nearly fooled by the bait, swooping down and looking at it.
I caught fish for a good 20 minutes one after another.
If I was really serious about getting into all the artificial lures I would just pick the brains of every fisherman I ran across our on my local body of water and find out what they like to use and start there.

 

[HOUSE]

When I look back at the order I learned artificial lures it went: Spinners > Crankbaits > Jerkbaits > Soft Plastics > Jigs. I liked the "power fishing" techniques more than the "finesse fishing", but I learned over the last few years that I was missing a lot of fish. There is a time and place for all of them, however, and I'm sure everyone agrees that is one of the hardest things to learn about fishing.

As to plastics? Usually I'm going after bass, so I'll throw wacky rigged 5" Senko's in the ponds and Texas-rgged with a 1/8 bullet sinker (or weightless) in the bigger lakes, (usually around timber). I'm still no expert with them, but most of my fish come on Greens/Pumpkinseed colors during the day and black at dusk. I also like white 4" Senkos in the rivers or when shad are around (like right now). Here's a website with some great pictures for how to rig soft-plastics that might come in handy:
https://blog.wired2fish.com/blog/bi...ve-Bass-Fishing-Rigs-Every-Angler-Should-Know

As to other lures, I also found an interview with 5 lure suggestions for Fall bass fishing on that same site. I would have suggested 4 of the 5 before even reading this article, although perhaps in different colors. They are all great lures:
https://blog.wired2fish.com/blog/bid/78897/Five-for-5-Five-Fall-Fishing-Lures-for-Under-6-a-Piece

One last thing as to how I go about deciding what to throw, (just keep in mind this is very over-simplified...)
When I first hit a lake, I usually try topwater lures before the sun breaks the trees just to see if I can catch anything since it's so much fun. Next, I'll use a lipless crankbait or a spinnerbait as a "search lure" to try and cover a lot of water to find fish. If it's cloudy or windy, I usually stick with the spinnerbait a bit longer. If I don't catch any fish, I'll go with small lures to try and break the skunk. I'll throw an inline spinner like a Mepps comet minnow or a 1/16th ounce jig with a small curly tail grub trailer. If I catch one, I'll work the area with a crankbait and then switch to a jig or plastic worm after that.

The area you decide to fish is an entirely different subject and probably an even more important one than what you are throwing. If you want to read some really good books on the subject to jump start your skills, pick up the In-Fisherman "Critical Concepts" series of books on Amazon or elsewhere. I learned more about bass fishing in those 3 books than any other website/book/video out there.

Don't ask me about crappie, though! Good luck

 

[HOUSE]

P.S. I just found this chart and I think it will help you figure out what to throw as you start out:
https://blog.wired2fish.com/blog/bid/50939/Fishing-Feature-The-Wired2Fish-Bass-Fishing-Bait-Selector