A lot of good comments here. Mac Daddy's tip about superglue will make your plastic last a lot longer. Nimrod's tip about using tubes is also good, although the tube will eventually split at the head, and it's more difficult to superglue. I sometimes take Mac Daddy's tip about using two poles a step further, using two jigs on each pole, one with a plastic on top and a hand-tied on the bottom. Vice-versa on the second pole. The hand-tied (either hair or marabou or hackle feather tail) nearly always out-produce the plastic.

A couple of extra tips: Get some of those tiny crappie rattles. You can insert them into the plastic or tie them inside your hair jigs. They can really improve your catch rate. Most of the guys here are using the Bobby Garland jigs with the minnow-shaped head. They are a lot more expensive than painting your own ball head or minnow head jigs, but they produce.

Hope y'all are catching the big-uns.