Hair Jigs vs. Soft Plastics?

Greetings all. It's a cold, nasty day outside, so I thought I'd ask a question that seems to be debated.

Which do you like, hair/feather jigs or soft plastics?


After joining Crappie.com in 2015, I got all excited and made my first crappie jig and shared it here: https://www.crappie.com/crappie/main...g-short-tails/
https://www.crappie.com/crappie/atta...0118-00689-jpg

As crazy as it sounds, for many years I have never caught a single fish on those jigs. Not sure why, they looked just fine to me. So after trying my jigs for awhile, I would go back to using my Panfish Assassin soft plastics and caught fish. Same thing every time. My jigs just never caught.

Fast forward 7 years. Still have never caught a single fish on my jigs, but the other day, when trying out my livescope for the first time, I came across one of those original jigs and on a whim, I tied it on and put a squirt of slab sauce on it, and sent it down...

Attachment 445109 Attachment 445110

Shockingly, I not only caught one fish, I caught a number of them. If fact, they badly outfished the soft plastics that my nephews were using.

I suspect the slab sauce holding in the hair is why, but it could be that I've learned to slow down and move them right.


Well, that's my story, and I've still caught more on plastic, but which do you like more? Hair/feathers or plastic?

Most likely your presentation had a lot to do with it. The Sauce certainly can’t hurt!:ThumbsUp
Bob

Years ago, I was told on this forum to not move my jigs too much. Very good advice. I also bought a 3-pack of slab sauce here. It doesn't stick well to the plastic lures, but the hair sucks it right up.
Either way, a lot of credit for my catching comes from this forum.

I pour my own plastics and I hand tie my own jigs. I really don't have a favorite because I let the fish tell me what they want. I caught a limit on my last trip and used 2 plastic jigs the whole time. Sometimes they prefer one over the other but you never know which is going to produce until you try them. I do typically use plastics when shooting docks or fishing brush piles because I hate losing my hand ties.

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Originally Posted by thill

Years ago, I was told on this forum to not move my jigs too much. Very good advice.

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I would agree except if livescope has taught me anything at all it's to raise or reel the jig slowly away. Nearly all strikes come from below and they do not like it moving up up and away!

:hesaid At one time I was a one-lure person, a black and chartreuse tube jig in various sizes. Then a friend gave me some of his hand-tied jigs and asked me to try them. they were blue bodies, with chartreuse tails with silver or gold thread through the tails. I had great luck with them and started to use them all the time. Then another friend who also hand-tied his jigs convinced me to try various hand-tied jig shapes and colors by constantly outfishing me with the jigs he hand-tied. (To be honest, it wasn't the difference in jigs that allowed him to outfish me, he is just a better fisherman than me. But I used the different jigs as an excuse to explain his success. :Rofl)

To make a long story short, I now try different types of colors and types of jigs until I find one the crappie bite. I then use it until they stop hitting it, then I repeat the cycle over again. But I still start out with a black/chartreuse tube jig, followed by a blue/chartreuse hand-tied jig as my first two choices. :biggrin

Plastics for me as I mostly shoot docks. When not hitting the docks I do like a good hand tie. Reminds me I need to get some tied up for pulling planer boards this spring

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Originally Posted by keeferfish

I would agree except if livescope has taught me anything at all it's to raise or reel the jig slowly away. Nearly all strikes come from below and they do not like it moving up and away!

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Another nice nugget of information!

I fished hair jigs for many years and when plastics came out I started using them also. Today , single pole fishing with LS l keep both tied on and ready to let the crappie decide which one they want. I just hate losing those proven slab catching hair jigs in brush piles and standing timber on the Santee Cooper lakes.


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In my limited amount of experience I have done better with plastics. My preferred method is shooting docks it’s hard to beat a Bobby garland with a little slab sauce IMO.


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