Panfish plastics...what do you use for pannies?

What are you favorites?

I have several,but would like to hear of others.

I'll list a few of my favorites.Although used for icefishing,they are killer on pannies during open water.
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Ratso
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...net/Ratso1.gif

Nuclear Power Ant
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...uclearant2.gif

From www.customjigsandspins.com

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The Polli
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...net/Polli1.jpg
Incredible on bullgills w/ this kinda action
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...gnet/Maki1.jpg
The Maki is a good all around bait to use. It has unbelievable action in the water and attracts a lot of different fish,but pannies and crappies love em' too.
These are from www.lobybaits.com

One lake is pretty productive with micro craws or frogs and tiny 1" curly tail grubs in chart. The other lake we fish for gills seems to do best with live bait on a small hook, but we catch our share on ice jigs tipped with waxies or black foam body ants that I tie.

Yesterday, we took some June bugs I had picked up off the patio Sunday night and nothing would touch them, much to my disappointment. The water was clear enough to see several fish swim up to the bug, peck at it and swim off. Must smell bad. - Roberta

i use 1/64oz tube jigs most of the time with maggots for gills. sometimes i use small curly tails or hair jigs.

Why switch? I use the same 1/32nd and 1/64th
oz hair jigs that I use for crappie..and tip them with
crappie nibbles. It seems that white nibbles on gray
or chartruse jigs catch more 'gills for me.

Yummm!

I have so many plastics in my tacklebox's,I'll have enough to use till dang near 2020.:D

I tend to favor insect looking plastics,but will on occasion throw minnow immitators,from tubes to mimic minnows.Whichever the pannies choose.
But a favorite is Berkley Power Nymphs.Great for bullgills,crappies and even trout.They also came out with the baits with sparkles that scatter off the bait the moment it hits water.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...owerNymphs.jpg

Another is Exude Nymphs.They also work well for gill,crappies and trout.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...xude_nymph.jpg
Here's a favorite lately working on gills and crappies from Northland Tackle.Slurpies immitate a minnow with a minnowtube like appearance.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...t/Slurpies.jpg

I also favor pencil bobbers,sponge bobbers,thill bobbers, or any other small profile bobber I can get my hands on.One can never have too many.I usually rig it under a slip float with a very small splitshot.

I just step down a little from crappie fishing. I will use 1 1/2 plastic grubs and tubes, Southern Pro. Also one of my new jigs that I like is the YUM beaver tail...

I'm with tnvol. I rarely use any jig that doesn't have a marabou or rabbit fur tail, same colors as tnvol. There are occasions when I will use some cheap plastic bodies (same colors as above and tube type I think) from the Creme Co. that Wal-Mart sells. But the action of marabou or rabbit fur tails (even squirrel tail) is hard to beat. Besides, the heat doesn't melt them like it does plastic. I've never seen a plastic yet that could match the action and durability.

That being said about my jigs, the jigs on my beetle spins usually do have plastic bodies.

I've used beetle spins in the past.They are very effective when searching out gills when structure is'nt available,especially right away in the spring.The flash of the spin,sometimes can't be beat.

We don't get the unusually warm temps like you do, down south.My plastics rarely "melt".I have found that when I mix maribou with plastic..it will melt, with time.Simple fix.I never combine the two.Keep them separated.Losing money because of a meltdown can be a very costly,and it has happened to me.Just live and learn.LOL

But IMHO plastics are the way to go.They are reusable.Live bait is not.Live bait can be quite expensive too if you go fishing everyday.I'm not saying I never use live bait.I do.I use crappie minnows in the wintertime.But come spring,summer and fall...I use plastics.:D

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I do keep them separate. I meant that I use marabou or rabbit fur tails (or hair) with chenille or braid bodies, no plastics at all on most of my jigs. The heat is just a killer down here for most plastics. Big mess in a tackle or fly box. So I don't use plastics very much for that reason and for the more natural action of the other materials.

Hey it's cool DA.Maybe I can suggest to store your plastics in a pouch in your cooler full of soda pops so they don't melt.Hehe.I dunno.But sometimes it pays to be versatile.Use all kinds of different baits.Because lakes are different from all bodies of water,to the next.What works on one lake,won't necessarily work on another.Find out what the fish are eating,and mimic the bait.That's all I'm saying.Try different combinations.

I use jigs of all kinds too.I favor CrappieRocket jigs,not only because they catch fish,but also because you can trim them down or leave them alone.I also use other maribou's like a fuzzy grub,or a Flu-flu.I'm just trying to spark interest out there,on plastics.

I have good luck with a 1/64 head inside a 1" red & white tube body. By July I sometimes switch to a 1 1/2" body. Nothing fancy, but it works for me.

I've benn doing well with a white Mepps Thunder Bug, Bass hit it pretty good too; like a Creme worm with a tiny spinner and double hooked too.

Has anyone tried the reverse tube rigging yet?Like having the tentacles right next to the head?That's popular up here.Try it..it's pretty radical looking but catches lotsa bluegills without them ripping and tearing off the tentacles.The tubes last way longer!

My hands down favorite on any body of water, is the 1 inch baby craws. I buy them at Wal-Mart in their Riverside box full of different panfish plastics. I think Riverside sold out to Tree Top lures though, sold at the Spike It website. These craws are the exact same body as the riverside craws. Much more expensive though. 88 cents for twenty at wally world. 2 something dollars for 10 at spike it. Anyhow, I've bought enough over the past two years to last me another five years. And I fish for bream alot. Also, the 1 inch slider plastics are deadly. Green Pumpkin, strawberry glitter, and purple glitter. As posted already, those Exude craw/nymph looking deals also are excellent. Also try the 3 inch helgies by Lunker city. Kind of long, but the bream will hammer them. To hook more, bite off about a 1/4 inch of the helgie.

I just got a recent, newer supply of Lobybaits,and I'm getting excited to give them a whirl.For those that haven't tried Loby's for pannies,you are missing out big time!

www.lobybaits.com

I prefer hair / marabou most of the time, but there are times I go to plastics. I use Bass Pro Shops tri-color tiny tubes or Crappie Assassins usually, though sometimes a curly tail works well. As far as color preference goes, it's my observation (as someone else noted, too) that the fish vary their taste from body of water to the next. On Stockton Lake here in MO, I've seen them go bonkers for red, white, and black for years, while on Truman Lake I've had success with chartreuse and white, regardless of water clarity. It's my guess that forage must play some part to the crappie's finicky nature when lakes that aren't that distant require the use of different color patterns to produce fish.

Something happened to me a few years ago in TN that I thought I'd relate, though I wasn't after crappie, I was fishing sauger. I noticed several fishermen were using red and white tubes tipped with a minnow, so I tied on the same and did fair. That's been a color I've done pretty decent with in cold water; then it occurred to me that something a little different might be just the thing. I have family in Springfield, MO, so I got on the horn to my grandpa and asked him if he wouldn't mind going over to the BPS headquarters to see if he could find me some 1 1/2" white and red tubes . . . I remembered passing them by a few times, but I thought the reversal of the colors I had seen working might get a reaction from the fish. Sure enough, a week later my hunch was proved correct. Now I'm wondering, after CrappieMagnet's tip on turning the tube around, if that might not have worked just as well as the trouble I took! I'm going to try reversing a tube next time I'm out on my local favorite water, thanks for the tip. I really appreciate the great responses on this thread-- I have seen several plastics mentioned here that just may give the hair / marabou jigs I usually favor some competition :)

Crappie.com..............Nice site! Looking forward to swapping crappie tips. The crappie fishing here has been good as wll as the bluegills...Wormi's have been the hot bait this past two weeks.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/PICT0025.jpg

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/PICT0026.jpg

Yo Mike.Glad to see your able to post now.Welcome to the most comprehensive crappie addiction site you can find!Make yourself to home!

Went out on the Dutch last night and took advantage of the night bite for the slabs....float tubes and plastic wormi's did the trick...supper is sitting in a tupperware dish on ice as I write this... Used Atom stealth glow jigs with orange fleck wormi's jigged over brush piles in 15 feet of water. Never knew I was there! The two of us had 34 keepers in about an hour and a half, including our kicking time in the float tubes...what a blast!

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/PICT0182.jpg

swedish pimples tipped with a worm bit and also whip'r stopper jigs tipped with the same. the whip'r stoppers come packaged with 3 outfits of a jig head, and three tubes/tails and the tubes/tails are scented but its better to tip it with a worm bit

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Originally Posted by truefisher

Went out on the Dutch last night and took advantage of the night bite for the slabs....float tubes and plastic wormi's did the trick...supper is sitting in a tupperware dish on ice as I write this... Used Atom stealth glow jigs with orange fleck wormi's jigged over brush piles in 15 feet of water. Never knew I was there! The two of us had 34 keepers in about an hour and a half, including our kicking time in the float tubes...what a blast!

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i1...r/PICT0182.jpg

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nice crop of crap's.... hope u had a cleaning buddy