Confidence Bait

I usually don’t discuss baits much because everyone has a favorite bait they swear by. I’m no different, but it seems my favorite is constantly changing. There is a bait I fished every trip for over a year and now I rarely use it. This year I’ve been using 2-3 different baits with success so why change?? Last 2 trips I’ve used a bigger bait, Crappie Magnet Fin Commander. It’s a 2 1/2 inch bait, 1/2 bigger and fatter than a 2 inch B. Garland. Last Friday report the F. Commander caught at least 75 percent. Yesterday it was more like 90 percent and would have been higher but we ran out of them. Skeptical?? I started out with one and my partner had on a 2 inch BG fishing side by side. I boated 10 fish to 0. We switched rods and I tied a 3 inch F. Commander on his rod and he boated 3 while I was tying on. That was a good test. Give bigger baits a try, you might get a good surprise. I also learned that using a bigger bait doesn’t weed out smaller fish. The 9 inch fish would choke it!!Attachment 435680Attachment 435681


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Thank you for sharing your bait tips!

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Thanks for sharing your experience

Thanks for sharing. Those are some good looking baits and colors.

Yeah, my "confidence bait" changes all the time ... depending on season, lake, method used, conditions at the time, etc.

Like you, I've had baits I had confidence in for years (like a tube jig), only to try something new and do well with it ... then put the "old" confidence bait away and move on with the new one. Rinse/repeat months or years later.

But, the one bait I have ALWAYS had confidence in .... 1/16oz marabou Road Runner :check :heart

I've been catching some decent crappie on 4" Keitech Easy Shiner swimbaits on 1/8 oz. VMC swimbait jig heads with pretty good success. I normally use 1/32 oz. or 1/8 oz. with B.G. Baby Shad or Lunker City Fin-S-Fish bodies. I was using the Easy Shiners to fish below schools of shad on a slow drift and was surprised how hard the crappie hit them and how deep they'd be hooked. They out-fished the small jigs 4 to 1.

Jim

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Originally Posted by Yak Fish

I've been catching some decent crappie on 4" Keitech Easy Shiner swimbaits on 1/8 oz. VMC swimbait jig heads with pretty good success. I normally use 1/32 oz. or 1/8 oz. with B.G. Baby Shad or Lunker City Fin-S-Fish bodies. I was using the Easy Shiners to fish below schools of shad on a slow drift and was surprised how hard the crappie hit them and how deep they'd be hooked. They out-fished the small jigs 4 to 1.

Jim

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Thanks for the encouragement, I bought some 1/4 3 inch rigged baits to try on open water fish. Seeing you used 4 inch inspired me to take the challenge to catch fish on my 3’s.


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Mine is the one that has the fish by the mouth when I lift it out of the water! :biggrin
It is a good thing to try new stuff every once in a while. I spend too much time with minnows to know any difference. :dono

I'm always trying to show the fish something that they havent seen. I play around with colors ALOT, and I pull some tied jigs every once in awhile.

good post. William (Fisherofmen) and I had a similar discussion months back regarding bait profile/sizes. Crappie (due to their large mouth) can consume large baits if desired. He related a story when he had caught some large crappie on 4-1/2" herring. I also showed my son back in April that sometimes crappie will prefer tiny baits. I had switched from a hand-tied 1/16 to a hand-tied 1/64, immediate reaction to the smaller bait after they had quit taking the larger profile. As crappie chasers, sometimes we have to play with colors/profiles/presentations to find out what & how they want it. If you have a half full toolbox you may end up with a half full livewell/cooler...

Crappie fisherman do need to understand that they are using a 4'' to 5'' bait when tipping a jig with a minnow. Big profiles catch big crappie and of course small ones too! :popcorn Pick your poisons with small and big baits. It all comes back to experience while using different baits. Thanks for your post,

40 plus years ago I fished for crappie with what they call bass minnows now and seldom boated a small crappie. At that time you could buy 3 dozen for a dollar. :-)
Maybe it's time to up size my bait?