Small soft plastics for panfish and shad

[J.A. Veil]

For the past 8 years, I have been using soft plastic tails from 12 Fathom (a subsidiary of Producto Lures) on jigheads as my primary lures. I have caught countless fish on their Fat Sam mullet paddletails, Buzztail shads, and Shadzillas. I am well stocked for this year.

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Although most of my fishing is done in tidal waters, typically during the late winter and spring, I spend some time fishing in freshwater ponds or streams for species like white perch, bluegill, other sunfish, crappie, chain pickerel, and fallfish. I also try to fish in freshwater streams during the migratory runs of yellow perch, herring, and shad. The most common lure I use for catching these small fish in fresh waters is a 2” to 3” slender soft plastic on a tiny jighead (1/8-oz,1/16-oz) or a similar sized shad dart. For years I stuck with twistertails (grubs). I have also done well using little lures that look somewhat like little tadpoles (e.g., Panfish Assassins, Bust-Em Baits Stingers).

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Last month, the Producto Lure company made some trial batches of their version of a tadpole-shaped plastic. They call them Crappie Bites. Yesterday I received a shipment of those tails (white body with chartreuse tail). I can’t wait for the weather to warm so I can put the new lures to work.

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[Mark]

John,

Your Producto tadpole baits will certainly work. Darned near any lure we drag through the water with hair, feathers or plastics on it will entice a hit eventually.

If I was a downed pilot stranded on a desert island, I would hope there would be a jig and a paddletail in my survival kit!

There are interesting links online about the history of soft plastic baits. I'm certain that some of us on this forum remember when they were not common.

I recall visiting local bait shops in my youth in the early1960s. The only wiggly things they had to put on your hooks, other than live worms, were little jars of Uncle Josh Pork Rinds. Anglers added them as trailers on bucktail jigs. Now, there are racks of soft plastics in numerous shapes, forms and colors in bait shops.

I suspect that other than the advent of electronics to help folks locate fish, soft plastics have resulted in more fish being caught by recreational anglers than anything else.