Glitter For Soft Plastic Baits? The 192 Top Answers

Have you ever reached into your tackle bag to grab a soft plastic lure only to find it had fused with another?

It’s an unfortunate but common occurrence for soft plastics to melt together, but here’s the good news:

It is absolutely avoidable!

You just have to store them properly.

What makes this a little more difficult is that there are different types of materials that make up these lures. In this video I show you how to properly store any type of soft plastic as well as some other tips to keep your lures in good shape.

Check it out below.

How To Store Soft Plastic Fishing Lures [VIDEO]

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Before we delve into the three types of soft plastic bait material, here are some general tips to help you keep your baits looking new:

Do not store soft plastics in direct sunlight. Keep them in their original packaging. Avoid storing in tackle trays (depending on the tray material, it may melt with the bait). the pouch to keep the baits slimy (dried out baits can deform) Use a worm binder to save space and keep the baits organized

The tips above are best practices for each type of lure, but now let’s get into a few specifics.

Storage of plastisol baits

Plastisol is what your standard soft plastic bait is made of.

The Slam Shady and the Alabama Leprechaun are both made out of plastisol, as are other brands like Zoom and DOA.

These lures can be stored together as long as the colors are the same as the colors will bleed into each other.

For example, if you have multiple packs of Slam Shadys, you can store them in one large bag, but you don’t want to keep the Slam Shady and Alabama Leprechauns together.

Storage of TPE baits

TPE, or thermoplastic elastomer, is a very tough material that is used to make some of the higher quality soft plastics.

Brands that use TPE include:

Chasebait USA

Wild gear

Vudu shrimp

Monsters 3x

With these baits you don’t want them touching other baits no matter what they are made of as they will melt together.

This includes other baits made of TPE.

To keep these lures in good condition, store them individually.

And the best way to do that is to keep them in their original packaging.

Storage of Z-Man ElaZtech baits

Z-Man baits are made from the really stretchy and durable ElaZtech.

They are similar to plastisol baits in that they can be stored with other baits made from ElaZtech.

Also, the colors will bleed, so keep them with lures of the same color.

Finally, do not mix them with other types of soft plastic baits as they will melt together.

Conclusion

If you don’t store your soft lures properly, they can easily melt.

The easiest way to remember to store them properly is to simply keep them in their original packaging.

Do you have questions about bait storage?

Or any other tips to protect them?

Let me know in the comments!

And if you know someone who needs to learn how to store bait properly, please tag or share this with them!

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Aeon ago, I bought a spray bottle of an oily, liquorice-smelling stuff called Fish Formula that was “guaranteed” to help me catch more bass. Honestly, I’ve never felt it work, but it added a powerful stink to my laundry pile. Since then, however, I’ve believed in Gene Larew’s Salt Craws, as well as their garlic-flavored bait dip called Spike-It. In fact, I net-caught the two largest bass I’ve ever seen caught — 10lbs and 11.5lbs — minutes apart with a plum-colored salt craw dipped in Spike It. For years I’ve used Bass Assassin’s plastic leech, which claims to contain something called P-enzyme, which the company claims attracts fish. Yum’s literature says the same thing about its Live Prey Technology fragrance additive – but all the scientific data behind these flavored baits – with the exception of Berkley’s PowerBait – is scarce.

Experience and anecdotal evidence strongly suggest that scented baits work when fishing. How else can you explain catfish finding dead and motionless (albeit very smelly) cut baits in muddy water where no fish can see more than a few inches? Stink bait manufacturers stay in business by harnessing catfish’s scent system, and it’s hard to imagine people would continue to buy it if it didn’t work, at least temporarily.

The same goes for sharks. In fact, researchers believe sharks can smell one part blood mixed with a million parts water, thanks to dual nasal cavities that hold water, where it’s then analyzed by up to two-thirds of the shark’s brain. This keen sense of smell explains why hundreds of sharks can swim miles to get to a scene where a wounded fish is bleeding in the ocean. It didn’t take a bunch of college geeks with beakers and CAT scanning equipment to prove what shark fishermen have known for years; That said, if you want to catch sharks, dive into the water and wait because sharks can smell.

Can bass smell?

Less well known is the sense of smell of America’s top game fish, the largemouth bass. Do scented baits work on bass? Most fishermen instinctively say yes, but if you’re going to spend extra money on these baits it would be nice to see some real science. So I ventured to Berkley Fishing’s headquarters in Spirit Lake, Iowa. But before I learned anything about the science of smell, I was schooled in bass biology.

The Berkley scientists believe bass have olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste) chemoreceptors that relay information to a bass’s brain that helps it find potential food and recognize whether or not to actually eat that food . It is believed that a bass’s sense of smell is at least a thousand times better than ours. While bass in clear water rely heavily on sight to find potential food, determining whether an object is in fact food is heavily influenced by the object’s smell. Conversely, in murky waters, perch have to rely much more on smell.

The author with a beautiful bass caught a fragrant worm. Jeff Johnston

With this in mind, there are two goals in scented bait technology. One is to create a lure whose scent permeates the water and creates a cloud of scent around it that attracts perch much like the chum mentioned above attracts sharks. That’s half the battle.

For the other half, consider this: there’s a reason most surfers typically just get bitten by sharks, not eaten. That’s because as soon as a shark bites something, it tastes it and quickly decides that the foul-tasting human isn’t a seal. In the case of largemouth bass, a bass will follow an odor, find the source, and if all seems ok, bite it, activating two sets of taste buds in its mouth so it can quickly determine whether to swallow it. This helps explain why bass will not eat any piece of dirt or bait, even if it might visually tempt them.

The problem for fishermen, according to Bekley’s extensive research, is that bass can choose between “feed” or “cheat” and either swallow or spit the bait in 0.25 seconds. Do you know what the average angler’s reaction time is between feeling a fish bite and setting the hook? About 0.25 seconds, according to Berkley. This means that, on average, every time a fish bites a bait, there is a showdown between the fish’s and the fisherman’s reaction time. All of this leads to the second goal of scented baits, which is to trick the fish’s chemoreceptors into believing the bait is food, allowing it to hold on to the bait longer, giving fishermen more time to set the hook . This was the scientific theory behind Berkley’s PowerBait, which debuted in the late 1980s, and the rationale behind its marketing slogan, “Fish Bite and Won’t Let Go”.

But is the slogan correct? Berkley’s 34-year research, culled from experiments with different bass scents in a lab and field trials with wild bass, shows that this is the case. While it seems like PowerBait has always worked for me, I’m a natural skeptic who can’t help but remember that Berkley is in the business of selling baits to suckers like me.

MaxScent by Berkley

In 2018, the company launched MaxScent, a product that creates a cloud of scent in the water to attract fish. I probably wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen how it worked when a scented dye infused MaxScent worm was placed in a tank next to a competitor’s worm. The MaxScent worm’s scent immediately began to form a red scent cloud around the bait, increasing its scent signature and its likelihood that a bass would find it. In another experiment, I watched a bass bite a simple bait but immediately spat it out. However, when the same perch bit the MaxScent bait, it gobbled it up.

A test of odor distribution at the Berkley Fisheries Laboratory. berkley

I may have also thought that it would be easy to achieve this – adding a payable scent to a plastic lure. After all, people have always put jelly in donuts and perfume in shampoos, right? Turns out it wasn’t that easy.

“The problem is,” explained Mark Sexton, manager of fish science and product testing at Berkley, “scents have to be water soluble or fish can’t smell them. So, oil-based fragrances don’t work.”

This could explain my dismal success with this original fish formula product that left an oil film on the water.

Keep in mind that most plastic fishing worms are PVC based and therefore mostly oil, so the water-based smell doesn’t hold up well with them. Additionally, if plastic or water-based baits are porous enough to hold dispersible, water-soluble scents, that means they’re generally too soft and fragile to be effective. You would probably fly off the hook on the first cast. So Berkley has spent years developing its MaxScent line of products that hold and diffuse the scent to attract fish, yet remain durable enough for real-world fishing. Berkley researchers know it works because they’ve proven through testing that it works. Still, fishermen are sold by fish in boats, not guys in lab coats.

As for me, I’ve believed in scented baits for years because of what I’ve learned about bass from watching them, catching them and all too often watching other people catch them. But now that I’ve seen some of the actual scientific evidence to back up this belief, the added cost of scented baits makes it a little easier for me to swallow.

We usually use plastic containers or tupperware to store many things and often these containers leave behind a typical food smell like garlic or onion. To get rid of that smell, this HomeQuicks post gives you some simple tips to follow to have a fresh-smelling container.

Useful tip

Place a lemon in the plastic container and close the lid. Keep it for at least a day. The smell is replaced by a slight lemon scent.

Plastic containers are very commonly used to store food. Often the food leaves behind an unpleasant or strong odor that does not go away even after washing and drying the container. This is because plastic tends to absorb the smell, which is then very difficult to get rid of. If you have such containers, then don’t worry. It may take some extra effort, but you can certainly get rid of the smell with the help of a few things commonly found around the home.

How to remove odors from plastic containers

Washing a plastic container in the dishwasher will help remove odors, but if your container isn’t dishwasher safe and needs to be hand washed, the following methods work well to remove the odor from the container.

Before beginning the cleaning process, you should always read the instructions or recommendations that come with the container. These instructions can inform you about chemicals that can harm the container.

☛ Newspapers

Newspapers are one of the most convenient and effective ways to remove bad odors. First wash the container thoroughly with soapy water. Dry the lid and container well. Now crumple up some black and white newspapers and place them in the container. Close the lid properly and keep it that way for two to three days. When you open the container, the smell is gone because the charcoal in the newspaper absorbs the bad smell.

☛ Bleach

Bleach is a chemical that removes color and stains and even kills microorganisms. Wash the plastic container with soap and water. Prepare a half-water, half-bleach solution and soak the container in it for about 3 to 4 hours. Later, wash the plastic with ordinary water and you will find that the smell is gone.

☛ Sunlight

Just putting a properly washed container in direct sunlight to dry will solve your problem. Put the container in the sunlight for 1 to 2 hours and eliminate the odor naturally.

☛ Coffee powder

Many people use ground coffee to eliminate bad smells in their cars and trucks. This method is also effective on plastics. Wash the container and dry it properly. Then put a teaspoon of coffee powder in the container and close the lid for a day or two. The unpleasant smell is replaced by the fresh smell of coffee.

☛ Baking Powder

When you’re done cleaning and drying the container, cover the bottom of the container with a thin layer of baking soda. Then fill the rest of the container with warm water. Close the lid and leave overnight. Rinse the plastic with fresh water in the morning and the smell will be gone.

☛ Vanilla Extract

After cleaning the plastic, fill it with cold water. Now add 5-6 drops of vanilla extract and mix it. Leave it overnight. You can also put a few drops of vanilla extract on a cotton swab and simply wipe out the container. The smell will eventually set in.

☛ Coal

Charcoal is very commonly used in the purification process in industry due to its ability to absorb odors and toxins in gases. This makes it one of the best things to do to remove odors from Tupperware. Simply place a piece of charcoal in a properly washed and dried plastic container and close the lid. Leave it overnight and you’ll have an odor-free container the next day.

If you cannot remove the odor from the container using all of the above methods, consider disposing of it. Use ceramic or glass containers as they do not retain odor. Do not close the container immediately after washing. Let it dry completely and then close the lid. This automatically reduces the chance of bad smells.

Welcome to the best flathead soft plastics and lures 2022. Targeting flathead with soft plastics and lures is a fun and popular form of fishing. The options at your tackle shop are almost endless. Let’s start by stating that the obvious flathead isn’t a picky fish. This ambush predator will pounce on almost anything thrown in the right area. However, there are baits and soft plastics that consistently outperform others and I will share that with you in this article and video.

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Best flat head soft plastics

Berkley Gulp 4 inch turtle worm in camo or pumpkin seed

Zman 3 inch minnows in Babby Bass, Midnight Oil and Goldrush

Keitech Swing Impact 3″ in Silver Flash Minnow

Get swimming shrimp

Savage Gear 3D TPE Shrimp

Munroe’s 4 inch Zipper Tail Worm

Berkley Gulp Paddleshad 3 inch black&silver, Nuclear chicken, BlacknGold

Zman Streakz 4 inch curl tails in Nuclear Chicken and Space Guppy

Savage Gear Fat Curl Tails 84 cm in motor oil and purple haze

Daiwa Bait Junkie 4.2 inch paddle tail in Pilchard Glow, UV Yabbie & BlacknGold

Berkley Gulp jigging shrimp

Zman 3.5 inch grub in watermelon red

Munroe’s paddle tail 3.75 inches in Fools Gold and Swarf

Squidgy 100mm biotough bloodworm wriggler

The best flathead baits

Daiwa double clutch 75mm and 95mmS

Berkley Shimma Prawns 65mm

Samaki lively

Zerek Tango Shad

Bassday Suga deep

Ecogear ZX43 shrimp blade

Savage Gear 3D Shrimp XD Hard Body

Daiwa Steez Shad 60DR in Matte Silver

Halo Poltergeist

Watch our in-depth video on the best lures and soft plastics for flatheads

Below is a detailed overview of our favorite soft plastics and lures in 2022

Berkley Gulp 4-Inch Turtleback Worm Bait

Let’s start with an oldie but a treat, the Berkley Swallow 4-Inch Turtleback Worm. I’ve caught countless flatheads with this soft plastic. They come in a few different colors, which is my favorite color which is camo. They are biodegradable, which means they will break down naturally if left in water. They’re infused with Berkley’s fish-attracting fragrance, which claims to catch 30% more fish (on the back of the pack) and ship 400 times more than any other plastic on the market. Well this soft plastic mimics a worm, when you look at this soft plastic it really doesn’t look like much, it just has a very subtle tail movement. I find these work best if you add this action yourself. This can be accomplished with a few jumps and elevators or slow rolling. Surprisingly this soft plastic catches a lot of flatheads with little action, I’ve even caught flatheads while drifting. When you’re done fishing put them back in the pack or they’ll get rock hard and you won’t even be able to get them off the jig head. These also work very well for other species of fish such as pinky snapper, bream. You can mount these in different ways. I tend to just use a standard jig head in 1/8th, 1/6th or ½ depending on the depth and current of the day. They cost about $10 a pack.

Munroe’s 4 inch soft plastic zipper tail worms

A good alternative is Munroe’s 4-Inch Zipper Tail Worms. I’ve caught tons of flatheads with it. These are made locally in Australia. These soft plastics come at a really good price. I buy them online and they ship within a few days. The last packs I bought were $5.50 with 10 in a package and only $3 for shipping which is great value. Their 4 inch imitation worms, they have more action than the turtleback worms. The tail is buoyant, which means if you’re not manipulating it, the tail will lift off the bottom and flap with the current, which is clever. There are 8 different colors. I like UV motor oil paint. These don’t have a scent, so I usually just rub some S-factor on them. I generally use the same thing with a standard jig head. You can buy Munroe’s Ziptail Worms here.

Savage Gear 3D TPE Shrimp Lure

Moving on to something else, these are the Savage Gear 3D TPE Shrimp. Flatheads love to eat shrimp and these have been designed using 3D scanning and printing technology to mimic a lifelike shrimp or shrimp. TPE is actually the jelly-like material they are made from and these come pre-assembled on an offset hook. There are about 9 different colors to choose from, I like either really natural looking colors or really bright looking ones. They are available in 2.5 inch, 3.5 inch and 5 inch sizes. For Flathead locally I generally use a 3.5 inch size. The effect on these in the water is great. There are slots in the tail that allow the tail to bounce up and down as you manipulate the plastic, and the little legs and antennae move to make it look realistic. These are sturdy, I’ve caught many that have had very little wear. The only downside is sometimes the hooks are quite big and you drop some fish. Especially the smaller sizes. These cost around $11 each and are really good for Flathead as well as Snapper, Mulloway and more.

Zman Streaks 4 inch soft plastic curly tails

One of my favorite soft plastics are the Zman Streaks 4 inch Curly Tails. They come in about 15 different color variations, but I really like this bright color called Nuked Chicken Glow. Zman Soft Plastics are great for a number of reasons. First, they have a naturally built in action that is amazing. The tail flaps all over the place, buoyant there, so the tail rises when they are on the bottom. And these will catch fish with much success if rolled or hopped slowly. Second, they are super strong and 10 times more durable than other soft plastics on the market. You are probably often right. You only use 1 plastic in your entire fishing session. You get 5 in a pack for $11, which probably isn’t as cheap as other soft plastics, but these are durable and work remarkably well on Flathead and really well on Snapper too. No fragrance so I just apply a small amount of S factor or get it along the tail. Use a longer jig head. Best Flat Head Soft Plastic and Lures 2021

Savage Gear Fat Curl Tails

A really good alternative to the Zmans are the Savage Gear Fat Curl Tails. You’ve seen me in a lot of videos lately. I generally use the 8cm in UV motor oil and they catch pretty much anything, flathead, snapper, snook, salmon, mulloway. I even caught a squid with one. Imitation of a live baitfish. You can roll them slowly or make them bounce. These are available in 2 different sizes and 5 different colors. I generally use 8cc blood gold and motor oil. No fragrance so I just apply a small amount of S factor or get it along the tail. These are really inexpensive, you’ll often see them for 4 packs for $20. You can see this lure in action in many of the FishingMad videos.

Mouthful of jigging shrimp

In a similar profile, you also have the 3 inch gulp jigging shrimp. These work really well, especially in bright colors like this one. These too are infused with a scent that attracts Berkley fish. I’ve just discovered that when the liquid in the packets dries up they become rock hard and you have to throw them out.

Zman Grubs

This is probably the most popular soft plastic choice of all time, better known for bream fishing as originally they were only available in 2″ and 2.5″ then Z-Man added 3.5″ and 9″ size and more colors . You can certainly catch big fish with small soft plastics but I really like the 3.5 inch size for targeting flathead. These come in a handful of colors, but I did really well with watermelon red on Flathead. Like the curly tails, these have a naturally built in action that is amazing. The tail flaps all over the place, buoyant there, so the tail rises when they are on the bottom. And these will catch fish with much success if rolled or hopped slowly. Again, they’re really strong and claim to be 10 times more durable than other soft plastics on the market. These are very easy to use if you are just starting out fishing with soft plastic then this would be an ideal choice. Just add some fragrance like S factor or get yours. You can use it to target a whole range of marine and freshwater fish species. Redfin and trout love them too. You get 6 in a pack for $11, so there’s a great option.

Daiwa Double Clutch 2021 hard body baits

Fishing with hard-bodied baits is a bit more complex. You really need to understand the depth of the place you are fishing and the diving depth of the bib on the bait. There are tons of options in this space, but the Daiwa Double Clutch is the big hitter in this space. The double scrim is best fished in areas 3 meters and shallower where you can get the lure to dip into the sand and create a splash that will draw the attention of predatory fish. These are available in 3 sizes: 6cm for a depth of 1.3m, 7.5cm for a depth of 1.5m and 9cm for a depth of 2.0m. There are floating lures, which means that they maintain their depth when you pause. Basically, they don’t go up or down, they stay at the same level. The downside with these lures has usually been around $25 each, there have also been complaints that the treble hooks break easily, but the new ones come with St36 Owner treble hooks. You can edit these by trolling, slow rolling, and hoping with breaks. Mix it up until you find what works on the day. Best Flat Head Soft Plastic and Lures 2021

Now there are some really good alternatives

Savage 3D Shrimp XD (extra deep)

The Savage 3D Shrimp XD. Now these are half the price of a dual clutch. 5 cm profile, they are available in 6 different colors. Dives to about 3 meters deep.

Halo Poltergeist

The 5 cm Halco poltergeist also dives to about 3 meters or the 8 cm poltergeist to 5 meters. Rapala also has a lot in this area, like the XRaps, which are probably a bit too big to specifically target flatheads.

additions or corrections

Thank you for reading this Best Flathead Soft Plastics and Lures 2021. If you have any questions, corrections or additions please send them to [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

By Tackle Tactics Pro Angler Justin Willmer

Initially published: August 5, 2016 Justin has spent his life fishing and looks forward to targeting any type of land or from a variety of watercraft including boat, kayak, SUP (stand up paddle board) and float tube.

find flathead

Justin Willmer

A lot of people will say “flatheads are the easiest species to catch with bait” and “flatheads will eat anything you throw at them,” and it’s true, they’re often quite cooperative… but let’s see how you can create a 2 can turn or 3 fish session into a 12 or 20 fish session. In this article, I’m going to focus on fishing in shallow water, since that’s where most of us will be aiming for Flathead. There are also a lot of flatheads in deep water…big ones, but that’s another story.

Locate Flathead

Flatheads are common in most streams, rivers and estuaries and as with most fish, structure is key. Structures that attract flatheads include escarpments, weed borders, mangroves, rock bars, sandbars and my favorite, drains. These are areas that hold bait, concentrate bait when the tide is out and provide an ambush for Flathead from which to quickly accelerate and smash unsuspecting shrimp and baitfish.

tide

If you insist, you can catch Flathead throughout the tidal cycle. I find the most productive time to fish are the last few hours of sailing and the first hour of sailing as the flatheads concentrate on the edges of bluffs, sandbars and in the mouths of drains waiting for bait that comes with the receding tide being forced out of their homes. As the tide invades the plains, the fish tend to spread out and feed less aggressively, making them more difficult to locate and attract.

When going out, focus your casts on changes in depth, deeper pockets at the edge of the plain, the mouths of drains and weeds, sand crests, or other structures that create eddies. Also be on the lookout for bait in the water or when patching in the shallows and spend some extra time casting in those areas.

When you arrive at your fishing spot and the tide is higher, don’t despair. Try fishing a slightly heavier jig head than if you were fishing slow and reel your plastic just above the bottom and bottom out occasionally. This allows you to cover a lot of bottom and hopefully get your bait to swim past more fish and in turn, unleash more shots. At low tide I focus on plains with patches of sand and broken weed beds, mangrove fringes and drains covered by the tide.

setup

Light spin equipment is the order of the day. A 7′, 2-4kg graphite rod and 2500 spinning reel loaded with 6-10lb braid and 8-12lb hooklink is ideal. This allows you to cast lightweight lures far while keeping the presentation natural and still giving you enough stopping power to slow down a big flatty.

bait

Soft plastics are by far the most popular bait choice for targeting flathead and there are a couple of good reasons for that – they are soft and feel realistic, they look realistic, there is a wide range of colors and when you stop reeling, sink them to make sure they are down on the ground where the Flathead is waiting in ambush.

When fishing soft plastic there is a saying to fish as light as possible and I totally agree, but for flatheads they tend to go heavier rather than light. The plastic needs to be on or near the bottom and there’s no harm in enlarging the jig head a bit and kicking up some mud or sand. When I take beginners or kids flat head fishing I scale up the jig head from 1/4oz to 3/8oz or 3/8oz to 1/2oz and let them say in their head ‘wind, wind, wind, 1, 2, 3’ . The three winches set the lure in motion and the three second pause allows the lure to sink back to the bottom. This is a good way to start your hunt for Flathead.

For that slow rolling retrieve without imparting much action itself, a Paddle Tail or Curly Tail Plastic is the way to go, like a ZMan 2.5″ GrubZ, 4″ StreakZ Curly TailZ, 3″ MinnowZ, 3″ Scented PogyZ or 4″ The Zel MinnowZ as they have a lot of action built into the lure, once you’ve caught a few and want to slow things down and control the lure more yourself, with twitches and leaps, you can add a selection of lures that have little built in action to this include ZMan 3.75″ StreakZ, 5″ StreakZ and 3″ Scented ShrimpZ.

Here are some of my favorite plastics for Flathead:

ZMan 2.5″ Slim SwimZ – Rigged on a TT Lures HeadlockZ 1/8oz – 1/4oz 1/0 Jighead

ZMan 2.5″ GrubZ – Rigged on a TT Lures HeadlockZ 1/8oz – 1/4oz 1/0 Jighead

ZMan 3.75″ StreakZ – Rigged on a TT Lures HeadlockZ 1/8oz – 3/8oz 2/0 Jighead

ZMan 3″ MinnowZ – Rigged on a TT Lures HeadlockZ 1/8oz – 1/2oz 3/0 Jighead

ZMan 3″ Scented PogyZ – Rigged on a TT Lures HeadlockZ 1/8oz – 1/2oz 3/0 Jighead

ZMan 4″ StreakZ Curly TailZ – Rigged on a TT Lures HeadlockZ 1/8oz – 1/2oz 3/0 Jighead

ZMan 3″ Scented ShrimpZ – Rigged on a TT Lures HeadlockZ 1/8oz – 3/8oz 3/0 Jighead

ZMan 5″ StreakZ – Rigged on a TT Lures HeadlockZ HD – 1/8oz – 1/2oz 4/0 Jighead

HeadlockZ jigheads are available as HeadlockZ Finesse – built on a Gamakatsu hook with lightweight wire for maximum penetration, especially on light lines, and HeadlockZ HD – built on a brutally strong Mustad hook for stopping power, especially on larger fish. If the area is bumpy or there is a greater chance of bigger fish, it may be worth using a HeadlockZ HD. In relatively snag-free terrain or when there’s a hard bite, the HeadlockZ Finesse turns virtually any tap into a hook set.

As you can see you have it all when you stock up on a couple of 1/0, 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0 jig heads in various weights along with a choice of 2.5″ to 2.5″. Set Up 5″ Plastics You must successfully target Flathead in less than a meter to 3m of water. I mainly fish a 1/4oz in the shallows and a 3/8oz along the drop offs, with a 1/2oz coming into play on deeper ledges and in strong currents.

colour

Color is a topic that comes up often, but here are my thoughts after years of chasing Flathead. Yes, color makes a difference every day, in different water conditions and even at different times of the day and tides.

I believe natural colors are a good place to start when the water is flat and clear and the day is bright. Favorite colors in these conditions include Opening Night, Pearl Blue Glimmer, Bad Shad, Baby Bass, and Pearl. When the day is cloudy or the water is dirty, it’s time to switch to a darker color that offers a better silhouette. Go-to colors in these conditions are Gold Rush, Motor Oil, Mood Ring, and Bloodworm.

What if none of them fire? Then it’s time to get out the fluoro dyes. Fluorescents can be produced when nothing else is firing, and favorites include Electric Chicken, Glow Chartreuse, Space Guppy, and Pink Glow.

Other color patterns that seem to have formed while fishing are:

Natural colors fish better over sand.

A darker silhouette colors fish better over grass.

Fluorescent paints are deadly on muddy ground.

When the tide is in and the water is cleaner fish natural colors and when the tide turns and the water gets dirtier fish darker and fluoro.

Some anglers will have different opinions based on their environment and experience, but the key to success is – if it doesn’t work, change it!

scent

I’ve used fragrance off and on in the past and wasn’t sure if it makes a big difference or not. However, I have opted for Pro-Cure and always make sure I have Pro-Cure Super Gel with me. If the fish bite I might not even apply it, but if the bite is hard it’s right on my plastic. What makes it different from Pro-Cure is that it combines the best of the lab and science with bite stimulants, amino acids and UV boosting with good old fashioned crushed dead stuff! It’s hard to top this natural bait and burley combined with the science of artificial attractants and bite stimulants.

My favorite Pro-Cure flavors are Mullet Super Gel Scent and Bloody Tuna Super Gel Scent, but I speak to other anglers who have confidence in Shrimp, Inshore Saltwater, or other flavors. When I add scent I find I get more bites, the fish hit the bait more aggressively and if they miss they often try again. I also find that the variety of bycatch increases and the bait rattles more often even when sitting still on the bottom.

Beginner Pack

If I had to put together a starter pack for someone wanting to aim flat head at soft plastics it would consist of –

TT HeadlockZ HD Jigheads – 1/4oz 3/0 and 3/8oz 3/0

ZMan 3″ MinnowZ – Opening Night, Gold Rush and Electric Chicken

Pro-Cure Super Gel – Mullet

I would confidently fish any place I had never fished before armed only with this backpack. Then I would start adding a few more favorites ;).

Another great option is a TT Lures HeadlockZ River & Estuary Value Pack which includes 5 different hook and weight combinations in the HeadlockZ HD jig heads, enough to suit all the ZMan soft plastics mentioned in this guide.

anchoring

When targeting Flathead, the ability to hold position is crucial to increasing your catch numbers. If you have an electric motor you can easily hold the position, but if not an anchor will do. Keep moving and casting until you catch a fish and then anchor. Flathead gets school a lot, so if you catch one, there’s likely more in the area. Cover the area with casts, then pull up the anchor and move again until you find another fish. You can also use the anchor to work a slope, drain, mangrove edge, or weed edge more effectively.

If possible I try to hold position and cast upstream, rebounding the bait with the current on the bottom. By focusing on areas where we are locating fish we have had some memorable sessions including four anglers in kayaks landing 82 flatheads ranging from mid 30’s to high 60’s in one afternoon.

If you haven’t tried Flathead on soft plastics give it a try, it’s great fun, not expensive and if you put some back you’ll find some fish. You can also target Flatheads by walking the shore, wading through the flats, or cruising from a boat or kayak, making it accessible to everyone. If you’re already targeting Flathead, I hope there are a tip or two here to help you hook into a few more.

However, remember that with increasing fishing skill comes great responsibility and as you start catching more fish it is important to let go of a few so there are plenty of flatheads out there breeding and producing more fish that we do can catch.

See you on the water…

Justin Willmer

by Dietz Dittrich, sales representative at Mister Twister®

Fishing is great fun, but choosing the right bait for the day can often be overwhelming. Few of us have the disposable income to purchase even one of each bait let alone a pack of them. So here are a few tips on colors and styles that best suit your soft plastic fishing needs.

fish species

It may sound silly, but the first thing you need to decide is what you’re fishing for. It would be foolish to cast a 9-inch Sassy Shad® when your goal for the day is catching crappies. “Match the Hatch” is a motto that doesn’t just apply to brown trout anglers. Once you have decided what type of fish you are looking for, you can narrow down your search for the right baits.

Water clarity and light penetration

The clearer the water and the lighter the sky, the lighter your lure should be. This may seem contradictory to some, but I and many professionals are convinced that this works best. Natural and dark lure colors include black or June bug. Natural and lighter colors include watermelon seeds, pumpkin pepper and, of course, white. Colors that work well for partly cloudy days are Watermelon Seed/Red Flake, Goby, or Smoke.

Use less natural colors when fishing in polluted water. A few colors I would use in colored water on a bright day would be chartreuse and pink. You need something bright to get the fish’s attention. On darker days, a black/blue or red shad should do the trick.

The clarity of the water also plays a role in the choice of plastic mold. The same applies here: the clearer the water, the more natural the color of your bait should be. Adjust the hatch, but remember that fish that live in clear water see more than a fish that lives in cloudy water. It is attracted to sounds and vibrations.

A good example of a natural looking bass lure is the Exude® RT Slug. This bait resembles a bait fish. However, the color of this baitfish varies depending on what part of the country you live in. In the South, the colored beer woman can look good if she looks like a small shad, but many states don’t have shad. I prefer Croaker Shad which I think looks a lot like a small sunfish. Another natural looking bait is the FAT Tube.

When fishing in polluted water you need a lure that attracts fish with noise, so use a lure that produces vibrations. Most soft plastic baits produce some vibration, but some produce much more than others. Big baits move more water, so they create more vibration. Lures with twister tails, like the Curly Tail® Grub, or paddle tails, like the Sassy Shad®, also create extra vibration. Pay close attention to subtle differences. The Ribbon Tail produces significantly more vibration than other similar products due to the length of its vibrating tail. The B-A-Hawg and Super Lizard™ also generate a lot of vibration.

weather

Finally, the weather plays a big role in bait selection. Cold fronts require a smaller, slower presentation so you should fish a lure with a smaller profile. During a cold front, a fish’s metabolism slows down. It does not generally look for a meal, but will eat a snack. Stable weather calls for larger baits. “Big bait catches big fish.” For example, let’s say you’re catching walleye on a 4-inch Mister Twister® Tail and a cold front moves in. Scaling down to a 3″ Twister tail could be your ticket to continued success. If the weather stays nice but you want to catch bigger fish, switch to a 4” Sassy Shad® as this lure has a larger profile.

So, by paying attention to the details:

fish species

Water clarity and light penetration

weather

If you choose a plastic that meets these conditions, you should catch more fish! After all, rules are meant to be broken. I saved many days by breaking the rules and using a bait that the fish weren’t supposed to like that day. However, I’ll mostly start with the basics I’ve mentioned here. Good luck out there and have fun!

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<\/p><\/div>“} 8 Smooth out the weld. Once the plastic begins to melt, use the soldering iron to smooth out the liquid plastic. Gently stroke the plastic to smooth it out as much as possible to smooth it out. You can slide it in and around the crack, which will make the plastic much stronger. The weld should set and cool within a few minutes. The plastic is ready to use. Once the plastic has started to melt, use the soldering iron to cut it to flatten the liquefied plastic, gently stroke the plastic to flatten it as much as possible, you can slide it in and around the crack, which will make the plastic much stronger.

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Fish Biology 101 – Sight and Smell (by PFIC, 2nd ed.)

An interesting and relevant fact when it comes to fish and fishing concerns fish eyes. Simply put, most fish cannot focus their eyes (due to the shape of the eyes themselves). The result is a fish world where nearly all fish are myopic. Accordingly, most fish cannot truly identify an object until they are fairly close to it. (Even if a fish approaches a lure from a distance, it may be reacting out of curiosity or changes in the water rather than attacking the lure. Of course, they can see it when they get close to the lure and when the angler’s presentation is on right, they can attack it.) However, because the water is often poorly visible to begin with, sight isn’t as important for fish as their other senses in finding food (their prey). Instead, most fish tend to use their sense of smell to hone or track where the food is, use their eyesight to pinpoint the location of the food, and then use their eyesight along with taste to help to determine the attractiveness of the feed.

Of course, not all fish rely on smell as much as others, just as fish vision can vary. As a rule, fish that seek their food by sight mainly eat during the day. Fish that use their scent to find their food mainly at night. Interestingly, fish anatomists have found that fish that have two nostrils on each side of their snout have excellent olfactory perception; People with only one nostril cannot perceive smells as efficiently. So what? Well, species that live on the ground where light levels are low tend to have two nostrils and usually feed by smelling their food. Natural baits work best for these species and when I say natural baits I mean baits that are in good condition and don’t have an unpleasant odor.

In addition, almost all fish have excellent night or low-light vision (about 6-7 times more sensitive to light than humans). When the ability to forage for food by smell is combined with the ability to see in the hours of darkness, it’s easy to see why many fish bite better at night. Croak, stingray and sturgeon are just a few of the fish known to bite best at night, and stripper fishermen can safely attest that nights are often Mr Linesides’ best time.

Sharks, of course, are probably the best example of night feeders that rely on their Osmic senses to locate prey. Studies have shown that in some sharks, two-thirds of their brains are used for the mechanics necessary to achieve an extraordinary ability to smell. Most sharks and rays also have what’s called a tapetum lucidum, located behind their eyes, a device whose purpose is to reflect light back through the eye, giving the cornea two ways to use available light. However, even with this interesting device (which improves vision in dark or murky waters), most, but not all, sharks have very poor eyesight. It is not required.

Fish Biology 102 – Your Sense of Taste (from PFIC, 2nd ed.)

Similarly, when fish use smell to locate their food, they also decisively use taste to decide if it is acceptable. Unique, at least compared to humans, is the fact that fish have a variety of taste buds, not only on the tongue or in the mouth, but also externally on the lips and snout, and in some fish also in places like the fins. Some fish (including catfish and many croaks) also have barbels, which are used externally to assess food. All this means that a fish will often reject a bait even before it starts swallowing it. In such a situation, the poor pier fisherman may be sitting there with little or no chance of hooking the fish. Live bait makes a fish see, smell and taste good before it even swallows it and the multitude of sensations is one reason why live bait is preferable in many situations. Dead bait may or may not look good, smell good, or taste good to the fish. With the exception of some scavengers who don’t seem to care (some fish, e.g. sturgeons, will eat almost anything), fresh bait is almost always the preferred bait. If frozen, has it been handled correctly (kept frozen) and not thawed, which allows bacteria to give it an unpleasant smell?

Again, and this is important for pier rats, many of the species valued by California piers — croaks, sharks, striped bass, etc. — are bottom species that like to feed at night or at least in the early morning late evening hours, and they usually have the best sense of touch. So a fifth rule is to always use high quality fresh or frozen bait when using bait. As for bait, there is a good argument for adding one of the fish attractants to the bait – both to give it a more natural smell and to mask any human smells that may be on the bait.