When I fish small soft plastics I usually have luck with white or chartreuse, I have no idea why, but the sunfish seem to love it. They hit the lure right on the fall, if I don't have a bite within 15 or 20 seconds of the initial landing, I reel it in and cast to another spot. Usually if I repeatedly cast to the same spot without allowing the fish to get it, then give them a chance about on the 4th or 5th cast, I get hit. :oll:: Which colors do you have the best results with and what do you do to trigger bites?

yer 2 colors work great for me and white seems to be the best most of the time.

i'll add pumpkinseed and black. sometimes finding a black curl tail grub with a bit of orange in it works great also

I'll second that and also add Cream color

Brian

There are some pretty vicious Bluegill in one of the ponds near my house. Whenever I fish for Crappie, they tear off the tail of the plastic grub as soon as it hits the water (well maybe not that soon).
TIGHT LINES!

yep they will do that to ya.........but multi, crappie will do that too. so will bass and perch. thats why ya have a ho bunch of different tails with ya when pannie fishing.

Sometimes those Bluegill just grab the tail and drag it about four or five feet. Then I set the hook thinking they're Crappie and they let go!
TIGHT LINES!

Posted By multispecies101 on 31 Jul 2010 05:31 PM
Sometimes those Bluegill just grab the tail and drag it about four or five feet. Then I set the hook thinking they're Crappie and they let go!
TIGHT LINES!

That really gets frustrating.

those are small gills doing that......running off to 1 side to get it away from other gills that are in the area.

Usually when the line goes off I give the fish a little slack, wait for him to take it so I can REALLY feel him. Not using the correct technique, or the one that works for you can prevent those grabs from turning into a fish on.

You picked two good colors to start with there. Sometimes plain old black or black with a chartreuse tail will work as will green pumpkin.

I've had great luck with a green body and yellow curly tail (Mister Twister).

The Classic Michigander 

Mister Twister is a good brand, but unfortunately the only color I can find from them is black. Also I like to use Lindy 1 inch white grubs. It seems that no matter what the water color is, white always does the trick. Any theories?

you can get a free mister twister catalog if you go on the website.

here's a link to the site. they have all of the colors. and great deals.
http://www.mistertwister.com/

i pick up my own jigs, grubs and spinners and put them together to make my beetle type spinners. that way i can experment on different color combo's to find out what is working the best.

Does anyone here make their own jigs?

it's been a long time since i made them.

Cool, what was your main focus in terms of shape, color, etc?

i tried working on different shapes with little success but the main focus was on color. i even work with different materials so i would have different weighted jigs.

my best 1 that worked for me i found it in a fishing facts mag. yrs. ago.......making them out of pop cans......you need

any pop can or beer can
a pair of tin snips or something that can cut the can into the shape you need
adberden hooks----different sizes......4 thru 12
pair of pliers
supper glue

cut out little circles from the can that will fit inside the shank part of your choice of hook-- between the ey and the beginning of the curve that is on a hook. bend the circle in the middle and then place hook into bend so that the metal over hang is away from point of hook. then place a small drop of supper glue into the middle of the bent metal and then squeeze with pliers and then lay it down to dry----must be careful and not over do the supper glue---i have tried it without the glue and it does work, just that sometimes your half circle will start spinning on the hook after a while.
you can paint this to suit your fancy if you like. all i did was use different color cans andon most cans you do have a verity of color combos to choose from. these things worked great on pan fish and the funny thing is i was just thinking about sitting down and making some more of these just last week.

Other than white or chartreuse, a 1 and a half inch black body red tail tube jig or black/pink Yum Beavertail or marabou jig. Works best in stained to muddy water for me. The new 1 inch Gulp minnows get good action in clearer water.

Almost out of gulp due to my most recent day fishing...

Vweeks how many fish are you averaging per gulp bait. I can get anywhere from six to ten fish per one gulp minnow.

Vweeks sounds like you have hit upon a system that works.  I use to say I fish any color as long as it is chartreuse.  Of course combinations of other colors with chartreuse work also, particularly black, green, blue, red, pink, & white.  I find myself using different weight jig heads as much if not more than different colors.  When trolling I get better results with 1/8 jig head on the bottom and about 14 inches further up the line I might use 1/16 better yet 1/32 and even 1/64 ounce.  When the fishing is slow I may tip it off with a minnow.  Haven't tried the gulp minnow but plan to this fall--seems like a great idea and you don't have to worry about keeping minnows alive which is a real problem in the South during the summer months.  I really pick up a lot from these forums.  Thanks to everyone for their input.  Uncle Tom

Well I usually get about 4 to 5 fish per gulp, these creek panfish are insane, I had a 8 in fish hit like it was a 2 lb bass! They sure do have a lot of fight in them. And thanks for the tips UncleTomsJigs. I am still looking into a small boat so I will be able to get to ample fishing spots and try trolling.

Posted By vweeks on 16 Sep 2010 04:13 PM
Well I usually get about 4 to 5 fish per gulp, these creek panfish are insane, I had a 8 in fish hit like it was a 2 lb bass! They sure do have a lot of fight in them. And thanks for the tips UncleTomsJigs. I am still looking into a small boat so I will be able to get to ample fishing spots and try trolling.

Panfish (especially Bluegill) stunt easily in creeks, so theres not alot of food to go around.  That might be one of the reasons they're so aggressive.  Stunting doesn't happen all the time, though, it usually happens more in smaller creeks.