# What color of plastics for smallies??



## Catslammer (May 17, 2004)

I'm trying to get back into smallie fishing after a long absence from it. I have my rattlin rapala crawdad in several sizes. I want to keep my arsenal simple at this point so I think plastic 4'' twirl worms and plastic grubs will be the most suiting. 

My question is, what color of worms and grubs should I stick with?? I would like to keep it to 3 colors. Thanks in advance for all the advice. 


Catslammer out.


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## hunt for bass (Oct 5, 2004)

I perfer tubes over grubs, anyway white, firetiger and green pumpkin. That is my basic colors.


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

I am parcial to smoke , oil and chartreuse and all with a touch of glitter


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## JIG (Nov 2, 2004)

I like to use the white at night because it looks like shad but as water stains I switch to orange and green for daytime clear. I use the tube for slow fish and the tailed guy for the good bite. All with live minnows.


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## johnboy111711 (Apr 7, 2004)

olive, smoke, and pumkinseed


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## smallieguy (Apr 7, 2004)

If you are going to stick with grubs, Kalins Lunker grubs are hard to 
beat. 3'' or 5'' in Pumpkin Green/Salt&Pepper, Smoke&Pepper
and Watermelon Tinsel/Spangle are 3 of my favorites.
But I strongly advise you to follow Hunt For Bass' lead and try to
add some tubes to your arsonal.


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## ncraft150 (Apr 5, 2004)

I also agree with tubes. 1. Always have a shad colored bait. 2. Find out the color of the crawfish where you are fishing and have that color also. My top four are Black, Watermellon Seed, Pumpkin, White(or similar shad color).


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## atrkyhntr (May 31, 2004)

hmnmnm black... That had never crossed my mind but now it that it has


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## Mr.Bass. (Feb 27, 2005)

Any shad color and crawfish color, my favorite is Scuppernong.


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## oufisherman (Apr 10, 2004)

I've done good with either darker brown or black for smallies


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## Catslammer (May 17, 2004)

Many thanks.

I'll have to get some tubes. I've always felt more confident with the twirl tails because of there action, but with all the preferences to tubes, I will definatly give those a shot. Thanks again for all the comments so far.

Catslammer out.


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## Procraftboats21 (Apr 6, 2004)

Can't go wrong with a Tube. I like Green Pumpkin, Mellon Pepper and Black/Gold Flake


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## Reel Lady (Jul 4, 2004)

Red...anything red


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## litlwolf23 (Feb 3, 2005)

I like the four inch tube in smoke/red flake and pumkinseed myself, looks alot like a craw in the water.


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## Catslammer (May 17, 2004)

The emphasis on crawdad imitation makes a lot of sense. Most of my success in the past came from rapala crawdad crankbaits. The only downside is that I seem to lose a lot of them and they're not cheap.  

Do plastic crawdads work very well? Those seem to me like they could be effective. 

Catslammer Out.


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## josh617 (Jan 28, 2005)

Tubes r amazing everyone knows, but i have had even more success with a 5in watermelon spider grub either on a chompers head or what i prefer on a carolina rig. its a good plastic to throw when everyone else has a tube on.


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## WLB (Apr 6, 2004)

I use a lure called a jiglett, it's just a rubber skirted jig with a plastic craw for a trailer, works great on smallies and largemouth.
If your going to fish Erie for smallies, I would also prefer
tubes in green/gold flake, pumpkinpepper which is
brn/blk flake or something with chatreuse.
I have had some awesome days on 3" pumpkinpepper
Berkley powerbait twisters on a 1/4 oz jig.
Good Luck


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## BANDIT (Apr 22, 2004)

Okay, I've committed myself to trying some tubes this year as I have never caught anything on them the few times I have used them. SO needless to say I have a few questions about them. I know that the current conditions predicate how you might do something one day to the next but as a general question, How do you rig them, T-rig, T-rig with weight inside the bait, T-rig with weight outside the bait, hook exposed with weight inside the bait, no weight at all. Do you use worm hooks or are there specific hooks for tubes such as the Slider? Do you usually fish them close to the bottom or swim them back (once again, I'm sure certain conditions you use different methods). I appreciate any and all feedback on these questions and any tips you might like to give me....Thanks


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## Buzzman (May 1, 2004)

Wow! Probably the most versatile bait ever, and all the riggings you mention work.

1. TX rigged when fishing it around cover.
2. Insert jig with exposed hook in open water.
a) Drag on bottom.
b) Swim the bait.
c) "Pop" the bait with a heavier jig.

When TX rigging, I like the internal weight system because I can skip the bait much better.

Here is a link to an article, at the bottom there are links to related articles on fishing tubes:

Tubes


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## Catslammer (May 17, 2004)

I hit the GMR on Friday evening in Middletown. I threw my watermelon colored 2.5'' tube. Didn't get a bite. I also threw my medium sized crawdad crank with the same result. The weather is looking good for later this week after a little wet weather mid week. I'll have to get back out and give it another shot. Thanks for all the info on tubes. Friday was the first day I threw them, but I really like how they fished. You can cast them quite a ways without a lot of extra weight, and fish them around cover. I used a hook with a weed guard. Is that a bad idea? I don't see it being any more of a turnoff for the fish than having a regular hook sticking out the side of the tube. I also had some white tubes, that I didn't get a chance to throw. 

Catslammer Out.


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## pitbullfisher56 (Feb 16, 2005)

I have had good results with a TX rigged power craw. But I have to agree with tubes, they are great. I like white/silver flake, black, and and anything thats matched crawfish colors from the area that I am fishing.


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## grub_man (Feb 28, 2005)

Only 3 colors of plastics, hmm.... what a proposition!

Seriously, even though I carry many more colors and styles of plastics. The majority of my fishing is with grubs, in 3 basic colors, and in two sizes. My favorite colors are in no particular order, some variation of smoke, white, or watermelon. With tubes I will use any color so long as it is watermelon, in 2 sizes as well. I always want to throw pumpkinseed grubs, just due to the closeness in color to the color of crayfish in many of my waters, but it just doesn't seem to produce for me as I would like.

When I fish my tubes, I have settled on T-rigging them with weight inside, unless I am swimming them, then I'll go with an insert head.

Hope this helps a little, and good luck getting back into smallie fishing.

Joe


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