Somewhere in a past thread here on BR, I remember reading about someone fishing plastic crawfish baits. Two guys using the same bait. They were catching consistently, when the bite slowed down. One of them caught several more fish, on a craw bait with only one craw. The other angler put on the exact bait, tore off a claw, and caught a couple more fish, before the bite shut down. I've heard guys talk about this before. Tearing off one claw on a crawfish bait, or a couple of legs from a plastic lizard etc. The concept is to make this creature appear wounded, helpless or hurt. An easy target for bass. But, many of the baits we use are made to look hurt or helpless, which we think draws more strikes. I've never purposely torn things off my plastic baits. I just fish them as they come in the package. I do know that many times, I've caught bass on plastic worms that have already caught several fish, and are torn and rough looking. I can't explain why? Has anyone else noticed an increased bite on plastic baits that have been torn up, or missing things? If so, please explain your experience with this.

Don’t give the fish too much credit here ? I do tend to pinch off excess appendages like little legs and such, but that’s only because they are unnecessary and get in the way more than anything. Any soft plastic has a shape and profile, and that has some effect on how it fishes. Removing appendages and such tends to streamline a bait, and makes it fish with a little less bulk or drag, which most days I tend to prefer. That can also decrease profile size, and even affect fall rate. In a muddy water scenario, I might leave everything intact. Same with shortening a bait, removing claws or tails, etc. Removing large pieces like a single claw might make the bait unbalanced, and hence a little “wonky” on the retrieve - similar to why some recommend shortening one set/side of legs on soft-bodied frogs. That may help, hurt, or make no difference in terms of bites. My general rule of thumb is to just keep fishing a bait until the bites slow down or stop coming, or until I don’t like the way it fishes. But often that’s left me catching fish on some of the worst looking, pieced-together-on-the-hook pieces of plastic imaginable - but the fish obviously didn’t care. They’re not counting things like how many legs my bait has left, why the glued on eyeballs fell off, etc.

Plastics

torn up soft plastic baits

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February 11, 20233 yr

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19 minutes ago, Catt said:

Thingmaker, also called Creepy Crawlers, made by Mattel, in 1964.

It was rumored that's where Mr Twister got the idea for a curly tail worm.

Darn! Coulda made a fortune instead of playing cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians. ?

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TOXIC

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Location Warrenton, VA
My PB: Between 8-9 lbs
Favorite Bass: All three
Favorite Lake or River Lake Anna, VA, Potomac River, VA, Lake St Clair, MI, Rappahonock River, Lake Kissimmee, Lake Okeechobee, Headwaters/Fellsmere

February 11, 20233 yr

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1 hour ago, BrianMDTX said:

As a boy in the 60s, I had this toy called Creepy Crawlers. It was essentially a steel hot plate with various molds into which you poured (I assume) plastisol and made various “creepy crawlies” lol. Thinking about it now, I bet some of those would have caught bass.

Man, back then toys that could burn you were plentiful lol.

I had the same set. Can’t count how many times I burned myself on those hot molds. I also had a chemistry set that I was only allowed to play with in the back corner of the basement in case I came up with some caustic concoction

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February 11, 20233 yr

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8 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

I had the same set. Can’t count how many times I burned myself on those hot molds. I also had a chemistry set that I was only allowed to play with in the back corner of the basement in case I came up with some caustic concoction

?

We had those as well. Always wondered how sodium ferrocyanide sounded like something good for a kid to have lol.

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February 11, 20233 yr

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49 minutes ago, BrianMDTX said:

Darn! Coulda made a fortune instead of playing cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians. ?

I once ate an Easy Bake Oven cupcake, so she'd agree to play doctor...

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