Soft on plastics

Just got done reading Dennis Anderson's "Is live bait dead?" article on the Star Tribune's Web site. He basically breaks down the different soft baits and the history of each, but it's some pretty interesting stuff. I'm a soft-bait freak, so naturally I'm intrigued by the history of the these baits. I'm not surprised that less and less people fish with live bait, but I'm not badmouthing live bait either. Sometimes, the only good way to catch a fish is to give them something real to eat.

I've become a fan of Berkley's Gulp! Alive! leeches. These leeches come in a convenient pail with a screw-on lid, they look real, and the saline used to keep the leeches fresh actually helps invigorate a used leech, or any other Gulp! soft bait you might have.

I'm also a nut when it comes to Berkley's PowerBaits, mostly because I love to fish a Texas rig for bass. The pumpkinseed/chartruesse, 7-inch worm has been a consistent bait for me for several years and is often the first worm color I throw each season. However, I'm flexible when it comes to different soft baits, so long as I like two things: the color and its movement when jigged or hopped off the bottom of the lake.

This year, I'm turning to the TriggerX soft baits Anderson discusses in his article. I already have a few packs of these soft baits in the my tackle selection, and I'm eager for the bass opener to start (TriggerX makes soft baits that are species-specific, meaning there are baits designed just for walleyes, and just for bass) throwing these babies. One thing of note that makes these soft baits worthy of consideration is the saturation of the pheromones throughout the bait (each bait is individually packaged inside it's outer packaging. Within these individual packages is a sealed, solution-soaked plastic. I think the extra packaging will be a bonus, but I also think that it will be a bother coming up with a creative way to store it in the tackle box. But like a guy who can hit in baseball, if these baits catch fish, I'll find a place for them with the other players in my tackle box.

I could go on and on about the plastics I use, but that's better saved for another time. Lastly, I'd like to point out that Berkley has made an adjustment to its chigger craws (a nice complimentary soft bait for your tackle box), introducing a pair of "crazy legs" that look more like antennas than legs. Oh, but how those extra wigglers could drive the bass wild ... we'll have to wait and see.