Have any of you guys caught with this plug? I used it quite a bit this fall and didn't catch a thing on it. But for some reason i still have confidence in it. It casts great, has a good finish, nice action but got no love from our striped friends. It is probably the best casting plastic swimmer on the market.

No, but I'm going to pick a couple up next year as I heard someone else speak well about them. The Mag Darter was a monster this year for me. I mean absolute killer.

SP was money for a friend of mine. I made him give me one 1 night and I still have it. Its beat to crap. Big thumbs up for me.

I agree ,, great caster and yes I've caught on it and in takes up very little room in the plug bag . Good lure to carry incase they are on small ..

Had a 15 fish day on the canal in the spring on a green mack and I was the only one throwing it. Red top sold out that afternoon. :grins:

Blue Mac was nice for me this year swims very well.

couple guys i know are MURDERING on these

I picked one up today

change the split rings and hooks


blue mac

Im glad that the plug works. I got the green silver side looking one. I figured it would slay them at block. Its small so it will have a home in the bag for a few more trips.

The Daiwa sp minnow is a great lure. Fished it almost exclusively all season.
Casts and swims real good!
Laser Chartruse Rainbow was killer for me, several stripers in the mid twenties.
Be sure to change the split rings, they wont hold up to the larger fish.

Caught some nice fish with it this year - price is right too for a plastic plug that you have to change hooks/rings. Before changing hooks I missed a lot of hits too - I did upsize them a bit. Rapala X rap is another plastic plug that produced. The mag darter as someone said earlier is a killer plug at times, when nothing else in the bag takes, that will, especially that blueback ghost color.

IMO x rap is a much better built plug and a real fish catcher. Also cast better too. Need to change the hardware on the diawa ones if you are using it in canal as the current will trash the hardware, learned that the hard way, should have known better when i looked at it. I got several of the diawa ones but they just sit in bag as the x rap is what I much prefer. The diawa ones also seem to stay up higher in the water column too, so better for shallower conditions. Have several friend who do good with them though but I think x rap is way to go, esp. in canal anyway. My 2 cents for what it is worth

Blue mac x-rap catches in the canal.Good call.

Do you guys load these things? They seem awfully light to cast any distance.

5 3/4 inch Saltiga minnows.

Change split rings and hooks.

You will not find a swimming plug that catches more bass....full stop.

But you will pay for it.

Andy,

That big fish I got this year with you down at the canal was on an X Rap. With the tinkers around this year it was a nice match the hatch type bait. Distance is certainly a function of weight but also aerodynamics and of course rod. I fish a XRA 1205 with 30lb PP and was getting it out there just fine. Its not a pencil for the blitzes in the middle or anything but both the X and the XP are over an ounce with a small thin profile and cast well IMO. I was able to get out to fish most of the time. In the fall AM tides it was either one of those two plugs or one of Mikes pencils on my rod 50% of the time.

James

They are bullets.


Do you guys load these things? They seem awfully light to cast any distance.

Andy,

That big fish I got this year with you down at the canal was on an X Rap. With the tinkers around this year it was a nice match the hatch type bait. Distance is certainly a function of weight but also aerodynamics and of course rod. I fish a XRA 1205 with 30lb PP and was getting it out there just fine. Its not a pencil for the blitzes in the middle or anything but both the X and the XP are over an ounce with a small thin profile and cast well IMO. I was able to get out to fish most of the time. In the fall AM tides it was either one of those two plugs or one of Mikes pencils on my rod 50% of the time.

James

My regular rod 11' rated 3-8oz doesn't throw them too well. I will try my new backup rod (Tylers new rod) which is 9' rated 1-4 oz. I suppose thats why rods have ratings on them...he has my old penn 750 with 40# PP on it. Is it spring yet?

10-1/2' Mojo rated 3/4-4, Saragossa 8000, 40# Stren Braid, launches a SP minnow. They have some sort of weight-transfer load in them that shifts to the tail when you cast. Like all minnow swimmers, any kind of wind kills the cast--except a tail-wind, obviously.

Upgrade to #4 HD splits, and 6x strong VMCs in 1/0 on the belly, size 1 on the tail. SWE still carries the 6x hooks. Small fish can bend out the stock hooks.

I had my best results in the pre-dawn.

cast just fine and besides the fish are not that far out that these lures catch. Not all the big fish are in the middle. Make it one of the shore fleeing school. The blue mac and the pogie colored one were good lures for me this year in canal.

It's awfully nice to have a small minnow plug that I can cast a ways with my heavy conventional gear. Yep, I caught a bunch of small bass in the canal with the stock hardware, but nothing big.