Which Plug...
 

do you like to toss to scout out a spot...vs...which plug do you like to toss when you know fish are around...

i find pencils are good 'scouting' plugs...and then i often find myself switching to other plugs when i know fish are around...

interesting thread doc!
if I know fish are around I usually end up throwing the old trusty loaded red fin swimmer, day or night, that thing always seem to draw a strike if fish are known to be there - it's also a good search plug, just not as much fun to retrieve as a spook, which is my preferred search plug (bigfish blitzseeker in particular)

A good plug is a good plug regardless. It's tough to beat a rigged sluggo/rigged eel.

You can work them fast, they catch, and you can quickly cover alot of water.

as usual it comes to down to confidence in the plug you are tossing...but i find sometimes that certain plugs elicit the seemingly lone fish while others are good when fish seem to be more plentiful...

To find, agree that I would go with a Pencil Popper. When around prob. Tin or a Needle. Nightime, eel all the way....

Daytime: Popper or pencil

Night time: sinking needle or old 7" Rebel sinker

a Jig

daytime: a pencil popper or a tin ;)

night: metal lipped swimmer or a bucktail jig

daytime... Jigman spook
nightime...skinplug/needle

All depends when and where and what time of year ( I know, let's not make this complicated but as the old saying goes, "the more you know the less you can be sure of")

I have many specific choices for pluggery based on experience and where I am and at what time of day, year and current conditions.

It is not that simple. (At least for me)

Skin over a surface swimmer, bone colored Rebel jumpin' minnow , white or pink 7 inch sluggo or a yellow pencil popper or Yozuri hydro pencil or Yozuri surfave cruiser by day. 9" black Sluggo, rigged eel or live eel after dark. Once and a while I'll use a 7" weighed Redfin or the new Rapala plastic swimmer(great lure) when there's current. Also, nder the right condition, a 3/4 to 3 oz. white bucktail jig with red/white pork rind day or night.

what he said

Darters because they cast well and can cover a lot of water quickly. 7" Megabaits and needles are my second favorite searching plugs.

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to write. If I had to choose without more information, I'd pick a Polaris popper during the day and a needle at night.

anything that will cruise subsurface a bit. I find that if theyre feeding slightly subsurface and are intent or focused on one kind of bait a pencil will spook them. I feel that is because the pencil is doing the exact oppisite of what theyre eating. You know the what the hell is that thing type of reaction.

Now if I walk over the birm and theyre whaling bait on the surface, its a no brainer pencils.

ny murder machines (pencils) are a double edged sword, yeah they catch but if theyre large and skittish you got 1 cast over a decent fish.

I still have complete confidence in a pencil popper by day, but if fish are skittish, a YoZuri crystal minnow often takes the finicky ones.