Figuring Out Super Plastics

The virtually indestructible "Super Plastics" made from Cyber-Flexxx material are so new that the pros really don't know what to make of them yet.

But these baits have a few key properties -- they're extremely durable and they float (for a full review click here) -- that could make them useful for tournament fishing.

Skeet Reese endorses Terminator's SnapBack brand of super-plastic lures and has been experimenting with them to see how they can fit into his tournament arsenal. Here's what he's found so far.

Buoyancy

"One key is how buoyant they are," Reese says. "With the creature bait (which he designed), you can rig it on a 3/8-ounce weight and 5/0 (Gamakatsu EWG) Superline hook, and when it hits the bottom it really stands up. It doesn't lie close to the bottom. It imitates a crawfish in a defensive position.

"Another cool aspect is with the lizard," he says. "When you Carolina rig it actually floats. A lot of people think that all baits behind a Carolina rig float. But everything before these was dragging on the bottom behind the weight." (He uses a 3/0 or 4/0 Superline hook for Carolina-rigging.)

A Carolina-rigged floating bait also is "better at coming through the cover. You get a lot less snags."

He also likes the buoyant SnapBack soft-jerkbait. "You can rig it with a 4/0 Superline hook and it still floats," Reese says. "So you can work it like a topwater bait over any type of cover, instead of it sinking down. I've been fishing it in grass beds, through reeds and things like that."

Speed

"Bass fishermen love speed," he notes. "I don't have to carry 500 pounds of plastic in the boat anymore. I can go out with one pack of creature baits and it will last me all day.

"How many times, when you get into a fast bite and get short-bit, do you get your worm bit off and you're scrambling around the bottom of the boat to re-rig as fast as you can, get it out there and get bit again. Now you don't have to do that anymore. I'm spending a lot less time digging for plastics in my bait locker than I ever did before."

Reese also notes that Krazy Glue is now an option, whereas it isn't with normal soft-plastics. "What's cool about this is that when you're rigging the bait you can Krazy Glue the nose to the hook." Because of the virtual indestructibility of the new material, "you don't have to worry about the plastic sliding down. It will slide a little, but it doesn't tear up.

"In the past you couldn't do that because that bait would tear up and you'd have a big glue clump on your hook," he says. "But with this stuff you can glue it once and can catch 10-20 fish using the same bait."

Still Experimenting

Importantly, Reese says he catches just as many fish with SnapBacks as regular plastics. Other than that, "I've been putting them through my proving grounds," he says. "I'm going to experiment more with them and maybe I'll some new ways of fishing them that haven't crossed my mind yet."