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How long do soft plastics last before they lose performance?

Hey there! Great question about the longevity of soft plastics and their performance over time. Based on the video context and my own experience as a bass fishing guide, here's what you need to know:

Soft plastics, in general, don't have a specific expiration date. Their shelf life can be quite long if they are stored properly. Here are some key points to consider:

  1. Storage Conditions: Keeping your soft plastics out of extreme temperatures is crucial. Avoid leaving them in direct sunlight or in very cold conditions. For example, on hot summer days, store them in a cooler part of your boat rather than on the deck. Similarly, during winter, it's a good idea to take them out of the boat to avoid freezing temperatures.

  2. Original Packaging: Many anglers, including Gene Jensen from the video "Bag or Box - How to Store Your Soft Plastics," recommend keeping soft plastics in their original packaging. This helps maintain their shape and prevents the softeners in the plastic from leaching out and warping tackle boxes.

  3. Avoid Deformation: Brian Latimer in "Keep Your SOFT Plastic Fishing Lures FRESH" suggests storing soft plastics vertically to prevent them from flattening or deforming, especially those with a round profile like bang sticks or TRDs.

  4. Softener Content: The amount of softener in the plastic can affect its longevity. TackleJunky81 mentions that some baits with higher softener content may warp tackle boxes over time, but this doesn't necessarily mean the baits are unusable.

  5. Signs of Wear: Over time, you might notice some soft plastics becoming less pliable or losing their original scent. If they start to tear easily or don't have the same action in the water, it might be time to replace them.

In summary, with proper care and storage, your soft plastics can last for many years without losing performance. Keep them out of extreme temperatures, store them in their original packaging, and check them periodically for any signs of wear or deformation. Happy fishing, and tight lines! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

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Soft Plastics - 101 (TackleJunky81) by TackleJunky81 → hey guys just going request video for you guys today a few different questions here on soft plat a different opinion feel free to leave those in comments below we can all read those and I'll learn something okay first up is shelf life you soft plastics have a shelf life as far as I know they do not there's no set date or time if they're going to go bad or break down on you and no one's assaulted it will break down faster again there's no set time on that all you can do is just keep an eye on them and try and take care of them and to do that I just keep them out of the heat and keep them out of the cold if I'm fishing on a hot summer day I will not leave a box of baits on top of the deck for the Sun to be down on them I put them all away in the compartments the way they're a little bit cooler you know when it's cold wintertime I unload the boat my oldest all plastics or maybe 10 to 12 years old you know I find sell a lot that I'll have a lot of the older stuff but my oldest stuff here still looks brand new so all you can do is take care of keep out of the heat keep out of the cold and keep an eye on
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Bag or Box - How to Store Your Soft Plastics by Flukemaster → hey guys this is gene Jensen and there's a question that comes up all the time on my Facebook page and Instagram snapchat snapchat and on my my youtube channel and the question is about storing soft plastics a lot of people want to know whether they have to keep them in the bags they come in or can they take them out and put them in the hard plastic tackle boxes like this one and I'm going to tell you the reason why I will always answer saying that it needs to stay in the bag when you put them in a hard plastic tackle box like this one over about a six months to a year the box starts to warp you can see how that lid doesn't close all the way the lids bent and if you look real close at the dividers the dividers are bent also oops dumping some out but anyway as you can see that the box will warp and that's because the soft plastic has a softener in it and that softener leeches into into the box as it comes in contact with these soft plastics and it causes that warping effect and which is fine for the most part but it really can make things detrimental if you're trying to use if you want to use that box for anything else later on and put those dividers back down in there because it'll be so
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Keep Your SOFT Plastic Fishing Lures FRESH by Brian Latimer → them like this highly recommend that you don't lay them on top of one another what i've noticed especially with baits that have a round profile like a bang sticks a trd over time the elastic will flatten so i highly recommend storing your baits all your baits this way vertically you lay them on the side just the weight of the plastic sometimes will flatten and deform to form some of the elastic so just you know little things that you need to know that you probably didn't worry about when you use traditional plastic it seems a little bit inconvenient at first but when you start to realize all the benefits of elastic you know i fished on this lake out here behind me for the last for 10 hours yesterday i used like two plastics if i've been using traditional plastics i would have went through probably two bags and not because i was catching a lot of fish just a lot of times when you're flipping structure you the hook punches through and you go through a lot of plastics and obviously when you're catching a lot of fish to go through a lot of plastics or if you're catching a lot of trash fish you go through a lot of plastics and you just you need a lot of baits i had one bag with me yesterday and you don't need a lot of baits so taking just having to
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Soft Plastics Are IMPORTANT by Brian Latimer → so you flip it up against the wood you flip it against the rock you flip it around the dock pilings when it hits the water a lot of times they're going to hit it on the fall especially in stained water because that's when he sees it usually when it's on the bottom he doesn't see it so you kind of have to play that for got to fill that out as your tournament fishing as you're out there fishing as you're out there having fun you got to play out how to work the bait there's no i don't like to give a lot of instruction on that because there's there's no wrong way i've said many times and you know the best way to work that bait is this and then i get somebody in my boat and they're reeling it back to the boat and they start catching them so experiment with it maybe you can catch them on it swimming it around a lot of times you do get bit like that you flip up near a tree you go to reel it in you're pulling it back and one comes up and chases it maybe that's a sign that you need to kind of keep that bait high in the water column and bring it back to the boat so experiment with that what works best for me i'll flip it out just like that let
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Storing Soft Plastics by TackleJunky81 → at all so it really depends in my opinion the amount of software that's in the soft plastic but this is probably the worst that I've seen which again it's not a huge deal to me now the plasma tails have been in this box and they've been on edge in my boat for I'm going to say a mother to maybe a couple months and you can see those dividers or straight I'm not sure how long it takes for them to bow if they're going to bow but they haven't yet but even if they were you know to warp I just prefer still to have them especially straight tail worms prefer to have them in a box that way they stay nice and straight now if I'm not using the shallow plane a waterproof boxes or these thin ones I like to use these ones here these are the deep version there's no dividers like I got out of 1215 packs in here these are the gambler why nots they're all in here you know baits that I'm either going to sent like I sent to the pit bosses here basic come with a really strong scent that come wet in the packages like the Crowder's one that I plan on doing here soon the Destroyers you know these come pretty wet the packages they leak you know those baits I'll definitely put in a box like this take them out of the packages but no
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