Soft Bait for Bass Fishing
As a bass angler, understanding which bass fishing bait to use is the best step, but it can become a challenge with the endless list of soft baits. There are a variety of soft plastic baits used for bass fishing. We will look at the best soft plastic lures that are efficient to use while tackling bass.
Soft plastic lures are popular in bass fishing and should be used by beginners and professional anglers. They can be made to imitate live bait. In this article, we’ll brief you on the best soft plastic lures for bass fishing and how to use them.
Categories of Soft Plastic Baits for Bass
The most popular soft plastic baits are categorized as follows;
- Worms
- Creatures
- Soft jerk bait
- Soft stick baits
- Craws
- Beavers
- Toads
- Tubes
- Craws
- Trailers
- Drop shot baits
- Shad tails
Best Soft Plastics Worm Bait
Soft plastic worms are the simplest plastic lures to start bass fishing. They have different tail styles, including paddle tails, vibe tails, curl tails, and straight tails. These tails are created to give the worm a lively action.
Worm baits come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. They can be of use during the whole fishing season. Here are some of the best soft worm lures for bass;
Gary Yamamoto Senko bait
It’s one of the best plastic worm baits used by most anglers, and it has a weightless smooth horizontal drop. It is also the most sought soft plastic stick bait on the market today.
It can either be rigged weightless or used with a Texas rig, wacky rig, or Carolina rig and also works well with a drop shot.
It has wiggly projections and frilly tails that coincide with a Bic pen. They come in 3 to 7 inches, and colors range from 25 to 40. In addition, long Senkos trailers on massive jigs for catching big bass.
Berkley power baits worm
It is a soft plastic worm for bass used with a bobber or split shot, and it has a Berkley scent. It comes in various colors and sizes and is rigged in multiple ways.
Zoom magnum worm
It is a soft plastic lure with a curly tail, ripples, and rolls. Its curly tail creates lots of attention in the water, thus attracting more fish.
Strike king finesse worms
This plastic lure is ideal while fishing in clear water. These are weightless and can be rigged with shakey heads, finesse Texas Rigs, Carolina Rigs, or Neko Rigs.
Soft Plastic Jerkbaits
Zoom super fluke is one of the most versatile soft plastic jerkbait for bass. It’s made with outstanding components that help it trigger strikes. The Zoom Bait Super Fluke comes in several colors.
It mimics baitfish and can also be used as a Carolina rig bait, a trailer for Scrounger’s heads, and vibrating jigs. It is available from 4inch to 7inch sizes.
Soft Plastic Swimbaits
The most popular swimbait is Keitech fat swing impact. It is a paddle-tailed soft plastic swimbait with a strong squid scent to attract fish, especially in areas without water clarity. It ranges from 2.8 to 7.8 inches and comes in various colors.
It works well with a weedless hook on shallow waters and can also be used on jig heads with umbrella rigs. Its fat swing can be used as a trailer for vibrating jigs combined with spinnerbaits.
Soft Plastic Drop Shots
Drop shot baits are lifelike baits that reel lots of bass fish. They work better in deep and clear waters.
Robo worm straight tail worm is the most popular lure for drop shotting. It is ideal when working on waters with heavy cover. It works incredibly on shaky heads, and big sizes are great for Carolina rigging and split-shotting in clear water.
Other soft plastic lures include; Zoom Swimming Super Fluke, Shad Tail worms, and Strike King Caffeine Shad.
Soft Plastic Craw
Soft plastic craws are meant to imitate crawfish. Several plastic craws are used for bass fishing; Yum Money Craw, Strike King Rage Craw, Zoom Speed Craw, Mega bass Bottle Shrimp, and Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw.
Strike king rage tail craw is an all-time popular bait for drop shotting. It has a slender body designed to create a disturbance. Strike king craw can be used on the back of a swim jig, football jigs, or flipping jig.
Rage tail craws are available in sizes ranging from 3 to 4.5 inches and come in many colors. They have forms of watermelons and green pumpkins.
This lure can be Carolina rigged, wacky rigged, or Texas-rigged and can also be fished weightless or used as a jig trailer.
Soft Plastic Beavers
Beavers are streamlined bait with a slightly ribbed body. The flaps on its tail help it glide in and out of thick cover. One of the most common is the sweet beaver bait.
It can hold a large flipping hook in place with its Compact, ribbed body. It can be rigged either whole or with its tail stripped which convinces even the hard bass. It comes in multiple colors.
How do you fish With Soft Plastic Lures?
- The best way is to start by choosing the right soft plastic bait, enough hook, and a strong wire for your line.
- Then insert your bait into the tube and slide the O-ring. The O-ring helps the wacky-rigs from tearing.
- Glide the hook between the o- ring and the bait. Make sure that the ring is tight enough to keep the hook firm.
How to Rig Soft Plastics For Catching Bass
Start by laying the jig hook along the soft plastic tail and let it sit perpendicular to the jig head. Mark a feature on the lure tail where the point of the jig hook should emerge through.
Push the hook point through the head of the plastic, making sure it is right in the middle.
Carefully thread the hook point through the middle of the soft plastic until the point is precisely beneath your mark on the tail.
Push the tail through the plastic and bring the hook through after it. Push the plastic tailback down along the jig hook until the top of the plastic slips over the covering point and settles nicely against the lead head.
Best Fishing Soft Plastic Colors
- Green pumpkin; is the best color when combined with all shapes of soft plastics.
- June bug; can be used to catch bass in muddy and crystal clear water. It can work with flipping baits and straight worms, among others. Other color includes Junebug red, Candybug, and black grape.
- Watermelon Red; many anglers use this color for bass catching all year round. You can use it during the spring when the bass is spawning. Other colors are watermelon candy and any different watermelon variations.
- These colors vary from Plum, Strawberry, Cherry Blossom, and Redbug Candy. You can use these colors with worm-like soft baits.
- Bruiser flash; it has a black and blue cover with a small silver model flake on both sides. Other colors are hematoma, black, superbug, black sapphire, and bruiser.
Conclusion
Soft Plastic lures have an endless list, are also accessible to fish, are cost-effective, and can be used all year long. Sinkers are used when you want to pass your plastic lure through thick vegetation to catch big bass. In other situations, it can end up destroying your soft plastic bait. Using a swivel or steel leader is not necessary for a soft plastic since they retrieve straight; it’s better used on spinner jigs.
