Topic: The Best Soft Plastic Baits for Bass of 2023 (Read 37 times)
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This ribbed, flat-bodied dynamo set the flipping world on fire when it emerged in 2002, and it remains a best-in-class choice for penetrating thick cover. You can customize the lure’s action by keeping the tail as one piece or splitting into two. With the tail left in one piece, it glides, making it a great bait for bedding fish. With the tail split, it provides just enough action on the fall to convince uncooperative bass that it’s time to feast. Behind a tungsten weight of any size, even two ounces, it looks natural and edible. Some of the color names are NSFW, but that’s part of the charm as well.
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The Super Fluke was one of the earliest members of its class and still excels, particularly when you let it fall weightless and then trigger it to dart erratically through the water column. It swims like an injured baitfish, and where legal, using two of them on the same rig can lead to a feeding frenzy. It’s also a fantastic Carolina rig bait, an excellent trailer for Scrounger heads and on vibrating jigs, and is available in smaller 4-inch and larger 7-inch sizes.
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The Fat Swing Impact spawned a generation of imitators, but none flaps as enticingly as the original, which works best burned, slow-rolled, or descended to the bottom on a semi-slack line. It works well on a weedless hook (weighted or unweighted) in shallow water and on jig heads, and it’s a prime choice for castable umbrella rigs. The Fat Swing is also an exceptional trailer on swim and vibrating jigs, and several co*panies have invented spinnerbaits specifically to hold these highly-effective lures. There’s also a “saltwater” formulation that provides enhanced durability, which works well in freshwater when fishing around toothy critters or using the Fat Swing Impact as a trailer.
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This is the worm that the late, great finesse guru and three-time Bass Master Angler of the year, Aaron Martens made famous, especially with his signature colors like Aaron’s Magic and Martens Madness. It has the allure and attributes of a traditional California hand pour, but they’re actually poured robotically for maximum consistency. On a drop-shot it has a remarkable flutter that calls fish from a distance. The salt release system encourages even the wariest bass to hold on for the long haul. It also works remarkably well on a shakey head, and the larger sizes are great for Carolina rigging and split shotting in clear water.
Read Next: Best Drop Shot Baits
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There are plenty of great craws, but Strike King’s hard-thumping Rage version adds a little more realism than co*petitors. Whether you’re pitching it alone, flipping it into thick cover, dropping it on a bed, or using it as a trailer this soft plastic bait is tempting for bass. On the back of a swim jig it flaps hard, and on a football jig or flipping jig it takes a distinct “claws-up” defense posture to trigger strikes. The Rage Craw series co*es in all of the proven colors for a wide range of fisheries and even various forms of watermelons and green pumpkins. It’s also available in a 3-inch “Baby” size and a 4.5-inch “Lobster” version. All of them can be shortened to provide the right amount of flutter and flash without as much bulk.
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The bait designers at Berkley have spent decades optimizing the plastic worm, and all that effort and testing has led to the super-popular and long-standing PowerWorm. This is a versatile soft plastic that excels when fished around cover. The most co*mon way to fish it is on a Texas rig, but you can also throw it on a Carolina rig, or even put it on a shaky head jig. It’s an easy bait for beginner bass anglers to use because there’s really no way you can mess up its action. Swim it, drag it, or hop it—it’s all good. In the summertime, big-bass hunters will run the 10-inch, or even 12-inch versions in deep water. The PowerWorm co*es in a whole variety of colors but you can’t go wrong with a few packs of watermelon and blue/black fleck for most bass waters.
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No lure has produced more bass behind the old “ball and chain” than the simple lizard, a versatile staple for decades that nevertheless often gets overlooked as newer options beco*e available. It’s just finesse-oriented enough not to turn off reluctant biters but also provides enough action to draw fish from a distance and trigger them to bite. Whether you’re dragging it or hopping it in 18 inches of water or through cover that’s 40 feet deep, it can play 12 months out of the year for largemouths, smallmouths, and spotted bass alike. Zoom set the standard and continues to expand the color palette, but a good place to start is simple pumpkinseed, green pumpkin, or watermelon. They’re a great bargain because even when you’re not pulling the C-Rig, you can employ this same lure for pitching to laydowns, flipping grass, or a wealth of other productive presentations. When it gets hot this summer and it’s time to head offshore for Carolina rigging, thread one of the best soft plastic baits for bass onto your hook, the Zoom Lizard.
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Veteran Oklahoma bass pro, Tommy Biffle, popularized the swinging jighead (aka, “wobble head”). While other creature baits and craws work fine, his original soft plastic creation remains the gold standard. It is co*pact yet bulky, with hard flapping legs to draw attention and a flat tail that enables it to glide. That differentiates it from the curly-tailed co*petition and allows it to dart and glide as the articulated jighead co*es into contact with all manners of cover. There’s also a more aggressively-style flipping version available.
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Long before the Senko was a twinkle in his eye, the Hula Grub was the lure that made Gary Yamamoto famous. He popularized it around his Lake Powell (Arizona) campground on Lake Mead, where clear water, heavy rocks, and pressured fish often co*bined to make fishing tough. It quickly spread throughout similar venues around the west before beco*ing an eastern dynamo. It can be Texas Rigged or put on a ball head jig, but it does best in navigating the cracks and crevices of rocks of all sizes on a football head – you can go as light as 1/32 ounce in super-skinny water or over an ounce to maintain bottom contact deep. The curl tails and serrated skirt provide great action even at rest, with the slightest current or wave motion.
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It’s hard to fully understand why one soft plastic should be better than another for Ned Rigging. After all, it’s a technique where featureless plastics and minimal action is the name of the game. Nevertheless, Z-Man has formulated a system for this technique – and the products involved in it – that make the most of less. That starts with floating plastic, so the lure is constantly visible, even in soft muck or silt, even when using the smallest size. Moreover, they’ve made it out of tear-resistant ElaZtech, so it won’t pull off the hook or rip easily, saving you time on the water and money in your tackle budget. The TRD is available in straight-tail nub designs and various other shapes, including Hogz, Minnowz, Ticklerz, and Tubes.