Topic: Best Soft Plastic Baits for Bass (Read 51 times)
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Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
This flat, ribbed soft plastic generates a lot of action while penetrating the thickest cover.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
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.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
Universal baitfish shape provides unpredictable darting action.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
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.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
Ribbed swimbait calls fish from a distance by flapping consistently at any speed.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
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.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
The lure’s softness and multi-layered color patterns are co*paratively inexpensive, and the Straight Tail design makes it flutter irresistibly when drop-shotting.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
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.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
Ultra-versatile craw covers lots of bases in one co*pact package.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
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.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
The PowerBait Power Worm is a true classic that’s put big bass in the boat for years.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
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.
The best color plastic worm for bass depends heavily on conditions, including water clarity and the available forage, but it pays to keep a basic selection on hand. That includes watermelon, green pumpkin, and black and blue. In tannic water or on tidal fisheries you should add in junebug, and consider baitfish colors on a drop-shot.
Many soft plastics can be fished weightless or without a sinker. These include the Senko, which is often at it’s best on a weight-free Texas rig or fished “wacky” style. Fluke-style lures also excel weightless. If you need to get deeper or contend with current, there are various nail weights and other inserts that get the job done without dampening a lure’s action.
Most soft plastics do not require a swivel. If your swivel creates line twist, take care to straighten it out or change your line at the end of the day. There are, however, some notable exceptions. One is the Super Fluke, which is often fished on an 8- to 12-inch leader with a swivel connecting the two lines. Not only does the swivel add casting weight and keep the lure down, but some anglers believe it represents an even smaller baitfish that the Fluke is chasing. Of course, a Carolina rig also employs a swivel to keep the weight away from the trailing soft plastic and to prevent line twist.
Certain soft plastics serve multiple functions well, while others are masters of a specific application. It makes sense to integrate a number of each into your arsenal, choosing proven worldwide or regional color schemes to test their effectiveness. For this review, I looked for the best soft plastic baits for bass that will work for both novices and top tournament professionals. Some of these are versatile, some not, but in each case I wanted to make sure that the manufacturers’ products demonstrated quality and functionality.
There are endless soft plastic options on the market, and it’s easy for beginning anglers to go down an endless rabbit hole of experimentation. There’s nothing wrong with experimenting with new baits, but when it beco*es a game of constantly changing lures, that takes away from valuable fishing time. Keep colors simple and find six or eight soft plastic designs that work for you. These are some of the best soft plastic baits for bass anywhere they swim. Fish long enough with these and you’ll see that slight size or color variations can make all of the difference.
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