Freshwater Fishing: All About Soft Baits

Soft baits — otherwise known as soft plastic lures — are gaining more popularity among fishing enthusiasts due to their versatility. Like other kinds of fishing lures, patience is required when using soft baits. You will have to use good “touch” to attract a bite, but like many lures or natural baits, soft baits can illicit strong, violent strikes from freshwater fish like bass.  

There are various attractive freshwater soft baits sold nowadays, and you can choose the perfect one that looks and functions almost exactly like the real thing. Most fishermen suggest getting a straight-tailed minnow, or ribbon tail swimming worms for starters, but there are other shapes and sizes you can experiment with to get the best bite on any particular day when freshwater fishing.

Below is everything you need to know about soft baits and how to use them effectively on your next fishing trip. Keep in mind, the most effective anglers have a whole slew of different soft baits in their tacklebox, so loading up on all the different styles is the best way to ensure success.

What Are Soft Baits?

Soft baits are primarily made of soft plastics, or plastisol, and come in various shapes, colors and sizes like:

• Tubes
• Frogs
• Geckos
• Creatures
• Worms
• Shad tails
• Crawdads
• Soft stick baits
• And many more!

Soft baits are rigged right on a hook, which can be done nose-hooked, Texposed, Carolina rigged, wacky-rigged, and a bunch of others. They’re often rigged to J-hooks, offset hooks, or on jig heads.

Making your soft baits swim effectively and realistically may take some practice, especially when top water bass fishing, but it’s easy once you get the hang of it….

And the strikes can be amazing!

How To Use Soft Baits

Bass fishing can be made easier with soft baits. The key to using them effectively is to use varying sizes and combinations. As mentioned previously, you’ll have to experiment with soft baits and see which one works best on any particular day or water conditions. Below are some guidelines for catching the biggest fish in the lake with soft baits.

Get Various Sizes

The rule of thumb is to get soft baits that are about three, five, six, eight and ten inches long. When fishing swimming worms, longer worms swim more naturally. Of course, always size your baits to the fish you’re looking for.

However, while most fishermen think that you need a larger bait when fishing for a larger fish, that is not entirely true. One of the most crucial things to consider is the strength and aggressiveness of the bite. For instance, the bait you’ll use for an aggressive fish can be different for the same fish under different temperature, season and water conditions. This is a trial-and-error process, and you may need to bring all sizes with you while bass fishing. Lunker bass will strike everything from 3-inch Spade Tail Grubs to 10-inch Ribbon Tail Swimming Worms.

Use Different Styles

Fish have preferences at different times in terms of the bait they want to bite. For instance, on Tuesday the bass may prefer basic styles of lizards, worms, and creature baits, and on Wednesday they prefer curly tail grubs or large crawfish. Having a full tacklebox will help you narrow down what they’re biting on any given day.

Multi-Color Dimensions Are Effective

Charlie’s Worms offers soft baits with multi-dimensional colors: neutral, bright, dull, neon, speckled, tinseled and more. Color is one of the fundamental factors in using soft baits for bass fishing. For example, for ten feet of water or less, you can utilize neutral colors such as green, gray, and brown. Meanwhile, for deep water fish, you can use neon baits in colors like white, red, or chartreuse.

Natural light will also play a crucial role in terms of the clarity of the colors. To be on the safer side, use soft baits with at least two-color dimensions. This way, you can lure fish in from the shallow or deep waters.

Why You Should Use Soft Baits

While bass fishing with soft baits is the best move for increased efficacy, there are other reasons why you should fish with soft baits.

They’re Cheaper

Since soft bait is made with light materials, it’s cheaper than the other artificial lures and live bait in the market. You’ll get your money back after the first catch — that’s how cheap it is. These baits are also very long-lasting. All you have to do is keep them in a cool, dry place, and you’ll get your monies worth every single time. One pack of Charlie’s Worms Ribbon Tail Swimming Worms, for example, can last you an entire season, and cost about as much as a dozen nightcrawlers down at the tackle shop. But, as you know, nightcrawlers are live bait and a they won’t last very long.

Wide Range of Choices

Soft baits are fun. You can get them in various colors, sizes, and designs. They are also very attractive to look at, so fish are more inclined to check them out and bite! Also, there are scented soft baits you can purchase and most anglers swear by their effectiveness.

Depth Control

Aside from topwater action, soft baits can be used at any depth. By utilizing various tackle, you’ll be surprised at some of the bottom-feeding fish, like catfish, you might catch on soft baits. You can also make the soft bait do little hops on the bottom to mimic prey and see what will happen next. The possibilities are endless, and all you have to do is try various techniques with your soft baits at different depths.

The most important part is… bring a wide array of soft baits with you and have fun!

Get Your Soft Baits Now

Charlie’s Worms offers the most eye-catching and effective soft baits on the market. We have an extensive catalog of products you’ll most certainly want to check out. These are all battle tested and proven to be the best soft baits for bass fishing, and freshwater fishing in general, that you’ll find anywhere.

Check out our website to see all our high-quality products and reach out to us with any questions or comments. We love hearing from fellow anglers!

Get your soft baits now and have the most exciting fishing experience ever!