Soft Baits - The Only Lures You Really Need

Whether your a novice or a pro, chances are you'll want an arsenal of soft baits in your tackle box when you hit the water.

They are the most versatile bass lure you can use. The variety of shapes, sizes and colors seems almost endless and gives you, the angler, a great selection to plan your attack on your next trophy bass.

Couple this selection with the choices available to rig these bass lures and you can produce some deadly combinations that are sure to land you some big bass.

Worms And Then Everything Else

In the soft bait world the plastic worm and its many variations is king.

The plastic worm could almost be a classification all its own with all the worm type lures there are out there. These soft lures are made to move with the slightest movement of the current in the water if still fishing or produce an irresistible action when being reeled in.

Some are made with ribbon tails which can be extremely effective with the action they produce in the water when Texas or Carolina rigged. Some look exactly like a worm and others are simply stick baits with tapered ends. There are plastic worms that are made for wacky rigging and other specific applications. All this information should be readily available on the package. Although, don't feel limited to using the rigging method specified as you can try anything, and should, to see what produces the strike.

Check out the great deals on these soft baits and other great lures from around the web.

While plastic worms may be the most popular, don't over look the other soft plastics out there. Another very popular style are the crayfish imitating lures. They are are called by many names: craw, beaver, hogs, etc. In the end they are all imitating crayfish, one of the favorites of smallmouth bass in particular but you'll definitely get your fill of largemouth with these also.

You will also find these type lures categorized as creature baits along with some other odd looking lures that don't seem to resemble anything else found in nature. But guess what, when used correctly and in the right conditions they WILL produce.

Another popular soft lure are the minnow and shad imitating lures. Not to hard to understand how these lures work. The better you can pick one of these to match the natural forage in your particular body of water, the better your chances of having a great bass fishing day. The Zoom flukes and super flukes are some really great minnow soft baits and will slay the bass. Berkley's Gulp Alive series is also very good. These are just a couple of the ones that have proven to catch big bass.

We can't bring up soft baits without talking about tubes and grubs either. Both of these lures have rewarded anglers with some great catches. Grubs are my favorite lure to use to catch a stringer full of white bass. A two inch grub rigged with a 1/8 oz jig head is deadly on the sandies. Tubes are known to do really well on the smallmouth bass. They can be stuffed with weights and/or rattles to entice that strike. It'd be wise to give these two lures a try at some point on your bass fishing journey.

Color And Size

The same rule applies with any lure when it comes to choosing a color. There are many things that can factor into this decision but the general rule is to "match the hatch". In other words, choose something that will resemble the fish's natural forage in that lake. Adjust the color based on the clarity of both the water and the environment. Clear water and clear day will call for natural looking colors. While darker water and otherwise less visible conditions will call for brighter colors to make your soft bait more visible.

As for size, the standard is 4 - 5 inch lures. These will give you a good chance at catching a variation of sizes. But don't be afraid to try those 6, 7 or even 8 inch worms. There is great potential at landing huge bass with these. You'd be surprised how big a soft bait a bass will attempt to devour.

See what other bass fishing lures you need to have in your tackle box.

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