Ever since I was a little kids, my tackle box is incomplete without a few tried and true plastic worms. Soft plastics are inexpensive and great for catching bass.
Plastic worms make up a large part of this category, and they are one of the most effective bass lures.
Plastic lures have a realistic action that triggers strikes from bass and other species.
Most are fished with weedless hooks perfect for getting bass in those hiding spots like weeds and lily pads.
Top 10 Soft Baits for Bass
We’ve compiled the best soft baits for bass fishing, including soft plastic worms, craws, swimbaits, jerk shads, and more. These soft baits are sure to help you make a great catch.
These are the Best Soft Plastic Lures for Bass Fishing
- Yamamoto Senko Bait
- Zoom Magnum Worm
- Keitech Fat Swing Impact Swimbait
- Zoom Bait Magnum Super Fluke
- Yamamoto Double Tail Hula Grub Bait
- Berkley PowerBait Power Worm
- Strike King Rage Tail Craw
- Googan Baits Bandito Bug
- Berkley PowerBait Power Jerk Shad
- Zoom Bait Brush Hog
Yamamoto Senko Bait
Yamamoto’s Senko Bait is probably the most popular soft plastic for bass of all time, known among all bass anglers as a solid lure that tricks bass.
The Senko bait is a soft plastic worm and stickbait. The beauty of this soft plastic is in its simplicity, and it really gets bass to bite. The Yamamoto Senko Bait is best rigged wacky style or Texas rigged.
The Senko worm is a versatile lure, and it can be fished various ways. It has a wide range of uses, whether fished weightless, shakey-head or flipping jig style, wacky rigged, or others. This bass worm comes in over 40 colors, and ranges in size from 3 to 7 inches long.
Zoom Magnum Worm
My first lunker bass was caught using one of these classic black plastic worms. Cast it beyond the lily pads and retrieve it through the vegetation, then bang.
Line starts running away with your worm in a big bass mouth. Plastic worms may seem too simplistic, but they are actually amazing bass lures.
When you need a softer approach to lure in skittish bass, the Zoom Magnum Worm is the way to go. This worm from Zoom Baits is super light and made of the highest quality materials.
Zoom Mag II’s are a large worm that works well for pitchin and Flippin in the thick stuff. Attracts a lot of attention, with good water displacement and a great action.
Zoom uses a Salt mixture in their baits that makes a fish hold on for that extra time that gives you more hook ups. .
Keitech Fat Swing Impact Swimbait
Swimbaits can be soft or hard, but soft plastic swimbaits are a popular soft lure. The Keitech Fat Swing Impact Swimbait is a paddle-tailed soft plastic swimbait with amazing swimming action.
A two-tone injection process uses different types of salted plastics, improving balance and action, as well as durability.
The body of the Keitech Fat Swing Impact Swimbait and its rings give it a natural appearance to help trick bass.
It has a strong squid scent to trigger strikes and attract fish in poor visibility water conditions.
The Keitech Fat Swing Impact Swimbait comes in over 40 colors and lengths ranging from 2.8” to 7.8”.
Zoom Bait Magnum Super Fluke
The Zoom Bait Magnum Super Fluke is a soft jerkbait, so it is meant to be fished jerk or twitchbait style for erratic action.
Like other Zoom Baits, the Magnum Super Fluke was made with a salt mixture for durability, so fish are able to bite long enough for you to set a hook. The Zoom Magnum Super Fluke has a great action that mimics baitfish.
This lure is one of the best soft plastic jerkbaits for bass. It’s made with high quality components, so it will last and it is sure to trigger strikes. The Zoom Bait Magnum Super Fluke comes in 9 appealing colors.
Yamamoto Double Tail Hula Grub Bait
Another great soft plastic from Yamamoto Baits, the Double Tail Hula Grub Bait is popular among many bass anglers.
Grubs are typically fished along the bottom of a body of water, but this versatile grub bait can be fished in deep or shallow waters.
The Yamamoto Double Tail Hula Grub Bait is a versatile soft plastic that can be successfully fished year-round.
This soft plastic lure is loaded with salt, so it is strong and won’t tear easily. It has a double tail, creating a great swimming action that lures in bass and other gamefish.
Free-flowing tentacles at the other end add to the action, and the traditional Senko-style middle gives fish a great place to bite.
Berkley PowerBait Power Worm
Berkley’s PowerBait series is full of great soft plastics, many of which are ideal for bass fishing.
The Berkley PowerBait Power Worm is a fantastic soft plastic worm for bass, sure to trigger strikes. All Berkley PowerBait lures have Berkley’s signature scent, made with attractants to lure in fish from a distance.
The Berkley PowerBait Power Worm is made with strong components, and the manufacturer brags that fish hold on 18 times longer.
It has a thin, ribbed body, and a ribbon tail with great action. This lure can be rigged a variety of ways. The Berkley PowerBait Power Worm comes in a large variety of colors and a range of sizes.
Strike King Rage Tail Craw
Crawfish soft plastics are a popular lure for bass. Their unique style and swimming action have been known to trigger bass strikes.
One great soft crawfish bait is the Strike King Rage Tail Craw. This versatile bass lure can be Texas rigged, Carolina rigged, fished weightless, or used as a jig trailer.
The Strike King Rage Tail Craw is made with high grade plastics, and has amazing action and splash in the water.
These lures now have a new coffee scent as well to lure in bass. The Strike King Rage Tail Craw is 4 inches long, and each tail is uniquely manufactured.
It comes in a variety of colors and can be purchased in a pack of 7 or as a single lure.
Googan Baits Bandito Bug
The Googan Baits Bandito Bug is an unusual soft plastic lure with a unique design. This soft plastic bait looks like a creepy crawler, and it has been successfully used to catch bass by many anglers.
A versatile lure, the Googan Baits Bandito Bug can be skipped, thrown, drop shot, or flipped.
Patented kicking claws are sure to trigger strikes. The Googan Baits Bandito Bug is 4 inches long – the perfect length for fish to grab onto. This scented lure is sure to attract fish. It comes in 9 enticing colors.
Berkley PowerBait Power Jerk Shad
Another great Berkley PowerBait lure, the Berkley PowerBait Power Jerk Shad is a soft jerkbait.
Berkley boasts that fish hold onto their PowerBait lures 18 times longer, so the Power Jerk Shad is sure to help you make a catch.
It has the signature Berkley scent that is sure to lure in bass and other species.
The Berkley PowerBait Power Jerk Shad has a great action, and is meant to be jerked or twitch to trigger strikes. It comes in a wide range of colors and sizes, and is popular among bass anglers.
Zoom Bait Brush Hog
Another soft plastic from Zoom Baits, the Zoom Bait Brush Hog is a creature-style soft plastic, which means it doesn’t exactly mimic any specific prey.
The action of this lure, however, is still sure to attract bass and other fish. It’s a cross between a lizard, worm, and crawfish. This unique design gives it an alluring action.
The Zoom Bait Brush Hog is a versatile plastic bait that can be fished a variety of ways. Like other high-quality Zoom Baits, this lure is impregnated with salt so that fish can bite for longer to improve hooksets.
The Zoom Bait Brush Hog comes in over 30 colors to attract bass.
What are Soft Plastic Lures?
Soft plastics are just that – lures that are made of soft, plastic materials, as opposed to hard plastic and wooden lures.
These soft baits mimic live bait like real worms, and can be extremely effective when bass fishing.
Their soft bodies feel more like real prey to bass, so they can often work better than hard lures.
High quality soft plastics tend to be impregnated with salt, which helps to make them more durable.
Since they are soft, soft baits can be broken, torn, or ripped more easily by biting fish. The salt can help weigh them down, and also helps so that fish don’t tear off a piece of your soft plastic lure and escape.
Soft plastics are a wide category of lures, and include soft plastic worms, grubs, crawfish, bugs, and other forms of soft plastic lures.
Popular lures like bass jerkbaits or bass swimbaits often come in hard-bodied and soft plastic varieties.
Soft Plastics for Bass
The allure of using soft baits for bass is manifold. First, they are very effective, so anglers love to throw soft plastics to lure in bigger bass. Second, they can be fished year-round in almost any conditions.
Depending on how you rig your soft plastics, they can be weedless and therefore work well in areas with heavy cover. No matter the temperature, soft plastics catch bass time and time again.
Plastic baits are also easy to fish, so they are popular among beginners. Professional bass anglers still use soft plastics too though – they are not just training lures.
Soft baits are also usually inexpensive and can be purchased in packs, so they’re a cost-effective lure compared to more expensive options.
Culprit tequila shade and red shade will catch more bass than any other plastic bait besides zoom super flutes and zoom plastic lizards and I guarantee it