Choosing a soft bait: size, color and scent

Once you know the kinds of soft bait and how to rig them, three choices are left: how big, what color, and whether to add scent. None of them has one right answer, and the best advice from the published guides we drew on is to keep it simple and change one thing at a time. This is lesson three of the soft baits series, after the kinds of bait and the rigs.

Size

Small baits still catch big fish, and a larger bait does improve the odds of a giant, because a big bass often prefers one substantial meal to a small one. There is no single size to name, and sizes by bait type are in lesson one.

Water temperature: the usual rule is small baits in cold water and big baits in warm water, because a bass's appetite rises with its body heat. Not everyone buys the rule, and big fish have been caught on large rigs in midwinter. Use it as a starting point.
After a cold front: he says a front can change the profile that works, even if only by a little. Try the same bait with fewer legs or less bulk before you change the whole rig. Our winter fishing guide covers what a front does.
Cover: in thick vegetation a small bait disappears and a large worm stands out, so go bigger. In sparse cover, go smaller.
The food on the water: a touring bass pro says the number one reason to pick a bait is the size of the forage. If nine in ten of the crawfish you see on the bottom are 2 to 3 inches long, tie on a 3-inch bait. To learn the forage, check the livewell for what a fish coughed up, feel a bass's belly, and look under docks and under shoreline rocks.
The fish's mood: the pro goes to the smallest version of a bait on a sluggish day after a front, and to a bigger one when the fish are feeding hard, for instance with a falling barometer. In cold, clear water, when fishing is tough, he shifts to smaller baits even if bigger forage is around.
Water clarity: smaller in clear water (a penny visible at 20 feet is the example given) and bigger in muddy water, where you want more presence. That is the other side of the coin from the temperature rule, which is a good reminder that these are tendencies and not laws.
The size of the fish you want: a lake where a 1 1/2 pound bass is big asks for smaller baits than a lake known for very large bass.
Action: when the water is cold, he says less movement can be better, so a chunk on a jig can beat a bait with flapping, kicking legs. In summer, a big ribbon-tail worm is hard to beat because its thin tail never stops moving.
Downsizing: a small bait does not cast far on heavy gear. The pro switches to a longer spinning outfit with 10 pound braid for small baits, so there is no loss of distance.

Color: start with water clarity

A simple test for clarity: Tie a white soft plastic on a weighted hook, lower it, and note how much line is out when it disappears. This scale is not a standard, only one way of sorting water into four groups: under 2 feet is muddy, 2 to 4 feet stained, 4 to 6 feet murky and 6 feet or more clear.

Clear water: natural colors that blend with the forage and plants, such as translucent browns, whites and grays, green pumpkin and watermelon. Green pumpkin is the most versatile color, and it can work in most clarities. If you know what the fish are eating, match it.
Stained, murky or muddy water: dark, solid colors that fish can still pick out, such as junebug, black and black-and-blue. Black can also work in any clarity.

Sunlight matters too, and clear and dirty are relative: some anglers call 30 feet of sight clear and others call 8 feet clear, so trust your own judgment of the lake you fish.

Clear and sunny: translucent colors such as watermelon, or plum or pumpkin with shiny flake, which blend in and still flash.
Clear and cloudy: darker greens and browns and more solid colors, such as green pumpkin, because translucent colors are harder to find in low light. He suggests adding some purple or blue flake if the sun breaks through.
Dirty and sunny: dark purple and black, with red or blue flake. Bass can still see fairly well in murky water in the sun.
Dirty and cloudy: black or dark colors, or a mix. Fish see less far, so add a little scent or a few glass rattles to the bait.

His point is that two color families and a clarity test beat a tackle box full of shades. We would add that most Texas lakes change clarity with rain and wind, so test again after a storm or when you move to another part of a lake.

Two colors from our tackle box

A natural color: A green pumpkin craw with flecks, a natural color for clear water.
A color with dark blue: Green with a dark blue body, a bait with more contrast than a plain natural one.

Scent and taste

Bass smell less well than trout, eels and catfish, but they still use smell to notice food in the water. They hunt mostly by sight, and the final decision is made by taste: a bass can spit a lure out in a fraction of a second, faster than you can set the hook. Bass have taste receptors across the mouth, on the lips and gills too, not only on the tongue. So scent can draw a fish in, and flavor decides whether it holds on.

A former lure-company lab researcher has said that bass can detect a couple of ounces of a certain amino acid mix in 6,000 gallons of water. Read that with care: the claim comes from a feature that also promotes that company's products, and the angler stories around it are anecdotes with no controlled comparison of scented and unscented baits. Our reading is that scent is a small edge and not a substitute for putting the bait in the right place. If you do use it, a scented or dried-out bait can be refreshed with a dip or spray, and damage to some scented baits releases more scent.

Catfish are a different story. The same researcher has said catfish respond to flavor more than smell, and the idea that they go for the smelliest bait is a misconception. Manufactured stink baits (dough, dip and punch) are meant to dissolve slowly, and one bait maker suggests refreshing them every 15 to 20 minutes. Our catfish guide has rigs and baits.

One more angler story, for what it is worth: one writer described a day when a floating scented worm did not suit a bluegill presentation, so he dipped bread balls in the scented liquid and that triggered strikes. It is a single account and not a test, and a reminder that scent is just a liquid you can use on other baits.

A simple order to change things

Start with a shape and rig that suit the cover (lessons one and two), in a natural color in clear water or a dark one in stained water.
If you get no bites, change the size or profile first, then the color, and use scent last.
Change one thing at a time and write down what you changed. A catch log helps you spot what works on your own lake.

Everything here is advice from published guides, not a measurement. Fish behave differently by lake and day. Lure and bait rules vary by water; check TPWD's Outdoor Annual.

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