Soft baits: the main kinds and what each one does

A shelf of soft plastics looks like a hundred different things, but most of it falls into a handful of shapes. What matters is which part of the bait moves: a tail, a pair of claws, a set of legs, or the whole body. Once you know that, picking one and knowing how to rig it gets much easier. This is lesson one of the soft baits series. Lesson two covers the rigs.

Worms and stick baits

A worm is a long, thin body whose action comes from the tail. The tail can be a curl, a straight tip, a paddle, a ribbon or a twin twist. Published guides give about 3 to 5 inches for finesse worms, which work on a drop shot or a light jig head for nearly any species, and up to 12 inches for the supersized worms aimed at big largemouth. The classic way to fish one is Texas-rigged on an offset hook with a bullet weight at its nose.

A curly-tail worm

Texas-rigged curly-tail worm: The tail curls and ripples when the worm is dragged or falls. The hook point is tucked back into the body.

A stick bait is a thick, straight, tailless worm. It falls on its own, because the body is dense, so shallow water often needs no weight at all. Anglers hook it through the middle for the wacky rig, which makes both ends quiver as it sinks, or Texas-rig it. A circle hook cuts down on fish that swallow the bait.

Craws, creature baits and lizards

A craw copies a crayfish: pincers, a body and a short tail. The claws give most of the action, and many are molded to point up like a crayfish defending itself. Fish them on a jig around rock and wood, Texas-rigged in weeds, or as a trailer on a skirted jig. A creature bait mixes parts from other baits, such as a lizard body with craw claws or a double twin tail, so there is no single shape. It is a useful change when fish have seen plenty of worms. A lizard has four legs and a tail, which makes five points of movement, and its big outline suits bigger fish.

Claws and legs

Creature bait: Two long claws and a ribbed body. The claws flare out as it sinks.
Craw and ribbed bait: A craw with raised claws and legs, and a smaller ribbed body beside it.

The wide, thick body of a creature bait needs room in the hook, so thick baits go with extra wide gap hooks and thin worms and lizards go with a standard offset worm hook. Our freshwater hook guide shows the difference.

Swimbaits and soft jerkbaits

A swimbait copies a baitfish. Paddle-tail shad kick their tail when you reel, and swimbaits can be fished at any depth and used much like a spinnerbait. Some come with a hook already molded in, and others are rigged on a weighted swimbait hook or a jig head. A soft jerkbait is slimmer, with a forked or straight tail, and is twitched in short jerks with pauses, like an injured minnow. Our soft plastics from our tackle box guide shows both, and the jointed swimbait guide covers the hard-bodied cousin.

A shad shape

Paddle-tail shad: A shad body with a flat tail that kicks when you reel, with a hook mounted on its back.

Grubs, tubes and trailers

A grub is a short cylinder with a curled tail, usually on a round jig head and hopped or dragged along the bottom. Most bass grubs run 3 to 6 inches. A tube is hollow, closed at the tail and fringed with tentacles, and it spirals on a slack line as it falls. Tubes rigged on a tube jig run 3 to 5 inches, and the hollow body holds scent well. A trailer is any soft bait added to the hook of a jig or spinnerbait to add bulk and movement, and the V-tailed one below is sold for exactly that.

Jig trailer: A split tail that flutters behind a jig. The pack in our box says Super Chunk.

Frogs and toads

Hollow-bodied frogs and toads ride on top of the water. A frog comes with its hooks tucked against the body so it slides over weeds, and a toad is rigged on a wide-gap hook with the point laid flat on its back, which is called Tex-posed. They are topwater baits, so they belong with the other surface lures and not the bottom rigs in this series.

Picking one

Ask what you want the fish to see: a falling craw, a swimming shad, a crawling worm. Pick the shape first and the color second.
Match the hook to the body. Slender baits fit a plain offset hook, and thick baits need a wide gap so the point can still reach through.
Keep a few of each shape, not a dozen colors of one. Fish in pressured water often ignore the bait they have seen all week, and a different shape is a bigger change than a different color.

Sizes are from published guides and are typical ranges, not rules. Texas lakes and many rivers have different lure and hook rules; check TPWD's Outdoor Annual.

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