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Soft plastic baits are great for catching smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass. Many soft plastics can be fished weightless or rigged for other effective techniques. But the endless profiles, sizes, materials, and categories make choosing the best ones difficult. That's why it's common to see serious bass anglers with storage compartments full of different craws, worms, swimbaits, creature baits, lizards, and more. Plus, specific profiles and colors work better in certain situations than others. So, what should you have in your boat?
To make the selection process a little easier, we broke the best soft plastic baits for bass into sixteen different categories. Below you will find the most popular styles of baits with a top pick for each kind. I've fished extensively with every bait in the test, and many are top picks among professionals, including one that won the 2023 Bassmaster Classic.
Best Straight Tail Worm: Zoom Trick Worm/Roboworm
Best Soft Stick Bait: Yamamoto Senko
Best Ned Bait: Z-Man Ned TRD
Best Curly Tail Worm: Zoom Ole Monster
Best Beaver Style Bait: Missile Baits D-Bomb
Best Craw: Strike King Rage Craw
Best Swimming Worm: Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm
Best Swimbait: Keitech FAT Swing Impact
Best Soft Jerkbait: Zoom Fluke
Best Minnow: Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ
Best Toad: Zoom Horny Toad/Stanley Ribbit
Best Creature Bait: Zoom Brush Hog
Best Grub: Strike King Rage Twin Tail Menace Grub
Best Tube: Berkley Powerbait Maxscent Tube
Best Trailer: Z-Man Split Tail TrailerZ
Best Lizard: Zoom Lizard
Best Straight Tail Worm: Zoom Trick Worm/Roboworm
The worm category can be divided into three main types of baits: straight tail worms, curly tail worms, and swimming worms. The gold standard in straight tail worms is the Zoom Trick Worm. This fairly plain-looking bait set the standard decades ago for a whole genre of soft plastic worms and still holds up against dozens of competitors as the best seller. The Trick Worm works great rigged weightless, as well as on a shakyhead, Texas rig, Carolina rig, or Neko rig.
The Roboworm Straight Tail Worms are another popular choice for straight tail worms. These differ greatly from traditional injection molded soft plastic worms like the Zoom Trick Worm. Using a hand-pouring method, manufacturers can create softer worms with multiple layers of color in the bait. Roboworms are made using a robotic technology that closely mimics the hand-pour method, which is where the “robo” comes from. These baits are fantastic for more finesse presentations like drop shots.
Best Soft Stick Bait: Yamamoto Senko
The Yamamoto Senko came onto the bass scene in 1996 and still sits atop the leaderboard as the best bait of its kind. The slow-falling shimmy of a Senko has caught countless bass for nearly three decades now and is still one of the best finesse baits ever made. It can be rigged in a variety of ways, but wacky rigging a senko is the most common.
Best Ned Bait: Z-Man Ned TRD
The Finesse TRD from Z-Man is hands down the best bait for a Ned rig. Z-Man’s lures are made using their patented ElaZtech—a super durable, ultra stretchy, highly buoyant material. A Ned rig is meant to be fished along the bottom, with its tail up off the bottom. The buoyancy of the Finesse TRD makes it the best bait to ever do this. Plus, Ned rigs get lots of bites. So, the durability of this lure, in particular, allows you to catch more bass on a singular bait compared to traditional soft plastic materials.
Best Curly Tail Worm: Zoom Ol' Monster
The Zoom Ole Monster has been imitated but never duplicated. There are other great ribbon tail worms on the market, but the color selection, salt content, action, and availability of the Ole Monster have made it the best bait of this type.
Best Beaver Style Bait: Missile Baits D-Bomb
Reaction Innovations introduced the Sweet Beaver in the early 2000s, and this bait changed the landscape of soft plastic lures forever. The Beaver had a unique profile at the time, mimicking a baitfish well. In the decades since, some other great baits have been birthed into this genre. Some crowd favorites are the Strike King Rage Bug, the Missile Baits D Bomb, and the Googan Baits Bandito Bug. The best, though, in my opinion, is the Missile Baits D-Bomb. I prefer this bait when punching, as it goes through the mat easier and draws more strikes whenever you have to yo-yo the bait to get bit.
Best Craw: Strike King Rage Craw
Craws comprise one of the more popular soft plastics categories. The NetBait Paca Craw was the first bait of its kind to really set the craw market on fire back in 2000. Today, the Strike King Rage Tail Craw is the top bait in this category. The designers of the Rage Craw took their stab at reinventing the wheel during Paca Craw craze, and they one-upped it. By adding flanges along the front edges of the claws, Strike King created a bait with unparalleled action and redefined what the craw genre was all about.
Best Swimming Worm: Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm
You’re probably starting to notice a trend—Zoom baits. The Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm is another staple for any angler’s tackle box, especially if you spend time fishing in Florida. Rigging a swimming worm like this, either weightless or on a light Texas rig, and then swimming it through shallow vegetation is a great way to get your arm broken down in the South.
Best Swimbait: Keitech FAT Swing Impact
Keitech is another company that set the standard in a bait category with their Swing Impact series of swimbaits. This lure pairs perfectly with a jighead to create a great mix of finesse and power for catching quality suspended fish that are often hard to hook. These baits are also the perfect size for an umbrella rig, further setting them out front of the rest of the soft plastic swimbaits.
Best Soft Jerkbait: Zoom Fluke
The invention of the Super Fluke was another home run for Zoom. This baitfish-profile lure works fantastic in a variety of ways. You can rig it weedless to throw on the surface, put it on an underspin or Scrounger for fishing beneath the surface, or even drag it along on a Carolina rig. Whatever the technique, Zoom offers the Fluke in a wide selection of colors. It measures 5 ¼ inches.
Best Minnow: Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ
Minnow-style baits look a lot like soft plastic jerkbaits, only smaller. But this genre of baits deserves to be broken out into a category all its own due to its rise in popularity over the last few years. No bait is used more in conjunction with forward-facing sonar than a jighead minnow. And none are as effective as the Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ.
Like the Finesse TRD, the Z-Man Jerk ShadZ is made using ElaZtech. The durability of these baits allows an angler to rig a single soft plastic on a jighead and catch dozens of fish rather than going through a pack or two of traditional soft plastics. Jeff Gustafson put the exclamation point on this being the best bait of its kind with his 2023 Bassmaster Classic win on the Tennessee River—won solely on this lure.
Best Toad: Zoom Horny Toad/Stanley Ribbit
These baits differ from one another enough that they both warrant mentioning as the best of the best. The Horny Toad has a faster, crisper action, whereas the Ribbit has a slower churning chug. This difference sets these two baits up as great selections from early spring all the way through the fall, with the Ribbit being the best in cooler water and the Horny Toad winning out when things warm up.
Best Creature Bait: Zoom Brush Hog
You’ll find a lot of different baits lumped under the creature bait umbrella. But the Brush Hog spawned the whole genre of look-alike lures. This bait, with appendages all over, looks exactly like nothing and a little like everything. And that makes it a fantastic bait for pitching, Texas rigging, Carolina rigging, and more.
Best Grub: Strike King Rage Twin Tail Menace Grub
Strike King Rage Twin Tail Menace Grub
There are a few different bait profiles that are considered “grubs,” and this bait category, in general, isn’t nearly as popular today as it was in decades past. However, the Strike King Rage Tail Menace Grub sets itself apart in this category. The compact size and action of the Menace Grub make it great for flipping and pitching. It also works well as a trailer with a wide range of baits.
Best Tube: Berkley Powerbait Maxscent Tube
Tubes, like grubs, aren’t nearly as popular today as they were years ago. These classic lures are still pretty popular among smallmouth anglers but are otherwise only used by the occasional old-school flipper. The Berkley Powerbait Maxscent Tube works great for both presentations, with a soft body and a strong scent.
Best Trailer: Z-Man Split Tail TrailerZ
Soft plastic trailers can be used with a wide range of skirted baits like spinnerbaits, ChatterBaits, jigs, and buzzbaits. The best trailer for a spinnerbait, though, is the Z-Man Elaztech Split Tail TrailerZ. These baits are made with ElaZtech, so I can rig one up and fish it for multiple days without worrying about adding a new trailer. The Split Tail TrailerZ also works well on ChatterBaits, as do the Z-Man MinnowZ Swimbaits—which are also made of ElaZtech and thus fantastic trailers.
Best Lizard: Zoom Lizard
The gold standard in the lizard realm of soft plastics is the Zoom Lizard. With over 50 colors and both 6-inch and 8”-inch versions, it’s hard to beat the Zoom Lizard. These baits are durable but soft. And they have a fantastic action with their four little legs kicking along and the slow-flowing ribbon tail swaying in the back. The Lizard is an excellent bait for Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, shakyheads, and more. These lures are especially effective on bass around the spawn.
What To Consider When Choosing Soft Plastic Baits
Picking out the best soft plastic baits for bass isn’t a grab-and-go proposition. As with other types of lures, you need to examine several characteristics for where, when, and how you fish. If you’re looking for a trailer or Ned rig bait, the durable Z-Man baits made with ElaZtech are fantastic. More traditional soft plastic tear easily, ends up costing more in the long run. But, when rigging a lizard or a curly tail worm weedless on Texas rig, the fact that these traditional soft plastics tear more easily is a good thing. Since the hooks can escape this material easily, your hookup ratio is better.
There are also thousands of combinations of colors, profiles, sizes, and shapes. Your best bet is to try to match the hatch, using whatever forage is local to the area to clue you in on the size, profile, and color of your bait selection. And remember, there are often times when it’s all about the action of a bait. In high-pressure situations, subtle lures like a Senko, Trick Worm, or Fluke are better. And when fish are more aggressive, you can swap over to the Rage Craw and other baits with more action.
FAQs
Q: What color plastic worm is best for bass?
If forced to pick one color, green pumpkin is the best. This is a very natural color that shows up well under the water, in both clear and muddy conditions. Watermelon red is also a great color for clear water. And black and blue baits work well in muddy or stained water.
Q: Do you need a sinker with soft plastics?
Fish can be caught on soft plastics with or without sinkers. Many soft plastic baits can be rigged weedless, like Flukes, Trick Worms, and Senkos. But these baits can also be used with weights and hooks to create rigs, like Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, and Neko rigs. Whether or not to use a sinker is situational, based primarily on how deep you want to fish and how pressured the fish are.
Q: When can’t I catch fish soft plastics?
You can always catch fish soft plastics. These baits work well during all four seasons of the year. Finesse soft plastics (like straight-tail worms on shakyheads, Ned baits on Ned rigs, and minnow-style baits on jigheads) work better from late fall through the winter and into early spring. More aggressive and bigger soft plastics become more popular when the water warms up over 60 degrees.
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