Soft-plastic baits come in so many sizes, shapes, and colors it can boggle the mind. The shape is limited only by the imagination of the person making the mold and there seems to be no limits on the colors that can be produced. Many look like minnows or worms that fish are used to feeding on, and others look like creatures from outer space. At one time or another fish will hit them all.

Minnow Imitations

There are a lot of soft-plastic baits shaped and colored just like minnows and baitfish. They're designed to be fished weightless or on a jig head and imitate feeding or injured minnows. Some have swimming tails that twist in the water and others have straight tails that make them dart when fished weightless. Smaller sizes are good in fresh water for everything that eats minnows from bass and crappie to stripers and walleye. They can be fished at any depth with any action you want to give them.

In saltwater fishing, big soft-plastic minnows work well for a wide variety of fish. They can be trolled or jigged on the bottom on a jig head. Plastic lures made of surgical tubing with a chain in it works well when trolled for big-game fish. Minnow and baitfish imitations can be used in many applications because they will attract bites from any species that feeds on live minnows.

Worms and Lizards

In fresh water, plastic worms and lizards catch many bass every year. They're probably the most popular bait and can be fished in a lot of different ways. You can find any size you want from two-inch miniworms to giant twelve-inch lizards and eighteen-inch snakes. Some have scent and salt added to make them more attractive.

The number of colors available makes it impossible to carry them all in your boat, much less in your tackle box. Not only are there solid colors but many have metal flakes in them of varying colors, and there are also two-and three-color worms and lizards. Solid colors with a different color tail are very common.

Craws, Tubes, and Creature Baits

Soft-plastic baits shaped like crawfish are common and are used as trailers on jigs and also used on Texas and Carolina rigs. Some are very realistic looking and others look like a caricature of a real crawfish. Bass don't seem to mind if they're not perfect. Crawfish imitations work well for bass because the real thing is one of their favorite foods. Tube baits are hollow tube-shaped plastic baits with tentacles on them. When fished on a jig head inside the tube they fall with a spiraling motion. Hopped or crawled along the bottom they look like feeding minnows or crawfish. Small two-to four-inch tube baits are usually fished on light line in clear water, but giant tubes up to eight inches work well for bass when flipped around shoreline cover.

Creature baits have been very popular for bass fishing and they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Some look like lizards with wings and extra legs. Some look like nothing ever alive. All create motion in the water and must look like food to bass because they're very effective baits when fished on Texas and Carolina rigs.