What Is The Best Soft-Plastic Fishing Lure For Largemouth Bass?

[ChasingBass]

Hey everyone, so I need y'all's help! I'm in High School, and this semester I am taking an AP Language Arts class in which I have to write a persuasive research paper on something I'm really interested in. We have to find hard facts to back things up and also experiment with things. Naturally I wanted to do something based on fishing, and my favorite thing to fish with has always been soft-plastics. So, I'm on the hunt for the BEST soft plastic out there. I want to narrow it down to the top 3 best/most popular brands, best/most popular colors, and best/most popular styles of plastic(worm, craw, senior, ribbon-tail etc.) . After I have collected the information I will buy 3 different kind of baits in 3 different colors with 3 different styles. After that, I will fish them all on certain days for certain times over the course of the semester in different types of weather in one pond that will be my "control pond" after collecting tons of data, I can establish what the actual BEST bait is by analyzing how many fish it caught in a certain period if time, and it's durability. So what I'm asking for is for everyone to name their top 3 brands, colors, and types of soft-plastic. Thanks so much!

[roadwarrior]

GYCB Senko in your favorite color (I don't think it makes a difference).

 

GYCB Fat IKa ( again, choose your favorite color)

 

Rage Tail Cut-R (green pumpkin)

 

MegaStrike MegaTube Craw (green & orange)

[Dr. Watson]

Well, I can't speak for everyone else, but as far as soft plastics go, I catch the majority of my fish on:

 

color: junebug, green pumpkin/red flake, and watermelon/red flake

 

lure: ribbon tail worms (edit: this includes senkos), creatures, and grubs

 

brands: rage tail, Gary Yamamoto, reaction innovations, and since I can't do just three, culprit

[Jmrichardson2011]

No secret formula.

 

Hard to beat a texas rigged trick stick (brand doesn't matter in my experience - the cheaper off the wall plastics makers [home makers] I generally feel make the best baits in the coolest colors - just my prefence).

 

Second go to is a 4" tube, any of the fatter varieties. I like a mix of green & blue in my tubes.

[plumworm]

Senko in black/blue flake, pearl/silver flake, pumpkin/red flake... Zoom 7" U tail worm in plum, pumpkin, watermelon. Zoom baby brush hog in junebug, pumpkin and sour grape.

[taggart_lumpy]

i have the best luck with:

 

4" senko black w/ silver

 

5" roboworm morning dawn w/ chartreuse tail

[Fishes in trees]

This anecdotal research is all well and good, but shouldn't you make a few phone calls to large soft plastic manufacturers?  This would probably give you a more comprehensive national and regional perspective on what colors sell the most.

Just saying . . . reminds me of the old Zen Koan, where a guy rushes into a pottery shop, and inquires of the owner, "I need the best pot you got, for a present for my future father-in-law."  And the shop owner turns, waves his hand around the shop and explains, "They are all the best."   

[A-Jay]

GYCB Senko ~ Watermelon

 

Zoom Salty Super Fluke ~ White

 

SK Rage Tail Lobster ~ Green Pumpkin

 

Good Luck

 

A-Jay

[Arv]

Senko.

[Yungun234120]

Zoom super fluke- watermelon seed/red flake

Zoom speed tail- junebug/ or watermelon seed

GY senko- junebug

[michang5]

Yamamoto Senko 4" and 5"

Colors: Cinnamon with red tip, watermelon, green pumpkin, purple, watermelon/green pumpkin laminate. No real rhyme or reason on which color they like and when.

 

Zoom Finesse Worm

Color: Watermelon red flake

 

Zoom Baby Brush Hog

Color: Watermelon red flake, green pumpkin

[WRB]

Interesting study. You are going to fish a pond, how big is this pond and what are the prey types available for bass. You are going to fish all seasonal periods; cold water, pre spawn, spawn, post spawn, summer and fall.

You may want to document the surface water temperature and the water temps at the depth you catch bass.*

Get yourself a digital temperature probe to measure both the surface water and the basses internal throat temps right after you catch it.* body temp = water temp at the depth it was when caught.

Pond bass.

Slip shot rig, 1/8 oz mojo weight.

Shaky head jig, 3/16 oz

Drop shot rig, 3/16 oz.

Texas rig, 3/16 oz

Weightless rig.

Soft plastics.

Rage Tail or Yamamoto single tail grub, pearl white. Shaky Jig.

Roboworm 6" straight tail, Aaron's magic. Slip and drop shot, Shaky jig.

Rage Tail, 5 5/8" Cut-R, watermelon w/red. T-rig and slip shot.

Zoom Brush Hog, watermelon /red . T-rig, Shaky jig, weightless.

Yamamoto Senko, watermelon / red., weightless.

These give you 4 variables.

The slip shot rig is good finesse rig for ponds; Mojo. wight, Carolina keeper to hold the weight up line about 18" to 24", Owner 5100 size 1/0 works good, same hook in size 3/0 for T-rigs and weightless.

Good luck.

Tom

[nascar2428]

Weightless Texas rigged Senko. Green Pumpkin, Pumpkinseed and probably any other color they make.

[eyedabassman]

Senko.baby brush hog,brush hog,Netbait baby paca craw,robo worms. Oh almost forgot my go to big worm a Netbait C-Mac worm!

[Darren.]

1) 4" Bass Pro Stick-O in Watermelon Magic and Hot Pepper Frog (second up would be GYCB Senkos in 4").

 

2) GYCB Yamaminnows rigged wacky, mojo, split/drop, and TX in Green Pumpkin Red flake, Watermelon Red flake, and Watermelon Gold Flake

 

3) Zoom Finesse worms in Green Pumpkin + chart tip, Black, watermelon gold flake

[hoosierbass07]

  1.  Yum Yum-Dinger five inch watermelon seed.  

 

  2.  Berkiley Powerbait worm seven inch in electric grape color.  

 

  3.  Any Lizard during the spring.  

 

  You might want to get a book or two from the library or inter-library loan.  The number one plastic worm loving book is "In Pursuit of Giant Bass" by Bill Murphy.  He has a chapter on high percentage lures and puts live bait on top with plastic worms right behind and far behind - jigs, spinnerbaits and crainkbaits.  I get the impression from his book he had little use for anything but live bait and plastic worms because live bait and plastic worms work so good throughout the whole year (at least for him in California).  

[MacP]

1. Roboworm Fat in Bold Bluegill.

 

2. Zoom Baby Brush Hog in Green Pumpkin

 

3. Zoom Super Fluke in White Pearl.

[*Hootie]

There, pick your favorite 3 out of those 19 choices....lol.

Hootie

[davi754]

This anecdotal research is all well and good, but shouldn't you make a few phone calls to large soft plastic manufacturers?  This would probably give you a more comprehensive national and regional perspective on what colors sell the most.

Just saying . . . reminds me of the old Zen Koan, where a guy rushes into a pottery shop, and inquires of the owner, "I need the best pot you got, for a present for my future father-in-law."  And the shop owner turns, waves his hand around the shop and explains, "They are all the best."

Nothing gives encouragement like criticism............just saying!

Zoom pumpkin ribbon with chartreuse tail

Baby brush hog- any color

[geo g]

Day in and day out I choose these three.

 

1).  Zoom Trick Worm - watermelon red or black, You can Texas rig, put it on a light jig head, or wacky rig with a small jig head.  Works great in south Florida.

 

2). Senko type baits, BPS make a good one, at a good price - * 4 inch size*  watermelon anything, or Okeechobee color.

 

3). Gambler E-Z swimmer, or Gambler Big E-Z - Throw it out and steady reel back.  Try various speeds.

[aquaholic]

senko 

[Oscar O.]

I like the idea of calling up manufacturers to see what their most popular styles and colors are in terms of sales, that may be one of the closest indicators of what's "best."

 

One other thing I wanted to note was that, since it is a persuasive essay, don't forget to explain why your control pond is ideal to be a control pond in order to determine the best soft plastic. The best persuasive essays consider and shut down counterarguments and considering this topic, I think one big one to address will have to be the the external validity of the experiment that you're conducting on your own since you are restricted to one body of water, in a particular region, with its own combination of life in it, ... etc etc.

 

Unless your teacher for the course is also an avid angler with a good understanding of the sport, you shouldn't have too much of a problem with this area. I also took AP English in high school and wrote an article on catch and release that ended up in the local paper. Writing about something you really enjoy and care about makes writing more enjoyable for both you and the reader because your passion will show through your work! Good luck and have fun with it!

[Avaitor63]

The Rage Rig with a 4/0 1/4oz verticle drop weighted hook and Rage craw, Falcon Lake,Candy and Green Pumpkin.As the lure drops vertically the claws flutter fast and thats what attracts the big ones.So go out there and catch those lunkers

[Chris186]

My three would be:

 

         1.Zoom Baby Brush Hog- Watermelon/Red Flake, Watermelonseed

         2. Zoom Dead Ringer 4"- Red/Black core

         3. My own hand poured 6" curly tail worm- Black

[CPBassFishing]

There really is no single best lure, but if it came down to only using one thing it would have to be a 5" senko. I hate using them because its so easy to fish them but they flat-out catch fish any way you rig them.