soft plastic troubles,

[swampz]

alright for some reason i cant catch any thing on any kind off soft plastic bait, i throw lizards,worms,flukes,tubes, texas rigged, weight less,drop shot,carolina rig, you name it yet i seem to only catch bass on spinnerbaits, and ratl traps, does anybody have any tips for me to do different, i know im limiting my bass catching ability by not being good with soft plastics.

[.dsaavedra.]

well i say dont over think and over stress yourself, just do what works. sometimes fish just plain dont want plastics. stick with what works and enjoy catching fish!

just keep throwing plastics (and try some senko style baits). eventually you will find a plastic bite and gain some confidence.

[bkoguy07]

Texas rigged 7.5 inch culprit ribbon tail tequila shad worm, just drag it real slow or hop it real slow, you should catch some.  Also, senko/senko style work great too.

[Gatorbassman]

A few questions.

What is the color and clarity of your water?

What kind of cover is in it? (grass, brush, timber, rocks, ect.)

What kind of structure are you fishing? (ledge, hump, point, ect)

What color plastics are you using?

[swampz]

the color of the water is real stained, the cover is rocks, structure is submurged bridges in 20-35ft, im using everything from pumpkin seed, white with pepper flake, basically roygbiv

[Gatorbassman]

Those colors are great for clear water but it sounds like the problem is that the bass can't see or feel your bait due to the heavy stain on the water. This is why the vibrating baits work so much better. I would recomend a few things. Try three different colors. Red Shad, Junebug, and Black. Now get a big worm with a tail that gives off vibration. I use Zoom worms most of the time so the list will give you the idea. I would use something like (Ol' Monster, Mag 11, G-Tail, or my personal favorite the Speed worm.)

Now Texas rig the worm with a 1/4oz bullet sinker and put a glass bead between the sinker and the hook. This will give you added sound to get the fish's attention.

Try it and let us know how things turn out.

[CookieMonst3r]

If you aren't having luck catching anything try a grub, the colors I would use for those conditions are red/white or Junebug. Bass and Crappie can't resist (If there are Crappie). Also try a 3/16 or 1/4 oz. Bullet weight to allow it to slowly sink.

[Avalonjohn44]

I don't know the specifics, but I would try lighter line, slowing down, and then slowing down some more.  If you are used to spinnerbaits and traps, then you might be fishing too fast.  

Pitch that worm into thick muck and sticks, and grass that you would never dream of tossing a ratt'l trap into...

[Catt]

The biggest mistake I see rookies make with plastics is the fish to fast; this aint NASCAR & you aint KVD so slow down  

[rondef]

I would try using a swim senko with a screw-in bullet weight on it.  The tail end of the swim senko gives off some vibration in the water.

[broncoboxer]

I'm still fairly inexperienced with fishing soft plastics.  However, I've recently had some success fishing Zoom Super Flukes weightless with a 3/0 or 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook.

You can fish these baits fairly quickly with a pause, twitch, twitch, pause retrieve.  And since you can rig them weedless, you can work them through grass and other areas where a Rat-L-Trap or Spinnerbait might get snagged.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

slow down  

BINGO

When you think that you've slowed down enough,....slow down a whole bunch more.  You want to keep the bait in the strike zone and as far from you as possible,...for AS LONG as possible.  This means just "shaking" the bait in place instead of reeling and pumping and bouncing.

Shake shake, jiggle, jiggle....wait.......wait......wait......wait some more......more.....more..... more,.......mooooore.....wait, .....wait...  shake......wait......wait.....

Even try just leaving it there,......you'll be surprised.