2008 has been a great year for new soft plastics for bass fisherman. It seems that every where we turn or search, there is a new soft plastic bait for bass that gets our attention. So many baits to choose from and so little time to use them, which do we try?

With the selection of so many soft plastics on the market these days, it pays to find a few companies with products we can each depend on. I have found that I only need a few different products to catch fish on a semi-regular basis even though, the “baitmonkey” is always lurking on my shoulder waiting for something new to appear. I took a little time to reflect on this past year and put together a list of the soft plastics I used this year for LM & SM Bass that really hit the spot, caught plenty of fish and basically did what they are supposed to do, CATCH FISH! The products listed below are in no particular order; each of them works equally well under advertised applications and deserve consideration in my list. When I head out fishing; you will always find a selection of the baits below in my back pack.

Case Plastics: www.caseplastics.com

• Case Plastics has an amazing amount of soft plastic baits to choose from that are affordable, durable and catch both smallmouth and largemouth bass. The Case Magic Stick, Jacks Worm & my wife’s favorite the Hellgrammite have landed more than their share of fish this year. Each of these baits will land LM and SM bass on a regular basis and save you plenty of funds for your next outing with the baitmonkey. I never leave home without my supply of Case Plastics.

Picture Description: Jacks Worm on a jig head – wacky rigged Magic Stick – Case Hellgrammite on a Parasite Stand-Up Jig

JDC Baits: www.jdcbaits.com

• JDC Baits offers bass anglers a great selection of affordable and durable soft plastics also.  The JDC line up of soft plastics are very unique in that most will only be found under the JDC name. The RockCraw is one of the most realistic craws on the market for bass and responsible for most of my early season LM Bass. It is available in multiple sizes, casts like a bullet and flat-out catches fish. JDC Baits “Creek Chub” is a simple bait that worked extremely well for me this season for smallmouth when rigged on a jig head. This same bait will make a great drop shot bait for those that like drop shotting. JDC’s most recent release is the BLR Bomber; a 10″ soft plastic “senko” type bait which I just love throwing. The BLR Bomber landed my new personal best LM bass this season and always seems to get a bigger bass in my hands. Let us not forget the JDC Skip n Pop, the only soft plastic topwater popper that I know of. The ability to fish a T/Rigged popper through pads without hanging up with a load of treble hooks is something many of us are just not accustomed too, and it’s great! Each of these baits landed plenty of fish this season and have become a staple in my ever growing selection of soft plastic tackle. I never leave home without a selection of these JDC Baits products.

Picture Description: Creek Chub on a Parasite Stand-Up Jig – Texas rigged Skip n Pop – Rock Craw rigged on a Title Shot jig head

Rage Tail Baits: www.ragetail.com

• What more can I say, this company took me buy surprise! Every one of their patented Rage Tail baits are unique and has landed loads of fish for my wife and I. The patented tail design has a way about it that just plain works and works well. The rage shad, rage toad, rage craw and rage chunk were my first exploration with this companies baits and each falls into the “amazing” category for me. The Rage Tail line of soft plastics have re-defined action, vibration and the movement with each of their soft plastic baits. The topwater fun to be had with the rage tail shad and toad can’t be duplicated and far exceeds my origianl expectations. The rage chunk is a great jig trailer and also makes a great finesse bait when rigged on a jighead while the craw steps it up on a T/rig. With the recent release of the all new Rage Tail Anaconda (7″ & 10″ worm), Rage Lobster (6″ craw), Rage Lizard and the Rage Spacemonkey (creature bait), the ragetail lineup of baits almost seems complete. We have been lucky enough to aquire many of these new baits and have great luck with them over the last couple months. Rage Tail baits are a steady producer and will always have a place in my pack on every outing to fish.

Picture Description: (Above) Rage Tail Shad, Rage Craw, Rage Chunk & Rage Toad
(Below) Rage Tail Anaconda, Rage Lizard, Rage Lobster & Rage Tail Spacemonkey

Reaction Strike Swimbaits: www.reactionstrike.com

• I had to jump on this band wagon this year and see what the swimbait craze is all about. Finding a paddletail swimbait these days isn’t very hard. Finding just the right swimbait in the size and color your after is a different story. A friend suggested Reaction Strike swimbaits to me and let me tell you, they have just what I was looking for. Reaction Strike has plenty of colors and sizes to suit all the paddletail applications I have considered. This is still a new area of soft plastic exploration for me but, if you look in my bag, you will find a decent selection of these baits for when the need arises.

Picture Description: The Fathead, Jr. shown in 3″, 3.5″, 4″…. also available in 5″, 6″ and 8″ lengths

I hope you enjoyed my list of proven soft plastic baits. Feel free to comment or add a few of your new favorite soft plastic baits used this past year. You can add a comment below or visit the forum to dicuss it more here: Top Soft Plastic Tackle 2008

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Until more recently, “Fizzing” was about the only way to help the fish and give it a chance of survival. This consists or using a needle to puncture the fish’s air bladder, releasing that excess air. While this may seem like an easy answer for most, the idea of sticking a fish with a needle has its drawbacks. Without proper knowledge of the procedure; you stand to puncture a vital organ, spread disease or just create another problem. Read more about “Fizzing here: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/columns/story?page=b_col_bt_1106_fizzing_procedure

A few months ago, The Flip Clip was introduced to the angling market. Finally, an easy alterative to fizzing a fish that is much faster and much easier for the average angler. The Flip Clip is something an angler can attach to a fish in distress before adding it to their live well.

What it does: The Flip Clip attaches to the anal fin of the fish forcing the fish to remain in a swimming position and below water level where it can breathe. This also allows the fish a chance to re-acclimate to the pressure and disperse that extra air on its own while in your live well. This is a huge break through for the tournament angler and is clearly the fastest answer to the problem of fizzing. You can read more about this product at: http://www.flipclipfishing.com

If you’re an angler that fishes deep water and runs into the need to fizz a fish, this product is something you should see.

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You can read more about the contest here and see pictures of the participants catches here.
http://theanglingcenter.com/index.php/board,79.0.html

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One of my favorite fishing lures is the senko or, I should say senko type bait. The baits I buy are not Gary Yamamoto and you won’t find them at Bass Pro Shop either. I fish a selection of Case Plastics Magic Sticks and more recently have been introduced to another company called Alluring Baits while on a guide trip for smallmouth bass. Alluring Baits has a version of the senko called the Salty Trick Stick which also works great, is more durable and much friendlier to your wallet than a package of Yamamoto Senkos.

Surfing the internet for information about bass fishing, bass lures and senkos to be more specific, you will see all kinds of debates about senkos, brands, which is better, fall rate and so on. It’s all a fishing game imo, every angler has their opinion and many of them love to express it. I’m willing to bet that the highest percentage of bass fisherman will say a Yamamoto senko is best, why, because everyone and their brother tells them that and some high paid professional gets paid to say it too. As an everyday angler, I beg to differ, I used Yamamoto at one time and yes they caught fish but, they don’t even begin to hold up, good for one fish if you’re lucky. I got tired of changing my senko after a fish hit my senko, by the time the day was done; I could have easily used 3 or 4 bags of Yamamoto senkos at what, $6.00 per bag. That’s $18.00 – $24.00 bucks for changing baits all day when I could have used half the amount of baits from a competitors brand like Case Plastics or Alluring Baits, caught just as many fish, and they are a whole lot cheaper to begin with. What would you rather have; 40 4″ Yamamoto senkos for $24.00 or 150 4″ Salty Trick Sticks for $24.00? This is a no-brainer folks, we are talking about a huge savings and your fishing can be just as productive, despite what your pro-bass buddy tells you. Fact is, if any of those above anglers spent as much time throwing a competitive brand, they could have confidence in other brands also. Don’t get hung up of what everyone thinks, try things for your self and see. Fishing will be allot more fun when it costs you half as much on tackle for the day on the water. If you really want to add to the savings, use the Parasite Clip while T/rigging a senko and never stop to fix that bait again. That package of Parasite Clips will actually make you money when each bag of senko baits lasts 3 times as long.

When selecting fishing a senko, there are a few things to consider, color, size, and fall rate, this is another part of the fishing games anglers play. Yes, they each matter but, if you concentrate on color first, the rest can easily be handled without having to use a Yamamoto senko. For instance: The hook brand, the hook size, even the wire size and riging methods like wacky rigging can all contribute or be substituted to change the fall rate and action of a senko. For those that have a swimming pool, you have the perfect place to play around and see just exactly what happens with different hooks and rigging methods. Once you know what that bait is going to do in the water, you can better adapt to the conditions and make adjustments while on the water. Fishing a senko can be loads of fun and doesn’t have to cost allot.

Easy Reference Links:

• http://www.alluringbaits.com/index.php
• http://caseplastics.com
• http://www.parasiteweights.com/index.html

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Equiped with our usual selection of soft-plastics, we started along the creek looking for what may be some good smallie water. We weren’t far from the river, they have to be here somewhere I thought. The water was high and fast with a decent stain from the recent rain that fell in our area but, we are here and we need to at least try.

I began with a tube fighting the current looking for any pocket that may hold a smallie or two. Needless to say, either I was not finding the right pockets, or the fish just were not hungry for my offering. I tried a few different plastics and even threw some hair jigs for awhile, just no luck on the end of my rod that day.

Meanwhile, in the same deeper section I started in, my wife is throwing her usual Case Magic Stik on a lead head. I can’t explain it but, she has the knack for finding fish. She didn’t catch a smallmouth but instead, manages to land a Brown Trout about 19″, on a Magic Stik no less. This is her first ever Trout and she lips it!

I have a confession to make: I am not what you call a trout angler, I do go once in awhile for some fun with a spinner, and have never tried to lip one, I just grab the fiesty trout. Aparently, trout have teeth and I find this out as she is yelling at me, “THIS HAS TEETH, HURRY UP WITH THAT PICTURE” and I struggle to get just one more picture of such a fine fish before her thumb is too torn up.

It wasn’t a day full of smallmouth action but, it sure was nice to see her catch and lip her first ever trout, and a nice brown on a bass bait, has to be a first for me to witness and another great memory.

If your getting a bad case of cabin fever, take some time and explore some moving water, you may find something you haven’t found or caught before.

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