Ultralight fishing with soft plastics is one of my favorite methods for catching a lot of largemouth bass, as well as larger fish in a wide variety of other species such as Crappie, Bluegill, Shellcrackers, and even Catfish. To switch out baits when you’re fishing with soft plastics, all you have to do is remove the bait that’s already hooked up, and swap it out for a new color or style, and you’re back to fishing within 30 seconds. Other types of baits require you to cut the line and retie if you want to change colors, or lure styles for a slightly different presentation. Listed below are 5 of my favorite soft plastics for ultralight fishing.
Zoom Super Fluke Jr.
When the fish are in an active mood, I will usually reach for a Zoom Super Fluke Jr. Rigging this soft plastic weightless is one of the best ways to give it a lifelike action. If it is windy when you’re fishing you can attach a small split shot directly in front of the bait to get it further out, and help give it a more aggressive action coming through the water. My favorite colors are black, Shad, and Green Pumpkin, depending on what forage species are in the waters you’re on.
3″ Yamamoto Senkos
The Yamamoto Senkos quickly made a name for themselves in the professional tournament circuit because of the much larger average fish size that they accounted for. The same thing holds true with the smaller 3″ versions. The baits are incredibly lightweight, and slightly under 3″ which makes them a perfect fit on a 1/0 wide gap hook tied to ultralight fishing line. You can cast the bait out, and if something doesn’t hit it on the fall, you can shimmy it a few times and allow it to sit. The fish will usually grab it after it gets done shaking and begins wiggling its way back onto the bottom.
Zoom 4″ Finesse Worms
Soft plastic worms were one of the original artificial baits used by anglers. To this day they still account for more fish than practically any other type of lure, soft or hard. When I have a 1/0 wide gap hook tied on, I love using Zoom’s 4″ plastic Finesse Worms. They feature the same action as the larger trick worms, which means you can work them back to you weightless, just under the surface, or with a small split shot in front of them, bouncing along the bottom, banging into light cover.
Berkley Gulp 1.5″ Grubs
If the fish are in a passive, or neutral mood, usually from a cold front passing through, I’ll go to a much smaller profile Berkley Gulp 1.5″ swimming or jigging grub. When you hook the grub onto a 1/8 or 1/16 ounce jighead and bounce them along the bottom, the smaller design helps to entice fish into biting that normally wouldn’t hit other, larger lures. The slim profile helps them cast for incredibly long distances, and I believe that the extra Gulp “sauce” helps the light lipped fish hold onto them, giving you time to sweep the hookset.
Zoom 4″ Lizards
During the spring time I reach for Zoom’s 4″ lizards if I know that the largemouth bass are spawning in the waters I’m on. These little lizards can take some incredibly huge fish, as long as you are patient, and are able to focus 100% of your efforts on watching the line for small movements. Small lizards are one of the biggest predators of largemouth bass eggs after they have spawned, which makes these an excellent bait to use to entice strikes when other baits won’t accomplish it. When you are fishing the lizards in this fashion, though, you usually will not get the fish to bite, but rather they will suck the lure into their mouth and move it away from the bed of eggs. That means you have to be quick on your toes if you want to get a solid hookset.
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