Soft Swim Baits 2024
Dockhead reply :
Looking for some guidance as I get into swim baits. I'm looking to start throwing the soft kind (but not the hollow ones. I already dabble in that arena).
Can I get some suggestions for central Fl.? Looking for specific baits (feel free to throw in size and color as well if you fish central fl. waters...
)
Probably only gonna throw baits under 3 ounces, and in reality probably two and under.
Thanks for any and all help.
via reply :
you can try the 6in huddleston or the 68 special huddleston. heard these work the best. you could also try mattlures tournament series.
FishinDaddy reply :
https://www.bittersbaitandtackle.com/naked-swimmer.html
All you need. T-rig on a 3/0 EWG either weightless or with a 1/8 pegged bullet.
Watermellon shad is my favorite.
Oh, and hang on, they don't nibble on this bait.
Primus reply :
I've done well with the 7" Rago BVD in a Light Hitch color and I also like the Real Prey Alewife.
MuffinMan reply :
Zoom Swimmin' Super Fluke in Houdini Shad, I live and fish here too.
Crestliner2008 reply :
I've been using Reaction Innovations "Skinny Dipper". I screw it onto a light 1/8 oz. weighted swimbait hook and it does just fine! Just use a light wire leader if there are any toothy critters in the waters you fish. They love this bait!
I tried the Lake Fork "Live Magic Shad", but I just can't turn a fish with it, for whatever reason? Great looking bait in the water too. But, you have to be careful you don't cast it too hard. Last two I used I cast the tails off!
Bass_Fanatic reply :
I've pretty much used em all. I favor the Rago Robo Mini BV3D Inline Swimbait. Its the same bait Brian Velvick won with on Clear Lake. Its awesome. The fish just inhale that thing and the hook up ratio is really good. For a smaller profile I like the RI Skinny Dipper and LFT Live Magic Shad.
Bluebasser86 reply :
6" Huddleston Deluxe or Matt's U2 bluegill
deep reply :
On 9/22/2011 at 7:59 AM, FishinDaddy said:https://www.bittersbaitandtackle.com/naked-swimmer.html
All you need. T-rig on a 3/0 EWG either weightless or with a 1/8 pegged bullet.
Watermellon shad is my favorite.
Oh, and hang on, they don't nibble on this bait.
At least they could have come up with a more original name lol.
OP, 6" hudds, hudd 68s, weedless hudds, 6" baitsmiths, 6" and 7" Osprey Talons, matt's bluegills and tournament series baits, 316 mission fish and K-9 are some of my favorites, and they all work great. Take your pick. Matt's baits, especially, have a lot of profiles and colors for you to choose from and match the forage.
Bassn Blvd reply :
Get the Lake Fork Magic Shad. I buy them by the dozen. Excellent bait that catches big fish.
gobig reply :
QuoteOP, 6" hudds, hudd 68s, weedless hudds, 6" baitsmiths, 6" and 7" Osprey Talons, matt's bluegills and tournament series baits, 316 mission fish and K-9 are some of my favorites, and they all work great. Take your pick. Matt's baits, especially, have a lot of profiles and colors for you to choose from and match the forage.
I have never thrown the Rago BVD so I cant really comment on it. But one that I would have to add to this list is the Little Creeper Trash Fish. It is a very versatile bait along with the mission fish, but you can't go wrong with any bait listed here.
Dockhead reply :
Thanks everybody.
tennsopher reply :
Try the 6inch weedless Huddleston deluxe in gold shiner.You can throw this bait in the thick stuff; and being from down here,you know how good wild shiners are.Tennsopher
Flangler reply :
Swim Senko. Rig it however you want. Costly yes, it's a Senko, but they catch fish! Any shade of green, watermelon and black have worked great for me.
NateFollmer reply :
I love the shadalicious swimbaits, 4.5 or 6 inch.
If I need to go small... REAL small, Tabu Tackle makes a neat bait called the Tiny Tim. It has a hole behind the head, you thread your hook through, then clamp a split shot inside that hole onto the hook shank. That thing is ALL tail and is like M&M's to bass... They will never resist it, you pick up some small guys with it, but it almost always catches the big ones too, especially when the water gets colder.
bocabasser reply :
in florida, you do not need those big expensive swimbaits. yes they work, and they will catch hogs, but skinny dippers and big ez's are the best swimbaits for florida. all of the others mentioned are good, but the dipper and ez's are inexpensive and highly effective. i have a couple of matt's lures and i have caught fish with them, but it sure does suck when you catch a 3 pounder and it destroys the bait that costs $25. jmo
FishinDaddy reply :
On 9/29/2011 at 2:20 AM, bocabasser said:in florida, you do not need those big expensive swimbaits. yes they work, and they will catch hogs, but skinny dippers and big ez's are the best swimbaits for florida. all of the others mentioned are good, but the dipper and ez's are inexpensive and highly effective. i have a couple of matt's lures and i have caught fish with them, but it sure does suck when you catch a 3 pounder and it destroys the bait that costs $25. jmo
Hey, that's what I said. Except you used words and stuff and actually made reasonable arguments for.
Good job there professor Bruce. 
gobig reply :
No doubt the ez and skinny dipper do catch fish. But there is a lot more to just chucking and winding when swimbaiting. Things like the speed at which a bait performs, its rate of fall, the way it falls, profile and water displacement are just a few things that scratch at the surface of the swimbait world.
pussiwillow reply :
banjo minnow 
North Ga Hillbilly reply :
On 10/4/2011 at 1:01 PM, pussiwillow said:banjo minnow
NGaHB
deep reply :
On 9/30/2011 at 5:37 AM, gobig said:No doubt the ez and skinny dipper do catch fish. But there is a lot more to just chucking and winding when swimbaiting. Things like the speed at which a bait performs, its rate of fall, the way it falls, profile and water displacement are just a few things that scratch at the surface of the swimbait world.
X2
Those paddletails can catch big fish, as can spinnerbaits and cranks. I wonder, though, how many true trophies those baits have produced, compared to real swimbaits, big worms, jigs, and live bait. I like to believe that a true trophy fish (size of trophy fish changes not only from state to state, but probably from lake to lake) is intently tuned to its environment. It not going to bite your lure simply because it's in front of her. All artificial lures give off negative cues; well, because it's "artificial". Some more, some less. Our task, as trophy anglers, would be to minimize the "negative cues", by shutting off the trolling motor, making less noise, etc, and of course, by using more realistic lures. Using the right "tool" (the right bait) is only part of the puzzle of catching a true trophy fish, of course. We can throw traditional lures all day, and catch a mess of "good" bass, or spend all day in one spot, with the right lure - like Bill Murphy did - waiting for the trophy fish to feed.
P.S. JM $0.02. Not trying to step on any toes.
RoLo reply :
For use in central Florida, the 'soft' paddletail minnow will rival any lure.
We've fished both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ swimbaits, but our best success has been with "soft” swimbaits.
The reason is obvious, soft swimbaits are 'weedless' and can be fished smack in the best cover.
They're also cheaper than hard swimbaits, which is a welcome bonus.
For my own curiosity, I rated a small cross-section of different paddletail brands, based on
the 3 paddletail properties I feel are most important: Low-Speed Action - Tail Vibration - Body Stability
Low-Speed Action
Low-speed action is arguably the most important property, because slow-rolling and swimbaits go hand-in-hand.
The best paddletails remain active to a virtual standstill, and IMO those with tail lobes
that stall-out at low speeds belong in the dumpster
Tail Vibration
Generally speaking, the greater the area of the tail-lobe the greater the throb and vibration.
Thump and vibes are very important even in clear water,
because underwater visibility is sharply reduced in dense vegetation.
Body Stability
Although tail-action is desirable, body-action is not. Excessive body action might appeal to the angler,
but looks unnatural to the predator. The bugbear of the soft paddletail is "lateral instability", better known
as "Tail-Wagging-The-Dog". .Axial rotation is also unnatural, but is not as noticeable as sideward wagging.
In the shootout below, the 3 lure properties above are rated from 1 to 4:
4 = Excellent (12 = Perfect Total Score)
3 = Good
2 = Fair
1 = Poor
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.............................................SWIM MINNOW SHOOTOUT
BIG EZ (Gambler)
Low-Speed Action..........4........Excellent.....(Tail-action persists to a virtual standstill)
Tail Vibration..............,....4........Excellent.....(Very large tail lobe)
Body Stability..................4........Excellent.....(Stability is further enhanced by flank-rigging)
TOTAL SCORE............12
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SKINNY DIPPER (Reaction Innovations)
Low-Speed Action.........4........Excellent.....(Tail-action persists to near standstill)
Tail Vibration..................3........Good..........(Medium-sized tail-lobe)
Body Stability.................4........Excellent....(Some axial rotation)
TOTAL SCORE............11
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPLIT-BELLY SWIMBAIT (Berkley)
Low-Speed Action.........3........Good............(Tail quits a tad before standstill)
Tail Vibration..................4........Excellent......(Big vibes)
Body Stability.................3........Good............(Noticeable lateral shimmy)
TOTAL SCORE............10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PADDLETAIL SWIMBAIT (Basstrix)
Low-Speed Action..........2........Fair..............(Tail-action fizzle is the downfall of the Basstrix)
Tail Vibration..................4........Excellent......(Big vibes)
Body Stability..................4........Excellent......(Debatably the most stable soft paddletail minnow)
TOTAL SCORE............10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOLLOW-BELLY SWIMBAIT (Berkley)
Low-Speed Action..........2........Fair..............(Tail quits too soon)
Tail Vibration...................4........Excellent......(Our top producer in 2009)
Body Stability..................3........Good............(Slight 'tail-wagging-the-dog' at high speeds)
TOTAL SCORE.............9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EZ SHAD (Roboworm)
Low-Speed Action..........2........Fair..............(Tail quits too soon)
Tail Vibration...................4........Excellent......(Great throb)
Body Stability..................3........Good............(Unstable at high speeds)
TOTAL SCORE.............9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BASS MAGIC (Lucky "E" Strike)
Low-Speed Action..........2........Fair..............(Tail quits too soon)
Tail Vibration...................4........Excellent......(Big vibes)
Body Stability..................1........Poor.............(Seriously "unstable")
TOTAL SCORE.............7
Roger
EastTexasBassin reply :
Roger, what do you mean by ' flank-rigging'?
RoLo reply :
On 10/6/2011 at 9:00 AM, EastTexasBassin said:Roger, what do you mean by ' flank-rigging'?
When using the standard 'Upright' rigging or 'Inverted" rigging (180 flip)
the hook is buried in the "width" of the minnow.
However, "flank-rigging" only skewers the "thickness" of the minnow.
Even though the hook-point is completely embedded in plastic,
the extra space in the hook-gap results in a better hook-up ratio.
Flank-rigging also transfers sideways-shimmy into the vertical plane,
where it gets lost in the shuffle. In addition, I believe that the slightly different attitude
of a side-rigged minnow is something that every bass hasn't seen.
The only time I rig in the conventional manner is to extend the life of the swim minnow.
That is to say, by rotating the bait 90-degrees, you can get up to 4 riggings
Roger
Bass_Fanatic reply :
On 10/6/2011 at 2:15 PM, RoLo said:When using the standard 'Upright' rigging or 'Inverted" rigging (180 flip)
the hook is buried in the "width" of the minnow.
However, "flank-rigging" only skewers the "thickness" of the minnow.
Even though the hook-point is completely embedded in plastic,
the extra space in the hook-gap results in a better hook-up ratio.
Flank-rigging also transfers sideways-shimmy into the vertical plane,
where it gets lost in the shuffle. In addition, I believe that the slightly different attitude
of a side-rigged minnow is something that every bass hasn't seen.
The only time I rig in the conventional manner is to extend the life of the swim minnow.
That is to say, by rotating the bait 90-degrees, you can get up to 4 riggings
Roger
So your turning the bait on its side and rigging it?
zip pow reply :
River to sea 1 1/2 oz sexy shad they have lots of colors pick what you like I use them all
Hooligan reply :
On 10/6/2011 at 8:05 PM, Bass_Fanatic said:So your turning the bait on its side and rigging it?
Exactly. We started doing it for pike on big swimbaits, and noticed that we were catching more big green fish rigging them that way. Works wonders.
RoLo, the only point that I might disagree on is that the body roll, or shimmy, is un-natural. If you see injured baitfish or bluegills in the water, they will hunch up and swim with a rolling action. Unless I'm misunderstanding you, that same action is what most paddle tails will do. For that matter, those baits that we have found that have no body rocking we've caught far fewer fish on side x side comparison to those that do.
I'm not going to name the swimbait I use because it's relatively unknown and already hard to get my hands on; perfectly snobbish and self-serving, I know. That said, I really dislike most paddle tail style baits. I don't like Hollow-bellies at all, usually. They're hard to get hooks through, and they're usually multiple layer laminates that tend to get torn up relatively easy. Worthless to me when I've got to re-rig after every fish. The most readily available bait that I fish with any consistency is the Bass Pro Shops XPS bait. It's got a great action and you can easily modify it to sink at better rates. It also has a relatively strong internal harness that will last through multiple fish. The Rago Line are all great baits as are the Trash Fish. The Trash Fish aren't terribly durable but you will get multiple fish from them.
piscicidal reply :
Excellent post, Rolo!!
I agree with your rankings almost exactly. IMO, the skinny dipper/Big EZ are #1 and #1a, the nod going to either one on a particular day.
One additional comment I would make, though, is regarding the susceptibility to get weeded up. The skinny dipper has a very sleek, round nose on it. That bait slithers thru eel grass in a way that is nearly perfect in it's presentation, IMO. The Big EZ has a more blunt, squarish nose and does seem to hang up a little more often in the grass. However, I have caught some pretty big fish ripping that bait off of vegetation before, so getting hung up is not always a negative as long as you don't pick up the weed on the bait.
In general, I would say I catch more fish with the skinny dipper, but bigger fish with the EZ. When fishing eel/kissimmee grass, I usually start out with the dipper as a search bait and when I find them, change to the EZ looking for bigger fish.
Dockhead reply :
Thanks everybody. Lots of great info. as usual.
Rolo, I love it when you reply to "Florida specific" posts. Your words of wisdom are becoming gospel to me. Haven't tried anything yet that you have suggested that didn't work out.
I'm not catching the hawgs that you post, but everything works as advertised none the less. 
Still trying to get my hands on some of those Deps Deathaders, though.
Matt
CWB reply :
On 10/5/2011 at 9:18 AM, RoLo said:For use in central Florida, the 'soft' paddletail minnow will rival any lure.
We've fished both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ swimbaits, but our best success has been with "soft” swimbaits.
The reason is obvious, soft swimbaits are 'weedless' and can be fished smack in the best cover.
They're also cheaper than hard swimbaits, which is a welcome bonus.
For my own curiosity, I rated a small cross-section of different paddletail brands, based on
the 3 paddletail properties I feel are most important: Low-Speed Action - Tail Vibration - Body Stability
Low-Speed Action
Low-speed action is arguably the most important property, because slow-rolling and swimbaits go hand-in-hand.
The best paddletails remain active to a virtual standstill, and IMO those with tail lobes
that stall-out at low speeds belong in the dumpster
Tail Vibration
Generally speaking, the greater the area of the tail-lobe the greater the throb and vibration.
Thump and vibes are very important even in clear water,
because underwater visibility is sharply reduced in dense vegetation.
Body Stability
Although tail-action is desirable, body-action is not. Excessive body action might appeal to the angler,
but looks unnatural to the predator. The bugbear of the soft paddletail is "lateral instability", better known
as "Tail-Wagging-The-Dog". .Axial rotation is also unnatural, but is not as noticeable as sideward wagging.
In the shootout below, the 3 lure properties above are rated from 1 to 4:
4 = Excellent (12 = Perfect Total Score)
3 = Good
2 = Fair
1 = Poor
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
.............................................SWIM MINNOW SHOOTOUT
BIG EZ (Gambler)
Low-Speed Action..........4........Excellent.....(Tail-action persists to a virtual standstill)
Tail Vibration..............,....4........Excellent.....(Very large tail lobe)
Body Stability..................4........Excellent.....(Stability is further enhanced by flank-rigging)
TOTAL SCORE............12
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SKINNY DIPPER (Reaction Innovations)
Low-Speed Action.........4........Excellent.....(Tail-action persists to near standstill)
Tail Vibration..................3........Good..........(Medium-sized tail-lobe)
Body Stability.................4........Excellent....(Some axial rotation)
TOTAL SCORE............11
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPLIT-BELLY SWIMBAIT (Berkley)
Low-Speed Action.........3........Good............(Tail quits a tad before standstill)
Tail Vibration..................4........Excellent......(Big vibes)
Body Stability.................3........Good............(Noticeable lateral shimmy)
TOTAL SCORE............10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PADDLETAIL SWIMBAIT (Basstrix)
Low-Speed Action..........2........Fair..............(Tail-action fizzle is the downfall of the Basstrix)
Tail Vibration..................4........Excellent......(Big vibes)
Body Stability..................4........Excellent......(Debatably the most stable soft paddletail minnow)
TOTAL SCORE............10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOLLOW-BELLY SWIMBAIT (Berkley)
Low-Speed Action..........2........Fair..............(Tail quits too soon)
Tail Vibration...................4........Excellent......(Our top producer in 2009)
Body Stability..................3........Good............(Slight 'tail-wagging-the-dog' at high speeds)
TOTAL SCORE.............9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EZ SHAD (Roboworm)
Low-Speed Action..........2........Fair..............(Tail quits too soon)
Tail Vibration...................4........Excellent......(Great throb)
Body Stability..................3........Good............(Unstable at high speeds)
TOTAL SCORE.............9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BASS MAGIC (Lucky "E" Strike)
Low-Speed Action..........2........Fair..............(Tail quits too soon)
Tail Vibration...................4........Excellent......(Big vibes)
Body Stability..................1........Poor.............(Seriously "unstable")
TOTAL SCORE.............7
Roger
Roger-
Do you rig the Big-EZ and Skinny Dipper weightless and if so, do the remain upright? I'm sure the slower speed retreive will aid in this but if you speed them up, do the go off kilter?
RoLo reply :
On 10/14/2011 at 3:54 AM, CWB said:Roger-
Do you rig the Big-EZ and Skinny Dipper weightless and if so, do the remain upright? I'm sure the slower speed retreive will aid in this but if you speed them up, do the go off kilter?
Wow, this query is an antique....just found it in my unread content
CWB, I don't fish swimbaits 'unweighted' but almost always use 1/4oz weight (more, but not less).
To exploit the weedless advantage, I work them over surface vegees, and keep them coming like a Johnson spoon.
The swimbait spends half its time climbing over pads and hyacinths much like a surface lure
But the 1/4oz weight gives the lure a subsurface bias and keeps the paddletail underwater (vibes are lost in the air).
Roger
J Francho reply :
On 9/24/2011 at 10:22 AM, gobig said:one that I would have to add to this list is the Little Creeper Trash Fish.
Man, that's a good bait.
gobig reply :
It is the most versitile soft swimbait I have come accross.
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