Like the traditional sickletail grub, the skirted doubletail or spider grub has been around awhile. Still, the lure’s popularity continues to grow. The bait first peaked in bass fisheries dominated by rocky environments. Now, anglers across the country have found the skirted spider grub productive when largemouths are reluctant to strike standard jigs. Spiders also make a fine trailer on a flippin’ jig. And the popular football head matches a spider grub like hand in glove.
Drop-Shot Baits
You don’t need a crystal ball to predict the boom in drop-shot presentations, leading to plastics specifically made for this rig. Many plastic baits in the drop-shot category are versions of western-style worms including reaper, leech, doodle, and zipper-style worms. Berkley’s new entries in the drop-shot line verify the strength of this trend.
Drop-shot fishing is finesseful. Hence drop-shot baits are small and slender, often amenable to a #1 offset-shank worm hook or a smaller bait-holder hook impaled through the head like a real minnow. The new baits are supple and scented, rendering a lifelike wiggle by shaking the rod tip.
Oddballs
The final group of trendy soft plastics can only be classified as oddballs. This group includes the new baits designed to compete with Zoom’s Brush Hog. Like Zoom’s popular product, the new baits (Berkley Power Hawg, Gambler Bacon Rind, Mister Twister B-A Hawg, Bass Pro Stump Hog, Riverside Wooly Hawg) have multiple appendages and produce vibration and action when falling or when pulled through the water.
The bait’s bulky profile and action make it a perfect lure for flipping along the edges of cover, such as a grassline or reedbed. And because the bulky baits push so much water, they’re ideal for muddy water or at night. Texas-rig the lures or fish them on a Carolina rig. Breaking all molds is the new Pop’n Worm from Indian Lure Company. The cupped body on this floating worm creates a splash as it’s twitched.
Swim Baits
Here’s a hot western bait that hasn’t yet found its way much east of East Texas. Perhaps that’s because swim baits are massive plastic fishes intended for giant largemouths. Early swim baits like the Fish Trap were hand-poured shad bodies with a wiggling tail. They were impaled on a fish-shape jighead. The latest baits, like the Optimum and Basstrix have an interior weight for a level swimming action. Anglers fish these hand-poured lifelike baits with a steady retrieve to imitate a trout or other potential prey.
A separate category of swim baits has a segmented body, interior weighting, and a crankbait-style lip to create a wiggle. Possum Lures offers models in perch and bluegill shapes. Castaic Soft Baits blazed this trail with their bluegill and rainbow trout baits, recently adding baby crappie and bluegill, and a crawfish.
It’s crazy to think an angler can use or even carry every irresistible new plastic bait. To decide which baits to carry, assess your angling preferences and style. Then match an appropriate soft plastic bait, whether new and trendy or an old standby, to that application.
*Paul Cañada is an outdoor writer from Irving, Texas.
