Baitfish profiles

Soft plastics shaped like a shad, shiner, perch or goby — fished swimming, darting or hovering where bass are eating fish.

Soft plastics are the biggest family in bass fishing: 36 shapes, each designed for a rig, a depth and a mood.

• Shape = design purpose: fish, worm, craw, creature, tube, frog
• Finesse tier vs power tier: the same shape at 3.5 in and 7 in is two different techniques
• Tail type decides the action; body decides the fall
• Rig it the way it was designed to be rigged

The tail is the whole story in this category. A paddle (boot) tail thumps on a straight retrieve and needs nothing from you; a fork tail has no action of its own and darts only when you twitch it; a T-tail or pintail quivers at the slightest movement and lives on finesse rigs. Realism matters more here than anywhere else, because a swimming bait is seen in profile and in motion. Size follows the forage: 2.5-3.5 in finesse minnows on spinning gear, 4-5 in on casting gear, 6-10 in when you are after one big fish.