Chunk & dice baits

Baits that imitate nothing — a cube, a stub, a ribbed cylinder — and work on profile, scent and stillness alone; the abstract end of finesse.

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

Every other category is shaped like something. These are shaped like a mouthful. No tail, no legs, no action: the fish eats it because it is small, sits still, smells right and is in front of its face. They exploded with forward-facing sonar, where you can watch a fish refuse everything with action and then eat a piece of plastic that does nothing. Rigged on tiny hooks — drop shot, Ned head, light Texas, weightless — and fished slower than anything else in the box.