During a recent deep dive into the world of bass fishing gear, I found some truly unusual bait out there. Some represent a new bait category; others are just their own thing entirely.
I thought it would be interesting to order a few of those oddball baits so I could try them out on the water and report back what I found out.
Here is what’s new with some of the more unusual soft plastic creature baits that got my attention.
Big Bite Baits Best Skipper Ever
The Best Skipper Ever is an odd little critter that’s basically just a chunk of soft plastic better resembling an alien golf ball than bass fishing bait. But it definitely skips as good as, if not better than, anything else I’ve fished with.
In some ways, it’s like the Deps Cover Scat. But given its more condensed body, it’s unique: just a soft plastic rock poised to skip across the water. It doesn’t sink like a rock, though, and actually has a slow fall to it.
I tested this one with a basic wacky hook run through it. But I think it would do really well on a weedless wacky hook, or even a regular jighead with a weedguard instead of a skirt.
Chasebaits Flip Flop
At first glance, the Flip Flop looks like a good bait gone bad. This otherwise normal-looking Beaver-style bait has thin, wavy flanges along the sides that look more like scrap material than an intentional design element.
But take a closer look. This lasagna-looking side section adds quite a bit of flare to the bait: The idea is that the bait will glide and ripple as it does. I tested this bait out on a Jika rig so I can’t testify to that part of it, but I will say it looked good in the water on that rig.
Deps BM-Hog Creature Bait
The BM-Hog is another odd-looking bait, with arms that appear to be attached to the body upside down. But when I rigged this one up—using the end without the antenna as the head—and tossed it into the water, I found it has phenomenal action. The backwards claws move a lot of water and have sort of a circular action at the tips.
But be careful setting the hook with this one, on account of the wide flailing claws. I had a fish bite this bait, and gave it three extra seconds before setting the hook, since there was a good chance the fish could have just the claw. When I did set the hook, I thought I had a giant—but as the fish neared the surface, I realized I had hooked it in the top of the head and was pulling it in sideways. The bass had, in fact, only had the claw in its mouth, and the hook just happened to snag the fish on the top of its head as I set the hook.
Berkley PowerBait Maxscent Flux Gill Creature Bait
Putting a spin on a new profile made famous by the Geecrack Bellows Gill, Berkley has brought their own take to the table with the Flux Gill. Other than the overall profile, it’s a creation all its own: Using their honeycomb technology centered around a spine for rigging, Berkley built a pretty cool bait here that’s different, for sure.
After watching a video of pro angler John Cox fishing the Flux Gill on a buzzbait, I decided to try it that way, too. I immediately caught a few fish, a couple of which really ate it. But the plastics didn’t hold up very well on the buzzbait, and I had to put a new bait on after a couple catches each time.
Z-Man Fuzzy TRD
The Fuzzy TRD is one of the latest baits to come out in the “fuzzy dice” space. I have tried a few of these dice-style baits but haven’t been all that impressed. I lost a lot of the smaller baits like this, either to fish or just while casting. However, this Ned-size Fuzzy TRD is pretty sweet.
The bait is made of ElaZtech, so it holds up really well and lasts a long time. And the bait being a little bigger than the dice also means you can rig it several ways. My favorite is on the Jika rig, but this one will also work great on a Ned rig, Tokyo rig, drop shot, Carolina rig and Texas rig. This is actually my favorite of the soft plastic creature baits’ new era.
