A Lure For All Occasions
When is the best time to have a hard bait on the end of your line? What about a soft bait?
The sections below attempt to answer these two questions by listing the main advantages of hard lures and soft plastics. Along with this, examples are provided when a hard bait may be a better choice than a soft bait, and vice versa.
HARD BAIT ADVANTAGES
Distinct Actions:
Many hard baits produce erratic actions, such as a PXR Jowler splash-walking across the surface, or a ScatterRap Tail Dancer darting off-centre and then swimming back again. The benefit of these evasive moves is they appeal to aggressive fish, but will also elicit reaction strikes from inactive ones.
Also worth mentioning is Rapala hard baits embody the classic Rapala “wounded-minnow” wobble, a distinct action fish find irresistible.
Fast Retrieves:
On fast retrieves, crankbaits and jerkbaits allow anglers to quickly cover water and elicit strikes from active to inactive fish, as noted above. Rugged, durable construction also ensures Rapala’s hard baits can handle the rough treatment common with power-fishing tactics.
Hard baits aren’t just for speedy searching, though. For instance, a slow retrieve with a Husky Jerk or Shad Rap is a great way to catch walleye and pike in spring and fall.
Horizontal Winners:
When trying to figure out what fish prefer on a given day, it’s important to determine whether they’re most interested in a horizontal or vertical presentation. Hard baits generally excel at the former, while soft plastics are usually better at the latter.
A notable exception to this rule is the potency of jigging retrieve with a Rippin’ Rap lipless crankbait in open water or on the ice.
Great For Stained And Muddy Water:
Fish easily detect vibrations from a hard bait swimming, as well as rattles if present, through their acoustic senses. This makes noisy crankbaits particularly effective at catching fish in stained or muddy water conditions.
Awesome In Open Water:
Rapala hard baits are dressed with ultra-sharp VMC treble hooks that can even catch the lightest of biters. However, it’s important to note that treble-clad hard baits are not designed to be cast into heavy cover where they’ll easily snag. For this reason, crankbaits, jerkbaits, topwaters, and other hard baits are generally better suited for fishing open water and working along the periphery of cover, such as along an outside weedline.
Precise Depth Control:
Whether cast and retrieved or trolled, Rapala crankbaits and minnowbaits are designed to consistently run at specific depths. This precision is crucial for catching fish that are feeding at a particular depth. This is why, for instance, anglers across the country rely on the precise depth control of the DT Series for catching smallmouth and largemouth bass, and the Gold Miner 30 for hooking walleye.
SOFT BAIT ADVANTAGES
When Fish Want Subtle:
One of the biggest strengths of soft plastics is their subtle actions. Combined with natural colours like green pumpkin or smelt, it’s easy to see why soft baits are so effective at intriguing (and not spooking) neutral or inactive fish. The unassuming, quivering fall of a wacky-rigged Pigstick or the subtle movement of a Ned BLT on a jig are perfect examples of this.
There are exceptions, of course. Fast retrieves or rip jigging bright baits, such as a neon pearl Heavy Hitter or hot pink pearl The Jerk, readily dupe pike and bass.
Sensational At Being Slow:
Soft baits can be fished at various speeds, but one of their greatest assets is their ability to entice fish on slow retrieves. In high-pressure conditions, cold water, or when bass and walleye are sluggish, dragging and then dead-sticking a Ned BLT on the bottom is as close to foolproof as you can get.
This doesn’t just apply to small, finesse plastics either. Slow-rolling a 4” The Mayor or 5-1/2” Heavy Hitter on a Boxer Jig is deadly for pike, walleye and bass.
Great Vertical Presentations:
Soft baits are great for straight-down tactics. Some reliable presentations include drop-shotting The Jerk, Neko rigging a Pigstick, flipping a Texas-rigged Bronco Bug and a lift-fall jigging retrieve with a Creeper on a Ned Rig Jig.
There are outliers to this rule, though, given the versatility of soft baits. For instance, using a horizontal, swimming retrieve with The Mayor or Mooch Minnow on a jig, and twitching a Tex-posed The Jerk across the surface.
Clear-Water Winners:
The natural, unobtrusive movements of soft baits make them great at catching fish in clear water. The CrushCity Mooch Minnow and The Suspect are irresistible to bass, walleye, trout, and big panfish living in gin-clear lakes.
Great For Cover:
A Texas-rig is one of the best bass baits of all time. Hiding the hook point in a soft plastic’s body creates a weedless presentation. This allows the rig to infiltrate fish hideouts, and navigate through weeds, wood and other cover without getting hung up. A Texas-rig can be used for flipping a Cleanup Craw into thick weeds, casting a Pigstick on grass flats or dragging a Freeloader on a Carolina rig along drop-off ledges.
Mouthfeel And Scent:
The squishy, natural feel of soft plastics encourages fish to hold onto them longer than hard bait. Rapala also adds scent and salt to CrushCity plastics with perfect precision via its Smart Injection Technology, further helping the cause.
REALLY, YOU NEED BOTH TYPES OF BAITS
Savvy anglers know there’s a time and place for both hard and soft baits when it comes to catching fish. Sometimes this happens between casts, such as when a smallmouth or pike follows a hard bait but doesn’t bite, but then gets fooled by a follow-up cast with a soft bait. On the other hand, when vertical jigging plastics for walleye isn’t working, trolling diving crankbaits will likely put fish in the net.
To summarize, it’s a good idea to be prepared with a mix of both hard and soft baits. After all, there’s a reason both types of baits are commonly seen on the boat decks of fishing guides, professional and wise weekend warriors.