I can think of a couple of scenarios where they should work well.  I know they are primarily a salt water bait but they do make a fresh water version.  The only difference I've noticed is the hooks.   I ordered a couple but haven't used them yet.  Anyone tried them for bass?  

I have, they obviously work the best when the bass are feeding heavily on baitfish. This is the only situation in which I've tried them but I do like them very much. It's also a lure that the fish don't see very often if ever so it also has that going for it.

I've used them, mostly during heavy baitfish feeding times like he said. I've actually used the salt water ones when we ran out of the fresh water ones. I can't say it if it was just the timing, dumb luck or the truth. But I caught more fish on the salt water version of this bait.

Cool, I'm glad they've worked for you guys.  Bass actively feeding on shad is exactly when I planned to use them.  Thanks for the input.

I love them but only for salt, not too much for bass, I have used them.  It's a good lure for casting distances for fish chasing bait, the concept is quite similar to a metal jig fish.  The metal jig fish is just as effective in saltwater as the waxwing at a fraction of the price, my guess it would be for bass too.  I personally lump waxwing, jig fish, hopkins or an acme kastmaster into the same group, the movement is about the same for all of those.

I don't think the waxwing has any advantage over the others for bass, for your scenario I'd be using a kastmaster.