Okay well I have alwyas used hard bait until now. I tried using a ribit frog and well I sucked. So i want to move into using soft plastics, worms,brush hogs,senkos, you name it. I would like to know when and how to fish different kinds of soft plastics. thanks

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Well first off you need a more sensitive rod for plastics than for crankbaits. And sorry, but that USUALLY, but not necisarily, means spending a min. of 50 bucks.

My first decent rod and reel that was sensitive enough for plastics was a 40$ Abu Conolon Premier spinning rod(7' M) and a 50$ Pflueger President spinning reel. Not saying that you have to have that, but it is a good price range for a start.

Line- I prefer Flurocarbon for all my rods but it is expensive and a lot of people still like monofilament.

As for where, anywhere that a crankbait would get snagged is where you can fish a worm. I would reccomend a 7" Green Pumpkin or Junebug worm Texas rigged with a Extra Wide Gap hook and a 1/4 - 3/8oz bullet weight for a start.

Just cast near the brush, weeds, etc and slowly start to move your rod from pointing almost straight at the worm to a little less than straight up.

Bites will range all the way from a sharp tug to your line moving off to the side. As you fish them you will come to understand better what is a fish and what is not.

I think that this covers almost everything, and remember it will come with time and practice so dont give up.

Keep tring the Ribbit,,

it works awsome for me..

but mostly on calm water and rite at sun rise in morning..

Well robo worms have always worked for me in clear water. brown with white belly.

The Fishin 1 has some good advice.

senko style worms work most anytime & most any where..

I rig um the same as he does..Texas.. I let um fall to the bottom them

kinda jig um back to the boat..  watch your line on the fall or after a jig, they will some times hit the bait then.. also use feel.. it mite be just a tap ,tap,,then you need to slam that hook home !!!

8-)

Soft plastics are my top producers. Here is another suggestion:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1141053342

Hmm,

the Phat Ika..

looks like a good bait..

I fish different soft plastics in different situations. Senkos are IMO the easiest soft plastic you can fish, cause like the commercial says "you don't work them, they work for you" which is pretty much a 100% true. A senko I'll choose if im fishing rivers, or open waters/docks, now you can throw any bait in cover with success but ill choose the senko if im fishing open water or rivers. The Fat Ika I pretty much fish in the same areas as I would the senko. You fish the senko by casting it out and letting it slowly fall on slack line, and watch for any line twitches, when it hits the bottom I'll let it sit for anywhere from 2-6 secs and then I'll bring it up off the bottom and then let it slowly fall and repeat, I'll fish them weightless with a EWG Gamakatsu 2/0 hook for 4inch senkos, and 3/0 hook for 5inch. I fish all stick bait type worms the same way. I also fish the Fat ika the same way but I rig it backwards on a 4/0 hook (skirt up). Fat ikas also make great flipping baits for the thick cover. Good colors for these imo are black, watermelonred, watermelon, greenpumpkin, browns, black/blue. (and sometimes a white senko will work well)

Creature baits I fish in heavier cover, I often peg them with a small bullet weight and flip them into the thick cover, or flip them into the toughest of stickpiles. I'll let them fall to the bottom when they initially hit the water and I'll let them sit for 2-6 secs, then I'll start walking them on the bottom with slight twitches and crawling them over sunken timber, if that doesn't work I'll try fishing them same way as a senko but I'll keep varying the speed to see what the fish wants. Another thing you can do with Creature baits is rig them weightless and fish them this way in the back of rivers or in open water, although I find they work best around cover. You can also rig them weightless and crawl them over the top of thick weed mats twitching them all the way in to shore like you would a hollow frog, but the advantage to them is you can let them fall into the small open pockets in the weed mats (that always gets em). I'll also fish these with EWG Gamakatsu hooks size 2/0 for 4inch creature baits, 3/0 to 4/0 for anything 5inch+ or depending on the thickness, I'll use 4/0's on a GYCB Kreature. Good colors for these are greenpumpkin, watermelonred, junebug, black/blue, and shades of purple mixed in with green such as greenpumpkin candy, watermelon candy etc.

For Curly tail worms, well these pretty much work in every situation. I'll t-rig them unpegged with the smallest bullet weight I can get away with if im going to fish small bits of cover or open water, if im flipping them into the thick cover I'll peg them with a slightly heavier bullet weight but still fairly small (as long as its just heavy enough to break through the weeds). I'll do everything from from cast them out and crawl them on the bottom with constant pauses, to bounce them with a slight swimming type retreive, to fishing them like a senko. Crawling a bait through the sticks is always good. I'll use EWG Gamakatsu 2/0 hooks for the 4-5 inch curly tail worms, and 3/0 for the 6-7 1/2inch curly tail worms, I use these smaller type hooks with these worms cause there often very skinny and easy for the bass to suck up. Good colors for these are Greenpumpkin, Watermelonred, Watermelon, Natural Browns, Blacks, Junebug, Red Shad, Motor Oil, (can't go wrong with greenpumpkin or natural browns, but I'll often use black in dark water).

Softjerk baits (plastic minnow immitators), I'll fish in waters with aggressive fish, these work best for me around spring/fall. I'll fish them with quick jerks, and pauses every so often letting the bait slowly fall like a injured minnow. If nothing grabs it on the fall I'll just repeat the process. Also if the fish seem to be hitting on the top, I'll jerk it pretty quick, so it darts on top, this is often deadly and works pretty darn good for me. Dart these through lillypads, or around/through stick piles the fish just can't resist them, especially pickerel, but they work great for bass too. You can also put them on a spinnerbait or a buzzbait as a trailer. I'll fish these with Gamakatsu offset round bend hooks, size 2/0 for 4inch 3/0-4/0 for 5-6inch. Colors that work well with these are natural whites, chartrueses, white/black, white on green, golds, or different shades of green.

There are many other softbaits but these are the ones im most experienced in so im not going to talk about the others. Hope these tips help ya some, softbaits work great, so im sure you'll be catchin fish with them in no time. Good luck .

The GYCB Kreature is another soft plastic you might try:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1180909581

I have really good luck with the swim senkos not rigged.  Toss it out, let it sink a bit give it a tug reel in the slack and repeat.  I have had days where I have caught as many as 10 LMBs in just a few hours fishing this way.