Great Soft Stickbait Options

Soft stickbaits are a versatile and effective bait that has become increasingly popular among anglers. Their lifelike appearance and realistic action make them ideal for a variety of fishing scenarios, especially when you're targeting bass. With so many soft stickbait brands available, it can be challenging to determine which ones are the best. 

Here is a list of several soft stickbait brands that are worth considering. Each of these brands offers a 5” length; many offer other lengths as well. All brands have a variety of bass catching color patterns in their lines and links to more information for each brand’s bait are provided in the description below as well.

• Gary Yamamoto Senko - The Gary Yamamoto Senko is arguably the most popular soft stickbait brand on the market. Its unique design and lifelike action have made it a go-to choice for many anglers.
• Zoom Zlinky - Zoom is a well-known brand that offers a variety of soft plastic baits, including soft stickbaits. Their 5” Zlinky claims to be loaded with salt, soft yet durable, includes a hook slot for Texas rigging, and comes in a variety of popular colors.
• Berkley PowerBait MaxScent “The General” - The Berkley PowerBait MaxScent The General is a great choice for bass fishing. Its soft, yet durable design provides a realistic feel plus the added Powerbait scent makes it difficult for fish to resist and helps bass hold onto the bait longer than other brands.
• Strike King Ocho - Strike King is a popular brand that offers soft stickbaits like the 5” Strike King Ocho; a versatile bait that can be fished in a variety of ways. Its unique 8 sided shape and flavor make it particularly effective in stained or murky water.
• YUM Dinger - The YUM Dinger is another popular choice for bass fishing. Its worm-like design and subtle action make it an effective bait for both largemouth and smallmouth bass. It’s fairly durable, a little less dense and less expensive than most others making it a great soft stickbait for probing the shallows.
• Gambler Fat Ace - The Gambler Fat Ace is a soft stickbait that is ideal for finesse fishing. Its natural appearance, enhanced with their Bite scent, and realistic action make it a great choice for targeting pressured fish.
• Big Bite Baits Trick Stick - The BBB Trick Stick is another pre-scented soft stickbait that boasts decent durability and excellent fish catching action making it one of the more budget friendly baits in this group.
• Z-Man ZinkerZ - Z-Man is a brand that produces soft stickbaits like the Z-Man ZinkerZ. As with all Z-Man soft plastics, the ZinkerZ is manufactured using the super tough Elaztech plastic making it several times more durable than its competition.
• BioSpawn ExoStick - BioSpawn is a newer brand that produces the BioSpawn ExoStick soft stickbait with a multi-segmented shape, heavy salt content, soft body, and unique scent giving it an appearance and fall rate/action unlike its competition.
• Xzone Lures True Center Stick - The True Center Stick is a soft stickbait that is designed to be fished via the wacky rig though it also works great via a Texas rig. Its unique “Wacky Zone” area, salt content, soft plastic ribbed construction, and Xzone scent  creates a subtle action and presence that is sure to entice even the most finicky fish into biting.
• Bass Pro Shop Stik-O - 5” version of Bass Pro Shops soft stickbait line that is loaded with salt, pre-scented and the closest in weight/density to the original soft stickbait standard, the Senko.

The list provided above is by no means complete. Just about every major soft plastics manufacturing company produces their own version of a soft stickbait not to mention all the small regional operations as well. 

Though most of the available options use weighting additives such as salt like the Senko does, one small local purveyor, The Crazy Hick Bait Company provides a different option. Not only do they produce a salted version of their 5” Pig Stick, they also produce an unweighted, salt-free version too. What a great soft stickbait option on presentations like a Carolina rig, the floating free rig, drop shot or any other technique requiring a floating bait.

Just remember when selecting a soft stickbait, be sure to consider the size and color that best matches the bass' forage and current fishing conditions.