In the realm of bass fishing, innovation knows no bounds, and the latest addition to the angler’s arsenal comes with a peculiar name: Poop Baits.
Despite the playful moniker, these soft plastic lures boast a design that’s not to be underestimated.
Originating from the fishing haven of Japan, Poop Baits have swiftly made their mark, presenting anglers with a versatile and effective option for enticing bass.
The name is obviously a bit goofy, but it is also a pretty accurate description of the body style.
Poop baits are a soft plastic bait that was originally designed and created in Japan.
Over the past few decades, Japan has become the forefront of bass fishing innovation and is regularly creating new, effective bass lures and techniques.
Poop baits are kind of like a very short, thick Senko style worm. And we all know how effective Senkos are.
As with many soft plastic baits, poop baits work very well all year round.
Personally, I love throwing them in the hot summer months when bass either move out deep or get up under thick cover.
Other than that, you can pretty much use these baits anytime you would throw a Senko or fluke style bait.
This bait is going to be rigged weightless, and will sink very slowly.
If there is lots of wind and chop on the water, it will get blown around too much and will be very hard to fish.
The choppy water also makes it a bit harder for bass to find subtle baits like a poop bait that doesn’t have any sound or vibration.
Whenever a cold front rolls through, bass slow down and get more picky about what they eat.
Do nothing presentations such as a poop bait are amazing for these tougher conditions.
Again, you can really throw a poop bait anywhere. They are super weedless and sink very slowly, so it is easy to keep them out of brush or grass.
But you can also fish them faster and even walk them on the surface like a topwater.
These baits are great for slowly picking apart grass or wood. Obviously the are weedless, but the real advantage is their slow sinking speed.
A jig or Texas rig would penetrate too fat into branches or grass and become hidden or potentially snagged.
But a poop bait can be slowly glided over and through cover.
For the most part, you are going to be rigging these plastics weightless.
And although they sink faster than many other soft plastics, without any weight, they still sink very slowly.
If you are fishing deep water, it is going to take way too long for the poop bait to reach the bottom, and it will lose a bit of it’s effectiveness.
I like using it in water that is less than 10 feet deep.
There is pretty much a standard rigging method for poop baits.
Of course, you can experiment and test out other rigging techniques, but these soft plastics were really designed to be rigged with as a weightless Texas rig.
You rig them just like you would a weedless Senko. This way, you can fish the bait anywhere anyhow.
I have tested out using some poop baits on a Tokyo rig and had lots of success with it.
The Tokyo rig allows you to fish the bait much deeper than you normally would.
This has worked particularly well for me during the pre-spawn months.
But the standard rigging method for a poop baits is the weightless Texas rig on an EWG style hook.
There are plenty of ways to retrieves these baits. For the most part, I really only use these two retrieval techniques.
If you ask the Japanese, this is how the bait was designed to be fished.
This is a super basic and easy retrieve that gets loads of bites from bass.
The poop bait preforms almost just like a Senko, but with a much bigger and more natural profile.
If bass are a bit more active and feeding in the middle of the water column, I love fishing them like a jerkbait.
I have been fishing flukes and Senkos this way for years and it is a phenomenal way to catch bass.
The bulkier profile of the poop baits seem to get me bigger bites, especially when fishing for pressured bass.
Also Read: 5 Best Poop Baits
There are a couple other names that fisherman will use to talk about this style of lure.
So if you ever hear these names, they are still referring to the poop bait category.
The name “heavy” baits were given to them because, well, they’re heavy.
Compared to other soft plastic lures, these baits are super dense and weight a lot. This allows you to cast them super far and precisely.
The term “gravity” is referring to how fast they sink in the water.
The large amount of salt and high density of these baits make the sink much faster than traditional soft plastics, almost like gravity is pulling them down.
Of course, they still sink quite slow, but it is fast compared to traditional weightless soft plastics.
Poop Baits stand out as a testament to innovation and adaptability.
With their unique design and versatility, these lures offer anglers a fresh approach to enticing bass, whether it’s in the depths of summer or amidst the chill of a cold front.
From calm days to challenging conditions, Poop Baits prove their worth as a go-to option for enticing even the most discerning bass.
So, the next time you’re out on the water, consider adding a touch of creativity to your tackle box with Poop Baits – because sometimes, the most effective solutions come in the most unexpected packages.
