7 Best Soft Swimbaits for 2025
A lot of guys prefer soft swimbaits over the jointed swimbait styles.
Soft swimbaits feel more realistic and don’t have dangling treble hooks and excess metal that could make bass weary.
No matter what baitfish forage you are imitating, these are the 7 best soft swimbaits.
3 Best Soft BLUEGILL Swimbaits:
Also Read Best Lures to Imitate Bluegill
1. Megabass Sleeper Gill
Price: $9.99
The Megabass Sleeper Gill Swimbaits, part of the popular Sleeper Series, designed for targeting panfish-eating bass.
Featuring a dorsal fin weedguard, these swimbaits navigate cover-choked waters effortlessly, with a natural profile that deceives even experienced fish.
The hollow body compresses easily to improve hook-up rates.
Like the Dark Sleeper, the Sleeper Gill has a low center of gravity and pectoral fin balancers for stability, maintaining an upright position while foraging.
The realistic gill-style body and responsive tail provide lifelike movement, making it a powerful alternative to traditional swimbaits.
Perfect for slow retrieves, the Megabass Sleeper Gill Swimbaits are a must-have for any angler’s collection.
At 3.2 inches long, this swimbait is the perfect size to mimic bluegill and panfish in shallow water.
2. Savage Gear Pulse Tail RTF Bluegill
Price: $9.99
Modeled from a 3D scan of a real bluegill, the Savage Gear Pulse Tail Bluegill RTF Swimbaits offer unmatched realism.
Featuring an innovative split rear kicker tail, they deliver a rhythmic swimming action at any speed.
The great thing about this tail design is that while it paddles back and forth, the whole entire body of the bluegill bends and moves side-to-side.
“Ready To Fish” (RTF) right out of the package, these swimbaits come with a heavy-duty EWG hook, foam integrated rattles, and a lead harness.
Available in ultra-realistic photo print colors, the Savage Gear Pulse Tail Bluegill RTF Swimbaits are essential for swimbait enthusiasts.
3. LiveTarget Sunfish
Price: $9.99
LIVETARGET’s Sunfish Swimbait is designed to attract big bass by mimicking sunfish with an anatomically accurate profile and a natural tail-kicking action.
Featuring a stout extra wide gap hook behind the dorsal fin for weedless presentation, it navigates through cover with ease.
Equipped with an accessory pin for adding extra hooks or spinner blades, this swimbait enhances versatility and attractiveness.
Available in realistic color schemes, the LIVETARGET Sunfish Swimbait is perfect for swimbait enthusiasts.
The LIVETARGET Swimbait Series combines realistic designs with advanced technology, creating lifelike swimbaits with a precise side-to-side tail swing.
Each swimbait’s unique action mirrors live bait, setting a new standard for realism in fishing lures.
3 Best Soft SHAD Swimbaits:
1. Z-Man Shadtron LT
Price: $12.99
The Z-Man Shadtron LT Swimbait’s wedge-shaped tail effectively mimics the natural movement of a shad, attracting strikes even during slow retrieves.
This 4.5-inch soft swimbait features an innovative over/under line-through harness, enabling anglers to rig it with the included 3/0 sickle hook for top hooking or a treble hook (not included) for belly hooking.
The buoyant material keeps the soft plastic swimbait upright during retrieves, on the fall, or at rest, ensuring a natural presentation that bass cannot resist.
Constructed from durable, tear-resistant material, the Shadtron LT withstands aggressive bites and can be used for extended periods without losing its shape.
The swimbait features detailed characteristics such as gill plates, scales, and fins, which enhance its realistic appearance.
This shad swimbait is reliable for clear water and heavily fished areas.
2. Megabass Magdraft
Price: $17.99
The Megabass Magdraft Swimbait combines unique design and big fish attraction in a realistic package.
Built around an internal harness, it prevents ripping and tearing, ensuring a direct connection to the bait.
Featuring Megabass’ Maghold technology, a strong magnet keeps the treble hook close to the body, reducing snagging and hiding the hardware from predators.
A tournament-grade swivel prevents fish from using the bait as leverage, increasing hook-to-land ratios.
Side fins act as weedguards and stabilize high-speed action.
With lifelike 3-D eyes and detailed pours for a perfect match-the-hatch look, the Megabass Magdraft Swimbait blends advanced engineering with smooth movement for an ultra-realistic presentation.
3. Berkley Cullshad
Price: $11.99
Although this comes in at #3, the Cullshad might be my overall favorite soft swimbait.
The Berkley Powerbait CullShad Swimbait elevates shallow water swimbait fishing with its big profile and enhanced durability from Berkley’s Honeycomb Technology.
It features a pre-rigged harness and hook retention clip to keep the treble hook secure, ensuring the swimbait runs true at fast speeds.
Anglers can adjust the sink rate with nail weights for precise depth control.
Designed for catching kicker bass, the CullShad Swimbait boasts realistic painted and HD printed forage color patterns, giving you the Berkley advantage cast after cast.
Best Dual Purpose Soft Swimbait:
Savage Gear Pulse Tail RTF Baitfish
Price: $9.49
The Savage Gear Pulse Tail RTF Baitfish Swimbait combines realistic action with advanced manufacturing technology, closely mimicking live bait.
Modeled after a 3D scan of a real baitfish, it features a patent-pending split rear tail that creates a hard-pounding, rhythmic action at any speed.
Ready To Fish (RTF) straight from the package, it includes a heavy-duty 4X EWG hook, an integrated foam rattle chamber, and a lead harness that needs no tuning.
Available in ultra-realistic photo print colors, the Savage Gear Pulse Tail RTF Baitfish Swimbait is a must-have for serious swimbait enthusiasts.
Reeling this In
Although soft swimbaits aren’t as durable as jointed styles, they are much cheaper and have functional advantages.
Whether you are mimicking bluegill, shad, or a general baitfish profile, these swimbaits cover all the bases.
Also Read Best Bluegill Swimbaits
