Soft plastic crayfish (or crawfish) work very well for largemouth bass. Many anglers fish these baits as trailers on a bass jig, but you can also fish them with a variety of other rigs such as a Texas rig, Florida rig, Drop shot rig, a swimbait hook and many others. This is a great bait for flippin’ and pitchin’ around shallow water cover or along rocky bottoms. Largemouth bass love crayfish so you can’t really go wrong by choosing to use a soft plastic crayfish.
Popular Techniques
Flipping & Pitching Around Cover
Flipping and pitching around cover is probably the most popular way to fish a bass jig. You can get these jigs in and around all types of wood and vegetation where largemouth bass love to hide.
Hopping Along the Bottom
You can hop these baits along all types of bottoms since the bass jig has a very thick weed guard that prevents you from getting hung up when fishing around rocks, wood and scattered vegetation.
Dragging Along the Bottom
Some anglers just drag these baits along the bottom slowly as they feel the bottom contour for all types of wood and rocks. This technique helps you find some of the cover along the bottom and works for catching bass as well.
Bass Jig & Crayfish
A bass jig and a crayfish bait is one of the best ways to fish a bass jig. Finding the right combination is key. On some days, they want a bigger crayfish and on others, a smaller more finesse crayfish is the better trailer.
Popular Fishing Rigs
Bass Jig & Crayfish
A bass jig and a crayfish bait is one of the best ways to fish a bass jig. Finding the right combination is key. On some days, they want a bigger crayfish and on others, a smaller more finesse crayfish is the better trailer.
Carolina Rig
The Carolina Rig is one of the best rigs for fishing a soft plastic crayfish bait along the bottom. Hop it along the bottom with some pauses or try the crawling technique. Both techniques will work to catch a lot of bass.
Drop Shot Rig
The drop shot rig is not as common of a fishing rig for soft plastic crayfish, however, it can be a very effective technique for catching bass.
Florida / Texas Rig
The Texas Rig / Florida Rig are great rigs for working soft plastic baits around all types of cover for a variety of bass.
Jighead
When you have a rock or sand bottom with very few things that can get you hung up, a simple jighead is a great way to work a soft plastic crayfish bait for bass.
Standup Jighead
The standup jighead is another great rig for fishing with crayfish baits. By rigging it weedless, you can fish it around all types of cover just like the Texas rig and the shaky head jig allows you to keep the legs of the bait up off the bottom when you pause the bait. It’s very appealing and helps draw a lot of strikes.
Swimbait Hook
A swimbait hook works great with crayfish baits. Fish it similar to how you would a texas rig and you’ll catch plenty of bass. Most anglers think of swimbait hooks as the preferred rig to use for swimbaits. While some crayfish actually do look good with a swimming motion, it’s not the recommended way to fish them to consistently catch quality bass. Fish them slow around all types of cover and try experimenting with a more violent jerk then a 5 to 10 second pause. The swimbait hook gives the bait a gliding action down to the bottom. This helps with reaction strikes and a lot of bass that don’t hit it on the fall will hit it after it falls to the bottom and stays there.
