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Rod & Lure Guide

Shrimp-imitation soft plastic

A shrimp-imitation soft plastic is a palm-sized bait fished down to eight or ten feet. At 1/8-1/2 oz on a jighead hook it wants a rod that is middling in stiffness and bends only near the tip, printed as medium, medium-heavy or medium-light. Strongest over grass flats and along marsh drains on a moving tide, when shrimp are being pushed out of cover.

A soft plastic shaped and weighted to fall like a shrimp, fished either on a light jighead or hung under a cork. Shrimp are the main food in most inshore systems, so this profile needs less explaining to a redfish than a baitfish shape does. The fall matters more than the retrieve — a shrimp drops backward and slightly downward, and a bait that does that gets eaten.

Shrimp-shaped soft plastic lure rigged on a jighead with a single hook.

How to Fish It

Hop it once or twice off the bottom and then leave it still, or suspend it under a cork and let the cork do the moving for you.

Rated for clear and stained water, because 3-4" of bait is found by sight and the water has to be clean enough for a fish to pick it out at distance.

1-8 ft is the band it fishes, working from the moment it lands; below 8 ft a different bait is the answer, because this one is absent and not merely slow.

It is sold 3-4", and length and weight move independently: though the range is narrow enough that weight is the one you are really choosing.

When to Throw It

Strongest over grass flats and along marsh drains on a moving tide, when shrimp are being pushed out of cover.

Less convincing in heavy current on a hard bottom, where a heavier jighead and a baitfish profile hold position better.

Feeling an Exposed Hook

The hook rides exposed on a molded head, and the whole 1/8-1/2 oz of it is hook, lead and body in one piece. A short set is all it takes. Most bites arrive on a slack line as a faint knock, so the rod earns its place by reporting them at all.

1/8-1/2 oz rules a rod in or out before anything else does, and 4 profiles here cover it, in medium, medium-heavy or medium-light, each with a card saying what it is bad at.

  • 7'0" medium, fast action spinning

    Length
    7'0"
    Power
    medium
    Action
    fast
    Casts
    1/8-5/8 oz
    Line
    6-14 lb

    If someone owns exactly one rod, this is the shape it should be. Its 1/8-5/8 oz window takes that weight without being at either end of it.

    Under-powered for pulling a fish out of matted vegetation or heavy timber.

  • 7'0" medium-heavy, fast action casting

    Length
    7'0"
    Power
    medium-heavy
    Action
    fast
    Casts
    1/4-1 1/4 oz
    Line
    12-20 lb

    The rod for fish that live in weeds, wood and dock pilings. Its 1/4-1 1/4 oz window takes that weight without being at either end of it.

    Wrong for treble-hook baits, where the stiff tip tears small hooks free during a head shake.

  • 6'9" medium-light, fast action spinning

    Length
    6'9"
    Power
    medium-light
    Action
    fast
    Casts
    1/16-3/8 oz
    Line
    4-10 lb

    A light-line rod for when fish have seen everything else. Its 1/16-3/8 oz window takes that weight without being at either end of it.

    Not enough power to pull a fish out of grass, timber or dock pilings.

  • 7'6" medium-heavy, fast action spinning

    Length
    7'6"
    Power
    medium-heavy
    Action
    fast
    Casts
    3/8-1 1/2 oz
    Line
    10-25 lb

    The inshore rod, and the length is the reason. Its 3/8-1 1/2 oz window takes that weight without being at either end of it.

    Awkward in a kayak or anywhere the swing of a long rod is restricted.

The One Fish It Catches

  • Redfish

    Water
    saltwater / brackish
    Mouth
    hard
    Line floor
    19 lb

    Redfish take line back off the reel, so the line under this bait starts at about 19 lb. Redfish feed with their mouth angled down, which is the single fact that shapes every choice below.

    Everything else this fish is caught on is on its lures page. This bait is one entry there, and not always the first one to try.

2 Methods It Is Fished With

  • Jighead and Soft Plastic

    Where it sits
    bottom
    Power
    medium-light, medium or medium-heavy
    Action
    fast or extra-fast
    Difficulty
    beginner

    A fast tip reads the faint knock of a bite through slack line, and the exposed single hook needs a quick, short set and not a long sweep.

    Choosing a jighead by habit instead of by the depth and current you are actually fishing.

  • Popping Cork

    Where it sits
    mid-water
    Power
    medium or medium-heavy
    Action
    moderate-fast or fast
    Difficulty
    beginner

    Extra length gives the sweep needed to pop a cork from a distance, and the added power casts a heavy rig without the cork folding the tip.

    Setting the leader length without checking the actual depth of the grass you are fishing over.

Where This Decision Goes Next