Looking for a sure-fire tip to help put more bass in the boat this season? Be certain that stack of rods lashed to the deck includes one lock-n-loaded with a soft swimbait!

Having spent most of his adult life employed in some aspect of the fishing business, Tom Ference has had the opportunity to fish soft swimbaits in a variety of situations. He’s become particularly fond of segmented soft swimbaits like Lake Fork Tackle’s Live Magic Shad.

“One of the advantages of the segmented bait is the ability to work it at a variety of speeds,” said Ference. “With paddle-tail-type swimbaits, you have to move them at a fairly good clip to maintain action. By making minor rigging adjustments to the segmented bait, you can work it slow or buzz it near the surface.”

When rigged for a slow, steady retrieve, Ference connects the bait with a loop knot, more specifically the Lefty Kreh Non-Slip Mono Loop knot. The “open” connection gives the bait the freedom to kick at slow speed.

When he plans on using a more aggressive retrieve, one that involves snappy twitches of the rod tip, he uses a knot that handles the wear-and-tear better, like a Palomar or double improved clinch knot.

Aggressive, faster retrieves are used when fish are likely to be in shallow water and in a feeding mood. Ference said early and late day periods are good for this approach, as well as cloudy prefrontal days. When odds favor bass holding in deeper water, such as off the deep side of a weed edge, he’ll go with a slower, steadier retrieve.

A slave to details, Ference has experimented with various hook styles and sizes to get the best rate of hook-ups. His best two choices have worked out to be the Owner Beast weighted swimbait hook and Gamakatsu EWG weighted swimbait hook. The trick, he said, is to choose a hook that sits in the extreme back end of the hook slot. Typically, a 1/0 works right for the 3.5-inch bait; try a 3/0 for the 4.5-inch version. On days when the fish aren’t locking down solid on the bait, and he’s missing fish, Ference shaves just a tad off the top of the bait to expose a bit more hook gap.

Throughout the summer, I rely on soft swimbaits to provide my guide clients with bass action on both lakes and rivers. From mid to late summer, a consistent swimbait pattern on lakes is the targeting of the inside edge of the weedline.

Reservoirs typically have a band of clean water between shore and the shallow edge of the growth. Natural lakes, too, will have such a border since wave action often precludes the growth of submergent vegetation in some areas.

I hold the boat a cast’s distance from shore (which often means sitting right on top of a weedbed). Launch a paddle tail swimbait like Yum’s Money Minnow right up next to the bank. Then get it kicking and pull it right toward the inside edge.

Like a cornerback zeroing in on a stray pass, largemouths will shoot out from the shallow side of the submerged weeds to intercept a soft swimbait worked via a steady, easy-to-track, retrieve.

On free-flowing rivers, bronzebacks will use the edges of extremely shallow mid-river shoals as ambush points. At times they’ll be in the hard current out in front of a shoal; more commonly, though, they’ll hide in the quiet water behind the obstruction.

A slim-bodied, paddle-tail swimbait like Reaction Innovations’ Little Dipper is perfect for running past these fish. Smallies holding on such spots tend to be actively feeding ones, so keep the bait moving quickly.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle