Best Soft Plastics for Redfish from a Kayak: My Confidence Lineup

I used to be the guy with three tackle trays of half-used soft plastics rolling around in the crate… and only about four of them ever caught fish. The rest just looked good on the pegboard.

Somewhere between paddling skinny creeks in the marsh and getting my butt kicked by guys with way simpler setups, I started trimming the fat. These days, when friends ask me about the best soft plastics for redfish from a kayak, I don’t hand them a shopping list a mile long—I show them a small handful of baits rigged right for the way we actually fish from the seat.

This guide is that conversation, just written down: a tight “confidence lineup,” specific rigging, and how to fish each style in real-world wind, tide, and grass instead of on a clean tackle catalog page.

Why Soft Plastics Shine from a Kayak

From a kayak, you live close to the water. You’re lower, quieter, and you tend to slide or drift rather than blast from spot to spot. Soft plastics fit that style perfectly:

You can fish them slow or fast depending on current.
You can adapt to different depths with the same bait by changing weights.
They land softly which is huge for spooky reds on a calm flat.
You can rig them weedless for grass and oysters, which is basically the whole inshore world.

The trick isn’t having every shape on the market. It’s having a few proven profiles, in a few smart colors, with the right rigging to match what you’re actually paddling into: grass edges, marsh drains, potholes on flats, and oyster-laced shorelines.

Let’s build that lineup.

The 3-Style Confidence Lineup

If I had to rebuild my redfish box from scratch, from a kayak, I’d start with just three soft plastic profiles:

A 3–4″ paddle tail
A 4–5″ jerk shad (fluke style)
A 3–4″ shrimp imitation

Each one fills a different role, and together they cover basically every realistic scenario you’ll see in marshes, bays, grass flats, and oyster shorelines.

We’ll go deep into how to rig and fish them, but first, let’s talk about what makes each one special.

Profile 1: The Everyday Paddle Tail

Paddle TTail Soft Plastic Fishing lure is a must-have lure in the tackle box.

If I could only bring one soft plastic to chase reds from my kayak, it’d be a 3–4″ paddle tail in a “do everything” color. This is your workhorse. Your search bait. Your “I just need one bite to find them” lure.

Size & Shape

Length: 3–4″ covers most situations.
Body: Slightly thick, with enough plastic to hold a hook and survive multiple fish.
Tail: A solid thumping paddle you can feel in the rod, even when you’re sitting low in the kayak.

From a kayak, that tail thump becomes a feedback system. You’re often fishing at awkward angles, sideways to the wind, drifting past a point, and that vibration tells you if the bait is swimming right, fouled with grass, or dragging bottom.

When a Paddle Tail Shines

Locating fish along a grass line: Toss upcurrent, slow roll it back just off the edge.
Covering shoreline with scattered oysters and pockets: Bounce it along the bottom, ticking shell.
Windy days when subtle baits get lost: That thump helps fish find it in the chop and turbulence.

If you’re wondering what’s the single most important paddle tail for redfish to own, I’d say: pick a 3–4″ model you like, then learn it inside out, on light jigheads, on weighted swimbait hooks, burned high in the column and slow-rolled in the mud.

Profile 2: The Jerk Shad / Fluke Style

This is the “do less, catch more” bait, especially in skinny, clear water.

A jerk shad is basically a soft plastic minnow: no moving tail, just a fork or pin tail that comes alive when you twitch the rod. Because the action comes from you, not the lure, it’s easy to make it glide, dart, or fall in a super natural way.

Why It’s Deadly from a Kayak

You can make long, low casts under the wind.
The bait lands quietly, which matters when you’re sight-casting to tails or pushing wakes.
You’re often drifting; a twitchy bait that will still “do something” as you glide past is perfect.

On clear flats where reds are tracking baitfish, a jerkbait for redfish can be the difference between spooked fish and a slow stalk leading to that “thunk” and a screaming drag.

When to Reach for the Jerk Shad

Clear, shallow flats with scattered grass: Twitch-twitch-pause over potholes.
Pressured fish that have seen every paddle tail: The subtle glide gets more eats.
Cold, clear mornings: Let it glide and fall slowly instead of ripping a thumping bait.

Think of this bait as your “surgical tool” when you’ve found fish but need to convince them.

Profile 3: Shrimp-Style Plastics

If the paddle tail is your workhorse and the jerk shad is your surgeon, shrimp plastics are your “get bit when nothing else works” bait.

Shrimp are a natural, year-round food source. Plastics that imitate them—especially ones with segmented bodies and little legs or flappers—are killers when fish are feeding near the bottom.

Where They Shine

Marsh drains on falling tide: Hop a shrimp plastic down current seams.
Around oyster bars and scattered shell: Bounce slowly; let it sit between hops.
Cold-water, mid-day windows: Reds often nose down; drag a shrimp through them.

From a kayak, you can slide into small creeks or position just off a drain and simply pendulum cast a shrimp plastic through the current. Half the time, the bite happens when it’s just hanging or slowly swinging.

Colors that Actually Matter (By Water & Season)

Soft plastic fishing lures can be very productive when kayak fishing the Everglades National Forest

You don’t need twenty color patterns. You need a few that match or contrast common conditions.

Here’s how I break it down for Gulf and Atlantic marshes, bays, grass flats, and oyster bars:

Water Clarity

Clear to lightly stained water:

Natural baitfish tones: silvers, pearls, “smoky” translucent colors.
Natural shrimp/crab tones: light browns, tans, subtle purple fleck.
A hint of chartreuse on the tail can help without turning it into a neon sign.

Stained to muddy water:

Dark, solid bodies: root beer, dark new penny, black with gold or copper flake.
Strong contrast: dark body with light belly or vice versa.
In really dirty water, don’t be shy with brighter tails or overall brighter colors.

Light & Season

Bright mid-day, clear sky:

More natural, translucent colors.
I lean on jerk shads and subtler paddle tails.

Low light (early/late, cloudy, foggy):

More solid, contrasty colors with flake.
Think about silhouettes more than fine detail.

Cold water (winter, early spring):

Shrimp and smaller-profile paddles in natural tones.
Dark colors over muddy or dark bottoms to create a strong outline.

Warm water (late spring through fall):

Full-sized 3–4″ paddles and bigger jerk shads, in both natural and “loud” baitfish colors.
Don’t be afraid of brighter hues when baitfish are everywhere.

If you stick to 3–4 core colors in each profile—one natural, one darker, one brighter—you’ll be fine.

Jig Heads vs Weedless: Choosing the Right Rig for Kayak Water

Now to the part that matters just as much as the plastic itself: rigging.

From a kayak, you feel lure weight and bottom contact differently than from a high-deck boat. You’re lower, closer to the water, and often fishing with more line out at a steeper angle. Good redfish soft plastic rigs take that into account.

Open Water & Edges: Jig Heads

For open shorelines, shell edges, and deeper drains, jigheads are tough to beat.

Go-to weights:

1/16 oz: Super skinny water, slow sink in calm conditions.
1/8 oz: Bread-and-butter in 2–4 feet with moderate current.
3/16–1/4 oz: Windy days, deeper drops, or strong current.

From a kayak, I’d rather start too light and bump upward than go too heavy and constantly hang bottom. With a lighter jighead, you can:

Maintain contact without instant snagging on shell.
Keep the bait in the strike zone longer (especially in shallow).
Pop it free from grass with a quick twitch.

Hook size: For 3–4″ plastics, a 3/0 or 4/0 hook is the sweet spot.

Grass & Shell: Weedless & Weightless

When you’re fishing thick grass edges, flooded spartina, or gnarly oyster clumps, open hooks get expensive fast. This is where weighted and weightless weedless rigs shine.

Weighted swimbait hooks (for paddle tails):

1/8–3/16 oz belly weight.
Screw-lock keeper to keep the plastic straight.
Rigged weedless, you can slide through grass and shell, then pause in pockets.

Weightless or lightly weighted EWG hooks (for jerk shads and shrimp):

Think 3/0–4/0 EWG.
In a foot or less of water, weightless lets the bait die slowly and naturally.
Add a tiny pinch weight or light keel if you’re fighting wind but still need stealth.

From a kayak, you often end up closer to the weeds than you intended, especially when the wind pushes your bow. Weedless rigs let you work those tight pockets instead of constantly backing away to free your lure from salad.

Reading “Feel” from the Seat

One thing I had to relearn going from a big boat to a kayak was how bottom contact feels.

You have less leverage to “pop” a snag free.
The rod angle tends to be lower.
Boat movement (drift or pedal) adds its own motion.

My rule of thumb:

If I rarely feel bottom, I go up one weight.
If I’m constantly stuck, I go down a weight or switch to weedless.
If I’m ticking shell and feeling subtle bumps without constant snagging, I’m in the zone.

Braid (10–20 lb) with a 20–30 lb fluorocarbon or mono leader helps a ton here. That combo transmits feel better when you’re sitting low and dealing with weird angles.

How to Fish Each Style from a Kayak (Real Scenarios)

Choosing the best soft plastics for redfish is just as important as choosing the right location.

Let’s put all this into practical use. Here’s how I fish these soft plastics from the kayak in the exact types of water you mentioned.

Paddle Tail: Cover Water, Then Slow Down

Scenario 1: Windy shoreline with scattered grass and oysters

Position the kayak slightly off the bank, bow or stern into the wind if possible.
Make 45-degree casts upwind and upcurrent, so the bait swings naturally back past you.
Let the paddle tail hit bottom, then start a slow retrieve, just fast enough to feel the thump.
Add a small hop every few cranks to make it jump off the bottom.

Strikes often feel like a “mush” or sudden weight before the fish realizes it’s hooked. From the kayak, you’ll feel this as the rod slowly loads—lean into it and start cranking.

Scenario 2: Marsh drain on a moving tide

Anchor or stake out just outside the mouth of the drain.
Cast up into the flow and let the bait sink, then lift and let it glide with the current.
You don’t need to overwork it; the tail and current do the job.

This is a great way to both locate fish and tell how they’re positioned—aggressive fish will smack it as soon as it enters the seam.

Jerk Shad: Sight and Subtlety

Scenario 3: Clear flat with potholes and tailing reds

Drift or pedal slowly across the flat, watching for tails, pushes, or nervous bait.
When you see a good pocket or a fish, cast beyond and slightly past its line of travel.
Work the jerk shad with a twitch-twitch-pause cadence, pointing your rod tip low to the water.
On the pause, try to do nothing—let the bait glide and fall.

The bite here is often just a tick or the line jumping sideways. In a kayak, sometimes you just see the line stop sinking while the boat keeps moving. Set the hook on any weirdness.

Scenario 4: Pressured shoreline where fish follow but don’t eat paddles

Position the kayak further off the bank to avoid shadowing fish.
Cast parallel to the grass line.
Work the bait with short, sharp twitches to make it dart erratically, then pause longer than feels natural.

Jerk shads tend to turn followers into eaters when you give them that “helpless pause.”

Shrimp Plastics: Bottom Hoppers and “Dead Stickers”

Scenario 5: Cold morning at a marsh drain

This is where shrimp plastics pay off big.

Post up just outside the drain, often in 3–6 ft of water.
Cast upcurrent and let the shrimp sink to the bottom on a light jighead.
Slowly lift the rod tip to hop it, then drop it and let it sit.

Reds in cold water often pin a shrimp to the bottom. Sometimes you’ll pick up, feel nothing… and then the weight just loads heavy like a wet sock with a motor.

Scenario 6: Oyster bar edges

Position the kayak so you can cast along the upcurrent edge of the bar.
Work the shrimp just off the edge, ticking shell.
Don’t rip it away from every bump—learn the difference between shell tap and fish.

Here, a weedless rig can save you a ton of jigheads, especially if the oysters are sharp and clustered.

The “I Tried Everything Until…” Combo That Just Works

One fall, I spent three straight trips in a new marsh system absolutely grinding. The sign was there, mullet flipping, wakes pushing, birds picking but I was hopping from lure to lure like an infomercial: topwaters, spoons, three different shrimp baits, two different paddle tails, even some random creature baits I found in an old box.

I’d get a bump here, a short strike there, but no consistent bite.

On the third trip, somewhere around tide change, I snapped. I cut everything off and tied on two rods:

Rod 1: 3″ natural-colored paddle tail on a 1/8 oz jighead.
Rod 2: 3″ shrimp plastic in a brownish “natural” color on a 1/8 oz jighead.

That was it. No more swapping.

I dedicated the paddle tail to covering water along the outer grass lines and points. Once I got a bump or saw a push, I’d anchor or stake out and switch to the shrimp, working it painfully slow through the same area.

That afternoon I caught more reds than I had in the previous two trips combined, including a handful over slot that absolutely choked the shrimp. Same marsh, same tide, same fish—just fewer distractions and more focus on getting really good with two baits.

Since then, when people ask about the best soft plastics for redfish from a kayak, I always tell some version of that story. The gear mattered way less than committing to a simple, smart combo and learning exactly how it feels in your hands from the seat of your own boat.

Building a Small but Complete Soft Plastic Box

Let’s turn all this into a real-world shopping and rigging list you can toss straight into your crate.

Plastics

Paddle tails (3–4″)

2–3 packs in:
1 natural baitfish color (pearl/silver/smoke)
1 darker color (root beer, dark new penny, black/gold)
1 brighter or “confidence” color if you have one

Jerk shads (4–5″)

2 packs in:
1 light natural (pearl, white, translucent)
1 slightly darker/natural (olive, brownish baitfish)

Shrimp-style plastics (3–4″)

2 packs in:
1 natural shrimp tone (tan, brown, new penny, etc.)
1 slightly brighter pattern for dirtier water

Hooks & Jigheads

Jigheads (for paddle tails & shrimp):

1/16 oz, 1/8 oz, 3/16 oz (a few of each)
3/0 and 4/0 hook sizes
Strong hook that can handle slot and upper-slot reds

Weedless options:

3/0–4/0 weighted swimbait hooks (1/8–3/16 oz) for paddles
3/0–4/0 EWG hooks (weightless or lightly weighted) for jerk shads and shrimp

Line & Leader

Main line: 10–20 lb braid
Leader: 20–30 lb fluorocarbon or mono, 2–3 feet long

That’s plenty to feel your bait, handle oysters, and keep fish out of trouble from the kayak.

Putting It All Together on the Water

If you’re just starting out or looking to simplify, here’s a simple “program” to follow on a typical trip:

Launch and scout: Start with the paddle tail on a 1/8 oz jighead. Cover grass edges, drains, and shoreline points, paying attention to where you see bait and wakes.
Get your first clue: Any bump, follow, or busted bait is a sign. Mark mentally (or on GPS) where it happens.
Set up quietly: Approach that zone with the wind and tide in mind. Stake out or use a shallow-water anchor if you have one.
Switch tools, not areas:

If fish are spread and feeding, keep the paddle tail going.
If fish seem picky or are sitting on the bottom, switch to the shrimp or jerk shad.

Adjust rigging, not your whole lure box:

If you’re snaggy, go weedless or drop a weight size.
If you’re not feeling bottom, bump up a weight and slow down.

Pay attention to patterns:

Were most bites on the pause?
On current seams?
On dark colors in muddy water?

The more you notice those details, the more your “confidence baits” become true tools rather than guesswork.

A Quick, Honest Wrap-Up

You don’t need a pile of plastics to catch redfish from a kayak. You need a handful of proven shapes, in sensible colors, rigged to match the grass, shell, and current that you actually fish.

If you build a box around a solid paddle tail, a good jerk shad, and a believable shrimp, then spend your time practicing how each feels and fishes from your kayak. After that, you’ll stop worrying about what to throw and start focusing on where to put it.

That’s usually when the redfish part gets a lot more fun.

Another post here if you want to see how these plastics stack up against other redfish bait options.