What Are Hemp-Infused Soft Plastics, and Do They Catch More Bass?

What "hemp-infused" means

Most scented plastics get their scent one of two ways: a salt or scent mixed into the plastic, or a spray or gel you add on the water. Most tough plastics get their toughness by being made harder.

A hemp-infused bait works differently. Hemp goes into the plastic mix at the pour, so it runs all the way through the bait. You're not relying on a coating that washes off after a few casts.

At Johnny Creek Baits we pour every soft plastic in California's Central Valley with our own hemp infusion. Our team came to fishing from the hemp business here in the Valley. We knew the plant before we ever poured a worm. That's why it's in every bait we make.

To be clear, the hemp in our baits is about durability, scent and how the bait looks in the light. That's all we claim for it.

What the hemp does

Hemp does two jobs in our baits, and they matter equally: it makes the bait last, and it gives it a scent that lasts. It also gives the plastic its own natural look in the light.

Durability without a stiff bait

Most ways to make a soft plastic tougher also make it harder. A stiff bait lasts longer, but it doesn't move or feel like something alive. A bass that clamps down on a hard, rubbery bait is more likely to let go.

Hemp lets us have both. It adds durability without making the bait too hard or rigid. The bait stays soft and moves naturally on the fall and on the bottom, and it holds up fish after fish and cast after cast.

That's not a new idea. People have used hemp to make things tougher for centuries, from rope and sailcloth to the natural-fiber panels some carmakers mold into door panels today. We put the same plant to work in a soft plastic.

On the water, that means fewer baits torn at the head after one fish, less re-rigging when the bite is on, and more fish per bag. It counts most on rigs that are hard on plastic: a Texas rig dragged through tules and rock, or a wacky rig with the hook through the middle.

Scent that lasts

The scent is in the plastic, not on it. It keeps leaving a scent trail after dozens of casts, and after the bait sits on the bottom on a long deadstick.

It also gives the bait a natural taste. Bass have taste buds all over the mouth, including the lips and gills, not just a tongue. Fish biologist Keith Jones said a bass can reject a bait "within a split second" if it doesn't feel or taste right. A bait that feels soft and tastes natural gives you a better chance to set the hook.

A natural light profile

Hemp brings its own color. The chlorophyll in the plant gives the plastic a natural tint, and chlorophyll reacts to light differently than a synthetic dye. We don't claim that's better than dye. It's different: a natural look that shifts with the sun, the clouds and the water.

You can see it most clearly in our Ringo colors. They have no colorant at all, just hemp-infused plastic and flake. The color you see is the hemp itself. Our other colors have hemp too, plus a synthetic dye for the shade.

Do hemp-infused baits catch more bass?

Here's the honest answer: hemp won't make a bass bite a bait it wasn't going to bite. What it does is help you land more of the fish that do.

Bass are sight feeders first. They find a bait mostly by seeing it and feeling it move through their lateral line. Smell matters most at close range. So neither durability nor scent will pull a bass from 30 feet away. What they can do:

• Keep you fishing. A bait that survives a fish goes right back in the water. When a school is fired up, you're catching instead of re-tying.
• Keep it natural. A tough bait that's still soft moves like it should and feels right when a bass bites down.
• Buy you time. A bass that keeps the bait in its mouth an extra second gives you time to feel it and swing. That matters most on slow rigs like the drop shot, Neko and wacky rig, where the bass often picks it up without you feeling a hard thump.
• Help in dirty water and on pressured fish. When bass can't see well, or have seen every bait, smell and feel do more of the work.

Our tournament results back that up. At our first Johnny Creek Baits Only Tournament on Lake Don Pedro in April 2026, every team fished nothing but our baits. The winning team brought in 24.72 pounds, and 13 more teams weighed between 13 and 18 pounds.

Big fish on hemp-infused baits

No better proof than the fish. Here are a few of the big ones our anglers have landed on Johnny Creek baits.