Dice Baits Explained: A Breakdown of the Hottest New Bait on the Bass Fishing Scene

By: FishUSA Staff

April 3, 2025

There’s a new trend taking the bass fishing industry by storm, and it may be the most bizarre one that we’ve ever seen. It’s dice baits, cubes of soft plastics with silicone rubber skirt material pulled through them. I know it sounds bizarre, and it looks even more obscure than it sounds, but these baits catch bass. In this article, we’ll discuss why dice baits are so effective, cover the many available varieties, and take a look at how to fish these unique lure creations.

Why Dice Baits?

When to Fish Dice Baits

How to Fish Dice Baits

Dice Bait and Other Similar Options

Setups for Fishing Dice Baits

Conclusion

Why Dice Baits?

Like many other American bass fishing trends, dice baits originated in Japan. There are just a few lakes in Japan capable of supporting large-scale tournaments, meaning those select lakes become extremely pressured. This inspires unique creations such as dice baits, something that bass haven’t seen before with subtle actions that trigger pressured fish to bite.

Unnatural Look, Natural Action

Dice baits obviously do not represent any prey items a bass may come across on a regular basis, so why do they bite them? Taking one look at these baits underwater tells the story pretty well.

All of those small silicone skirt strand appendages move and create drag when the bait is pulled and then let fall, allowing it to displace water and have a very tantalizing action. The appendages also send out subtle vibrations as the bait moves and displaces water, giving even a relatively small dice bait quite the presence when in a bass’ domain. Similar to burning then slowing down your spinnerbait to flare the skirt, or pausing your jig on the bottom, when the dice bait is stopped or slowed down the appendages flare out, a natural triggering mechanism for bass thanks to similar actions from crayfish and other aquatic invertebrates.

In conclusion, it’s more the dice bait’s ability to mimic natural, prey-like movements that triggers the bites rather than the bait’s appearance.

When to Fish Dice Baits

Dice baits excel when the fishing gets tough. The ability to fool finicky fish on highly pressured lakes or during calm weather conditions is what makes dice baits special. They offer an action that most bass haven’t yet seen, which can be key to catching your kicker on tournament day when the fish are at their most cautious.

How to Fish Dice Baits

Despite the dice bait’s unique build, it is actually quite versatile. Several rigging variations are explained below.

Weightless “Wacky”

The most popular rigging method is probably to simply hook the bait through the middle of the body with a neko, wacky, or octopus style hook, and fish it weightless. Similar to how one would fish a wacky rigged stickworm. For sinking varieties, this style of rigging is great for livescoping suspended fish or working on or near shore cover, especially around the spawn. For floating variations, this rigging allows the bait to be fished as a topwater or just barely subsurface.

Dropshot

A dropshot is an extremely popular way to rig dice baits for a number of reasons. This method allows the angler to hold the bait in the strike zone for an extended period of time, whether that be on a piece of structure or in front of a fish. It also works very well when casting at fish near the bottom that are seen on forward facing sonar. Putting the bait right on the fish’s nose with a fast fall can trigger a reaction strike as all those appendages wave then stop suddenly.

Neko Rig

A Neko Rig is a great dice bait rigging option if you’d like to give the bait a slightly faster fall than weightless, but not as fast as with a dropshot. Simply take a nail weight of your desired size, insert it into the body of the bait, and hook it like you would when fishing it weightless.

Carolina Rig

A less popular, but very effective method of fishing dice baits. The Carolina rig works especially well with floating dice baits, as it allows the bait to hover just above the bottom.

Dice Bait and Other Similar Options

The OSP Saikoro Dice Rubber soft bait was the original dice bait and the one to spawn this trend; however, they are very difficult to get a hold of. There are now other dice rubber variations that are more readily available, as well as original spin offs of this concept. Below, we explore the options available at FishUSA.com.

Three Brothers Baits Loaded Dice

The Three Brothers Baits Loaded Dice is made from the company’s “Super Stretchy Plastic” material, meaning it will hold up to a great many fish catches. This bait also features very long appendages, which can be easily cut down if the angler desires to do so. The Loaded Dice is available in two sizes, 0.5” and 0.75.” The 0.5” size is salted and has a slow sink, while its larger counterpart is not and will float.

Shop Three Brothers Baits Loaded Dice

Strike King Tumbleweed

We are not certain of a date we’ll have the Strike King Tumbleweed in stock yet, but we are very excited for its release. This bait puts a unique spin on the traditional dice bait, with a rounded ten-sided body rather than a cube. The tumbleweed is buoyant, so to fish it subsurface you’ll need to Neko rig it or put it on a dropshot or Carolina rig. This buoyancy offers the opportunity to fish the Tumbleweed as a topwater as well.

Geecrack Imo Kemushi Cue Bomb

The Geecrack Imo Kemushi Cue Bomb is composed of a spherical body made from Geecrack’s Salt + Aminos + Flavor soft plastic material. A large number of fine silicone “hairs” make up the skirt of this bait. These fine “hairs” allow for a very lifelike, natural action that also displaces a lot of water, even though this bait is only 1” - 1.2” long.

Shop Geecrack Imo Kemushi Cue Bomb

Geecrack Imo Kemushi Soft Bait

The Geecrack Imo Kemushi Soft Bait comes in three unique varieties, the Soft Bait, the Floating, and the Slim. All three variations feature an elongated soft plastic body rather than a sphere or a cube, and more than 20 rubber “hairs” that wiggle enticingly in the water. This bait was originally designed to mimic caterpillars falling from overhanging trees. Its elongated shape and floating nature or very slow sink rate allows it to do an excellent job of mimicking such prey. However, American anglers have also found success dropshotting this bait, especially for highly pressured smallmouth.

Shop Geecrack IMO Kemushi Soft Bait

Shop Geecrack Imo Kemushi Floating

Shop Geecrack Imo Kemushi Slim

Hideup Coike JDM Fullcast Creature Bait

The Hideup Coike Fullcast Creature Bait is one of a kind. This bait has a 23mm diameter spherical body and, unlike other baits of its kind, its appendages are thick and tendril-like rather than fine silicone strands. Weighing in at about ½ ounce, the Coike Creature Bait can be easily fished without added weight, but it is buoyant so that it can be fished as a topwater. When rigged on a dropshot, Neko rig, or Carolina rig, this bait suspends perfectly to hang in the face of pressured bass. Due to the large size of the Fullcast Creature Bait, a 4/0 octopus hook is recommended for rigging.

Shop Hideup Coike JDM Fullcast Creature Bait

Hideup Coike JDM 17mm Creature Bait

If the Fullcast Hideup Coike Creature Bait seems a little big for your liking, the 17mm variety is the way to go. It features the same characteristics as the full size bait, just in a smaller package.

Shop Hideup Coike JDM 17mm Creature Bait

Hideup Coike Original Shrimp

The Hideup Coike Original Shrimp features an elongated body leading down to a split tail. The 65mm, 3.2g body is covered in tendril-like appendages that quiver and “breathe”, making this bait come to life. The Coike Shrimp works very well paired on a dropshot, Texas Rig, or Neko Rig, and has been known to produce when the bite gets VERY tough.

Shop Hideup Coike Original Shrimp

Hideup Coike Medium Shrimp

The Hideup Coike Medium Shrimp is a scaled down version of the Original, with a 50mm body rather than 65mm. However, this bait weighs 6g, almost twice what the Original does. The Medium Shrimp balances finesse and casting ability, with the same fish catching ability as the Original.

Shop Hideup Coike Medium Shrimp

Setups for Fishing Dice Baits

Since dice baits are largely a finesse technique, you can get away with throwing them on light spinning tackle. Your favorite dropshot, wacky, or Neko rig rod and reel paired up with 10lb braid and a 6-8lb fluorocarbon leader will likely suffice. For larger dice baits or heavier applications, a casting setup may be preferred. Check out a few of the options we have listed below.

FishUSA Flagship Bass Spinning Rod

If you’re looking to add a dice bait rod to the arsenal but don’t want to break the bank, the Flagship Bass Spinning Rod is an excellent choice. The 6’10” MLXF model works well for dropshotting dice, while the 7’6” MLMF and 7’8” MMF options are great for distance casting and working an area.

Shop FishUSA Flgship Bass Spinning Rod

Shimano Zodias Spinning Rod

The Shimano Zodias Spinning Rod is a finesse fishing machine, with a great variety of lengths and actions to suit any dice fishing application you may encounter. It’s incredibly sensitive, so you can feel very light bites from those finicky, pressured bass.

Shop Shimano Zodias Spinning Rod

FishUSA Flagship BFS Casting Rod

The FishUSA Flagship BFS Casting Rod is perfect for those looking to fish their dice baits on a bait finesse setup. This 6’6” light power casting rod can throw around any dice baits with ease, and paired with a BFS casting reel and light fluorocarbon you’ll be fishing as finesse as with any spinning setup.

Shop FishUSA Flagship BFS Casting Rod

St. Croix Victory Casting Rod

If you’re looking to throw your dice baits on a Carolina rig, around heavy cover, or with a significant amount of added weight, you may want to opt for a heavier casting setup. The St. Croix Victory Casting Rod is available in a huge variety of options to suit your preference, with each model being lightweight and sensitive.

Shop St. Croix Victory Casting Rod

Conclusion

Dice baits may not look traditional, but they have certainly proven that they have a place in bass fishing thanks to their unique, lifelike action that pressured fish have not seen before. As this trend continues to gain popularity, we can be sure to see more dice bait variations popping up, but there currently are some excellent options. Don’t sleep on this trend and grab a pack of dice baits to try today!

Shop Bass Fishing Gear & Tackle

Bass Fishing Reels

Bass Casting Rods

Bass Spinning Rods

Bass Soft Plastic Lures