3/22/07

Work the ‘deadly’ plastic worm for bass success
By Terry Madewell
Part One of Two

Terry Madewell Photo

Proper use of the “deadly” plastic worm can bring you a big bass hawg too.

Raising his rod tip carefully through a maze of limbs in a brush pile, I watched as my fishing partner hesitated for a moment, leaned forward with arms outstretched and then reared back with a mighty hookset, the rod tip bowing into a “U” shape under the pressure of yet another heavy largemouth bass. I kidded him again about getting a “hump” in his back when he went into his classic hookset posture, but a tap-tap on the business end of my rod snapped me back into reality. It was my turn now. The bass were really on the plastic worm today, which is bass fishing at its finest as many would claim.

I have had the good fortune of fishing with many outstanding bass fishermen over the years, in just about every type of water imaginable. At some point during the trip I’ll always pose the question “if you had to make your entire living bass fishing (some do) and could only use one lure, what would that lure be?”

Notice that I didn’t ask which lure they thought would be the most exciting to catch bass; I didn’t ask which lure they preferred as a personal preference or style … I essentially asked which lure do they think would enable them to catch the most bass, day-in, day-out, year-in, year-out if the groceries on the family table depended on it. It’s the “show-me-the-money-lure.”

The vast majority gives a quick nod to the plastic worm, with little thought or deliberation required. And almost without fail, the very few who selected another lure would stammer for a few moments about the merits of the worm before choosing something else.

There are rock solid reasons for this faith in what seems to be a simplistic bass lure. One, it is perhaps the most versatile of all the lures. It is by design the leading bottom-bumping, bass catcher of all time. However it is also an outstanding shallow water lure when rigged weightless. Floating worms will catch bass, big bass, right now on lakes Marion and Moultrie and all other area lakes as well. Use a non-floating variety or add a tiny slip of weight to the hook and you have a medium-depth lure. At any depth, the lure can be worked fast, slow or anywhere in between. As any serious bass fisherman knows, if you can cover the surface of the water to the very bottom and you cover your speed range from very slow to very fast, toss in an assortment of colors and sizes that defies description and you’ll have a lure to which you can impart realistic action you literally have the bases covered.

Of course, with so many variables you might need some help figuring out which ones to use depending on the various fishing situations you may encounter. Following are several proven techniques that the pros use to catch bass on the deadly plastic worm. Another plus for the worm is that you can modify and adapt any of these techniques to fit the precise needs of any specific fishing situation you may encounter.

Texas Rig
Certainly one of the most frequently used worm rigs is the Texas worm rig. This rig consists of a slip sinker, typically a cone shaped sinker that is placed on your line and the hook tied immediately below it. The worm is then threaded onto the hook in weedless fashion. Depending on the size of weight you use, the rig can be absolutely awesome from very shallow water to ultra-deep water. Typically, the lure is worked back by casting to the target, be it shoreline, hump or deep water and allowed to sink to the bottom. It is then worked by moving the rod tip from roughly 45 degrees up to 90 degrees. As your work the worm, allow it to fall back into the bass holding cover and literally drop it in their home. Even if the fish is not in a chasing mode, this will prompt a strike. That’s one of the real values of this rig; you can get in their house and trigger instinctive bites, not just feeding or aggressive bites.

Depending on the amount of cover you pull this rig through, you may want to “peg” the slip sinker. If you’re experiencing snags from your sinker slipping too far from your worm body, use a toothpick to peg the sinker right at the worm head. Any size of worm can be productive with this rig and fish can be taken in inches of water right on down to as deep as you can feel a bite.

Carolina Rig
The Carolina rig is a very versatile worm rig and consists of a slip sinker, usually larger than that used with a Texas rig, placed on your main line above a barrel swivel. The worm and hook are on a leader that is about three to four feet long. Typically the worm style that’s used is the floating variety, so the worm will be just off the bottom as you work it along.

The lure is great for use on long sloping points where you need to make long casts to cover a lot of territory while you’re searching for bass. Also, the floating nature of the worm will enable you to fish the lure off the lake bottom and have your worm position to flutter in perfect view of bass on the move.

Many anglers pull the worm over potential bass holding structure by using the electric motor to move the boat along or allow the wind to drift the boat and lure along. You can use anything from huge plastic worms seeking big bass to small finesse type worms for hard-fished bass. This rig is ideal for the angler with imagination to adapt to special places or situations that otherwise would be difficult to fish.

Next week: More worm types for productive bass fishing.