More On Plastic Worms

Fishing with plastic worms is the most popular way to catch largemouth bass almost anywhere they are found. This has been true ever since a few men in Tyler, Texas, figured out what's now called the Texas rig for worms back in the 1950s. Plastic worms were a novelty at the time, first cooked up by Nick and Cosma Creme in their Akron, Ohio, kitchen. Now plastic worms are ubiquitous, and that in itself is a problem.

Picking the right worm at the right time for your own fishing isn't easy. Multiple manufacturers now pump out tens of millions of soft plastic baits every year in vastly varied colors, flavors, and sizes. The marketing competition is intense, which means every plastic worm is 5 percent vinyl and 95 percent hype. Competition creates another problem, too, in the form of highly publicized bass tournaments that put a fleeting national spotlight on a different lure or technique every few months, which may have very little to do with your hometown fishing. On the other hand, a worm is a worm is a worm; fishing with plastic worms isn't all that complicated.

Pick Your Worm: 1. Six to seven inch long worms are the everyday staples of bass fishermen everywhere. Four inch worms are newly popular for light line, so called finesse fishing for heavily pressured fish in clear water. If you're deliberately targeting bigger bass, go to a 10 or 12 inch worm, but be aware that you will sacrifice catch numbers for the possibility of a single trophy. 2. Most anglers almost always use worms with curled or ribbon-like tails that wiggle when moved through the water; the built in action means they're easier to fish. The only exception anglers make is using straight tailed worms in dense, woody cover where the thin tails of swimming worms tend to wrap around branches, which is a nuisance. 3. There are worms with numerous ribs or ridges, sometimes called ringworms. Ridges attract bass with underwater vibrations as you slither the worm against logs, rocks, and weeds. They also add apparent bulk to an otherwise very slim lure. The hot new worm style is and exaggerated ringworm design with a fat, flat body called a zipper worm. 4. Finally, you'll need the right colors. Start with three: dark (such as motor oil, deep purple, or black), neutral (smoke, pumpkinseed, or salt and pepper), and bright (bubblegum, bright chartreuse, or bright red). In general, follow the rule of using dark colors in off colored water, more subtle colors in clear water.

Worm Hooks: 1. Sharp hooks are the first commandment of worm fishing. Worm hooks are large, usually sizes1 to 4/0, and hard to set properly in a bass' tough jaw unless they're super sharp. Sharpen them yourself if you like, or buy ultra premium presharpened worm hooks. Many anglers even sharpen newly purchased hooks to their own satisfaction. 2. Light wire hooks in sizes 1 and 1/0 allow a worm to sink more slowly, and they penetrate better on a strike. Use them especially with 4 inch worms. Heavier irons to size 4/0 (for 10 to 12 inch worm) give a more secure feeling when fishing water that holds bigger fish. Straight shank, round bend designs give a slightly better hookset but don't hold the worm on the hook as well when casting and fishing as do common, offset shank versions.

Rods, Reels, and Lines: 1. Both spinning and baitcasting gear are useful in worm fishing but not for the same things. Spinning gets the nod for casting ease with unweighted, near surface worms, plus Texas rigged worms with weights to 3/8 ounce for bottom bouncing in fairly open cover, like along the edge of a creek channel. You'll also want spinning gear to handle the light line and smaller weights used in split shotting and other finesse techniques. 2. Baitcasting gear gives more muscle, which you'll need for long distance casting with Carolina rigs weighing 1/2 to 1 ounce, for flipping heavily weighted Texas rigs tight against dense, woody cover, or when using heavier weights to penetrate dense mats of surface weeds to reach the bass lurking underneath. 3. Rods run the gamut from light tipped spinning rods for fishing small worms on light line on up to a 7 foot flipping stick for heavy line baitcasting work. Match your rod sensibly to both technique and water conditions, and remember this: The lighter your rod (regardless of length, design, or action) the greater the sensitivity you'll have for detecting bites from bass. 4. Most worm fishermen spool up with nylon monofilament: usually 8 to 12 pound test with spinning gear and 12 to 20 pound test with baitcasters. In many cases, braided or fused fine diameter superlines, or even the new fluorocarbon lines, can work better because they stretch less than nylon, thereby giving more sensitivity to strike as well as more direct power on the hookset. 5. The fine diameter and extreme strength of superlines, however, can make them harder to handle. They are also useless around rocks because of poor abrasion resistance. Fluorocarbon, meanwhile, is extremely abrasion resistant, sinks readily, and is supposedly less visible to fish. Many anglers use superline as a main spinning and baitcasting line for most plastic worm work, while adding a fluorocarbon leader for abrasion resistance. Use Palomar knots with superlines, improved clinch knots with fluorcarbon.

The Shallows: Fishing plastic worms in shallow water is simple and exciting because you can often see the strike. Use 6 or 7 inch worms Texas rigged with no added weight. Cast the worm with spinning tackle to specific targets of likely cover along a shoreline or shallow flat. Retrieve the worm in short twitches, making its tail squirm and wiggle. The worm itself will sink no more than a few inches between twitches. If you need to get slightly deeper, add a single split shot about a foot in front of the worm. If the bass are being fussy or seem spooked, try casting the worm directly onto the bank or shoreline, and then ease it ever so gently into the water.

The Middle Depths: The middle depths of most lakes (meaning down to 10 or 15 feet) often offer the greatest variety of bass holding structure in summer, ranging from creek channels and submerged timber to weedy rock piles and dropoffs. Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, and split shotting all pertain to worm fishing here, depending on the type of structure as well as water clarity. 1. Texas rigs are basic; use a sufficiently heavy bullet style weight pegged at the worm's head to allow you to reach and feel the bottom easily. Often this will be a 1/4 or 3/8 ounce weight. Cast along the edge of a submerged creek channel, for example, and allow the worm to sink. Be ready for a strike as the worm is sinking; you'll be able to detect one by a tap on the line or if the line at the surface suddenly darts in any direction. When the worm hits bottom, retrieve it in short hops with your rod held at about 45 degrees above the water's surface. Take in slack line between hops. When a strike comes, it might be a violent heavy surge, or it might be a subtle tap-tap felt in the line. In either case, reel down and pull hard. 2. Fishing a Carolina rig in this situation is a bit different in that the worm is separated from the weight by about a 2 foot leader and suspends slightly above the bottom. The noisemakers incorporated in this style of weighting can also attract fish in off colored water. 3. The West Coast technique of split shotting can also be deadly in mid depths, especially in clear lakes with heavy fishing pressure. This is a light line technique; it won't work in heavy cover. Use a light spinning rod spooled with 6 pound test. Texas rig a neutral toned , 4 inch worm on a light wire size 1 hook. Add a size BB split shot about 2 feet in front of the worm. Cast along the edge of a dropoff or over a medium depth flat, allow the worm to reach bottom, then slowly retrieve the worm. The object is to keep bottom contact with the small weight as the worm trails behind. This takes a careful, attentive touch, as does detecting strikes, which are often subtle.

Deep Structure: 1. Summertime bass often hang deep, especially in large lakes and reservoirs, and a Carolina rigged worm carrying 1/2 to 1 ounce of weight will enable you to cover lots of territory at depths of 15 or 20 feet or more. Fishing a Carolina rig is simple: Make a long cast, let the rig hit bottom, and then drag it back slowly along the bottom. An occasional sharp pulse or two with your rod tip will cause the rigged weight to click against the bead and swivel, and (in theory at least) the underwater noise will cause bass to swim over and see your trailing worm. 2. A new technique called drop shotting, meanwhile is a deadly method of fishing plastic worms straight down to bass in deep water. Drop shotting essentially means fishing a worm as a dropper above the weight itself. Tie on a worm hook, and leave a long tag end (about 2 feet) trailing from the knot. Attach a weight (1/4 ounce, say) to the tag end, and Texas rig a worm on the hook above the weight. Although this rig can be cast and retrieved, it's generally better to drop it straight down to fish on structure that you've found with your boat's electronics. Once the weight hits bottom, the worm is suspended about 2 feet above the weight. Jiggle and jig the worm slightly, and be ready for a hard yank.

As varied as these techniques might seem, they're just a few of many possibilities. And while you experiment with others, you might also wonder just how it is that our new age of bass fishing, plastic worms work better than the real thing.