Using Worms When Fishing For Bass

Bass Fishing With a Plastic Worm

Here are some techniques that you should consider for fishing plastic worms for bass in different situations:

Turbid water - bass are sight and sound feeders, and it is important to add turbulence to the plastic worm. Add a No. 3 Hildebrandt gold spinner just ahead of the hook. This sets up a flashing, hissing, throbbing attraction that bass can hear at considerable distances.

Clear water – Cut down the size of the worm, line, and sinker so that bass will have a harder time seeing the lure.

Big vibe worms – Use a worm with a curly tail design that gives off extremely strong vibrations. Try these worms when your straight worms fail to score.

Skipping – This is the only method to get under overhanging branches. You need a spin casting or spinning rig because a level wind reel just doesn’t ski8p well. Make a flat hard cast onto the water’s surface so that it will make a low skip. This will reach bass hangouts impossible to attain in any other way.

Ripping – This will surprise reluctant bass to strike a worm. Let the worm settle to the bottom and lie there for about 20 seconds. Reel slack out of the line and pick up the worm with a long, sharp upsweep of the rod tip. Let it settle to the bottom under tension as you slowly lower the rod tip. Repeat for three or four rips. Strikes will come.

Drift trolling – move to the head of a deep hole and let the wind carry you quietly across the lake while your worm crawls across bottom cover. Raise and lower the worm as it contacts bottom. Pickups usually happen as the worm is being pulled off the cover.

Flyrodding – Fill a single action flyreel with backing and about 50 yards of 10-pound monofilament. Rig a six-inch worm weedless and add a small split-shot ahead of the hook so it will sink slowly. Either flip or flat-cast the worm into every pocket you see and feed it line as it slowly settles to bottom. Keep the flyrod tip low so that you can make a long, sweeping strike when you feel a bass inhale the worm. This is practical in ponds, lakes or streams.

Worm Rig For Bass Fishing

One of the biggest problems with fishing a worm is the inability to sense strikes. Usually the inability to sense them is due to a sinker that is too heavy and a line that is too thick.

Use a variable buoyancy worm using lead strip sinkers. Here are some advantages:

• No moving lead on the line to dampen the feel of a gentle pickup
• You can apply the precise amount of lead to deliver the worm action needed
• It makes it easier for a bass to inhale the worm
• It aids in hook setting
• It’s easier to shake loose from snags
• You can cause the worm to hang virtually suspended over the bottom when fishing shallow water.

To tell how much lead strip is needed, wrap one strip around the hook and bury the barb in the worm. Ease it into the water and watch it sink, it should barely settle toward the bottom. If it sinks to fast, take some off, etc. A slow decent is the ticket here.

Make sure to use no heavier than 8-pound mono line – preferably 6 pound.