It was my older brother who was the first one I ever saw trim down a larger plastic worm, to around 4" to 5" size. His concept was simple. If the bass wouldn't hit a large 8" or 9" worm, they might strike a smaller one. Back then, the only worms we had were Mann's Jelly Worms and Producto Fliptail worms, both in larger sizes. We also didn't know anything about Texas or weedless rigging, so we nose hooked these trimmed down worms, and fished them with a split shot crimped on about 12" to 15" inches up the line. If we could keep this rig out of moss or weeds, it caught quite a few fish for us. A split shot rig can still be a good setup. Later we learned about Texas rigging, which changed everything for us, and caught us even more fish. Now, and for years, I always keep a couple of bags of smaller plastic worms along. Brands we've had good luck with are Zoom Finesse worm, Roboworms in the smaller size, Lucky Strike 4" worms and CB slider worms. We rig Texas style, shakey head, split shot, slider head, or in more open areas a ball head jig. These smaller " finesse" plastic worms catch the heck out of bass. They've often saved the day for us when the fish wouldn't hit a larger bait.Ive heard a couple of fisherman say they never use them, calling the small worms a dink magnet, and complaining that they're only good for small bass. I disagree. I know there's been some good size fish caught on them. Slowly fishing one of these smaller worms through a good spot, could draw a strike from any size bass. Do you use the small worms? What's your favorite rigging method? What brands do you like, and, have you ever caught any good size fish on them? We all love those days when the fish are slamming spinnerbaits, blasting big topwaters, or killing lipless baits. As we all know, these days don't always happen. The small worms have caught fish for us when the bass seem to get a case of lockjaw, and have been one bait that I've caught bass with in colder water, which is always tough. Anyone else like this " finesse" worm fishing?
