Moving From Regular Worms To Giant Worms For Bass

[hoosierbass07]

  This year I caught 99.9% of my bass using regular sized (five to seven and a half inches) plastic worms (Texas Rigged).  Most of the time I caught most of the bass using five inch to seven inch worms.   My main plastic worms were Yum five inch Yum Dinger and Berkley seven inch Power Worm Power Bait.  

 

  During the end of summer/early fall I picked up some Culprit 7.5" worms in Fire and Ice.  I mostly picked them up because of the crazy looking color - I thought that color was nothing more than a gimmick and no way would a bass go after it.  Well I went to my favorite state park and was bank fishing.  I made a cast at a limb sticking up out in water and after four or five casts a bass ran off with the worm!  I messed up though and lost it because I was messing around with my drag.  But the important thing is - I found out bass will go after those Culprit worms. 

 

 Another thing I discovered - the Culprit worms I used were 7.5" long.  This winter I've been buying more and more plastic worms and finally got to buying giant sized ones - ten inch and larger.  

 

 So this is my thinking - if the bass I go after will go after a 7.5" plastic worm, shouldn't they go after ten inch worms and twelve inch worms?  

 

 One thing I don't want to do is throw too big a lure.  But I do want focus on catching large sized bass in 2014 and not small bass.  I ordered four packs of plastic worms last week and they range in size from ten inch to fifteen inches.  

 

 So my questions - do you fish giant worms differently than regular sized worms?  I Texas Rig my worms and usually cast it out, let it sink, pull the rod up, lower rod, reel in some slack, and repeat.  Sometimes I will swim/reel in the worm too at different speeds.  Can giant worms be fished the same or must they be fished slower or faster?  

 

 Can a one pound bass take a ten inch worm?  What about twelve and fifteen inches?  

 

 Thanks

[Catt]

A one pound bass is very capable of eating a 14" worm.

[zachb34]

Besides senkos 99.9% of my worm fishing is 10-14" worms I prefer to drag them and fish them slow but as stated above me small fish have no issues eating these big worms.

[Comfortably Numb]

Hoosierbass07 said "So this is my thinking - if the bass I go after will go after a 7.5" plastic worm, shouldn't they go after ten inch worms and twelve inch worms?"

 

My thinking is opposite. If a bass would eat a 10-12" worm, wouldn't it eat a 6-7.5" worm. I just have more confidence in a smaller worm.  

[ClackerBuzz]

you got the right idea.  upgrading to bigger worms means bigger bass in general.  they fall faster and get to the bottom quicker which is big bass territory and seems to keep dinks at bay. i also like to think of big bass taking an interest as soon as they hit the water.  ie a turn of the head or any movement at all mean the dinks need to stay away or else  . they work great anytime but esp good pre thru post spawn. i have great success in the middle of august too but if the water temp is high you need the patience of a chopping block.  and they are awesome for night fishing. keep in mind neither a 5" or 10" will work if there are no fish for 100yds. this is more a factor if ur fishing larger bodies of water.  not a problem if ur fishing ponds.  i like 6" senkos and 10" ribbon tails for ponds and small lakes. fewer bites but bigger fish.

yes just use ur same retrieve and experiment to find out what they want that day.

[Bluebasser86]

I drag big worms most of the time while I hop smaller worms.

[Nice_Bass]

I made the switch to 10 and 12 inch power worms exclusively for worms- catch good numbers of small fish as well as the bigger ones.

I don't agree that however that they get to the bottom faster though, it actually is a bit slower since I use the same weight I would on a smaller worm, and the water resistance is a bit more.

I hop, drag, etc. and all works well.

Hook set is a bit different for me though. 

Don't be intimidated by the size your hook will look in them, but do make sure you use the correct size hook.  I prefer a 5/0 but have thrown on a 4.

[roadwarrior]

I have had VERY good luck using both the Rage Tail Thumper and Annaconda.

 

 

 

[nascar2428]

I caught a 4 inch bass on a 5 inch senko this summer. Made me laugh all day. A 10 inch worm might prevent that from happening, however as others have stated  it won't prevent the majority of fish from biting. Quite a few of videos showing bass unable to swallow larger fish.

[Arv]

Big Texas rigged worms are one of my favorite things to throw. As stated above, you will catch all sized fish on larger worms. I really like the Rage Tail Recon Worm. Although the durability is not the best, to me its worth it if I'm going to catch fish with it. I've also had a lot of luck with the 7in RT Thumper worm so I picked up a bunch of the 10in. Also, picked up some of the RT Anaconda's which I can't wait to get in the water when it warms up!

[Mike L]

I have had VERY good luck using bothe the Rage Tail Thumper and Annaconda.

 

 

 

These 2 are the only ones I use now also.

I've found that the Thumper gets hit more often for some reason.

Mike

[hoosierbass07]

  So when I get to a spot to fish, either bank fishing or kayak fishing - what worms should I start out with? The giant worms or regular sized worms?  I don't want to get to a spot and throw the giant worm and scare off all the smaller bass.  Would a giant worm scare off many of the smaller bass?  Or should I start with the regular five inch/seven inch worms and after a while try the giant sized worms?  I love worms and can't wait to cast these giant ones into the water! 

[Arv]

I've caught smaller bass on big worms. Personally, I start out mid to large lures and downsize if I need to. I prefer to catch fish the way I want to, but my goal is still to catch fish so that is my strategy for the most part.

[MIbassin]

The frustrating thing is when you set the hook with a 13 inch worm and you think you have a 10lber and it turns out to be an 11 inch dink…..

[Primus]

 I live in SW Michigan which should offer similar largemouth fishing to what you have in Indiana and the majority of time when fishing ribbontail worms I fish the 10" Powerworm, in most situations I haven't seen a big difference in the number of bites and the average size fish is usually bigger.

 

 That said I tend to catch bigger fish on average if I can get them to hit a full size Zoom Brush Hog, the 4 lb plus fish seem to like that bulky bait. I usually fish it on a 3/8 tungsten slip sinker. This year when fishing a 10" worm at a lake near my house I stuck about 15 fish with the biggest at about 3 lbs.  Tired of catching average fish I switched to a Brush Hog and added a nice 4lber and 5lber within a few minutes after hitting the same area as the worm. I'm not saying the Brush Hog is a magic bait that always catches big fish but it seems to do that more consistently over most soft plastics that I fish. Sometimes a bulky profile will appeal to bigger fish over a long profile.

 

Last but not least if you are not already fishing a jig you will need to add that to your arsenal. Swimbaits & Deep Diving cranks have been good producers for me in my attempts to target bigger fish as well

[bigbill]

I was using the culprit 12" black shad worms. I caught a 13" fish while reeling it in. What was this fish thinking. I put a shot of obstinate worm/crawler scent on it.

On a tough day sinks can be a good thing but let's not educate them all too soon.

Finding culprit worms in all sizes and colors can be hard lately. I purchase them at the culprit website and from, www.brannansbassshop.com The guys and gals at brannans are some they know there baits in Texas.

[Raul]

I don´t like to sound like an arse but going worm bigger isn´t going to make any difference in what you catch, I´ve caught tons of 8 inch bass with 10 inch worms, actually the only difference I´ve found while fishing with big worms is that they hang up a lot more than smaller worms.

[BassMan_Kyle]

I fish almost exclusively 10-18" worms ranging from huge trick worms to ring tail and most of the time ribbon tail. I have caught 7" fish on 15" worms and I have also caught 6lb fish on 4" finesse worms. A lot of people underestimate a bass's ability to inhale large lures but in reality if the fish gets close to the hook more times than not it's a caught fish. Usually with the larger baits I let them take it for 3-5 seconds before setting hook just to be sure they got the whole thing. Just remember what matters the most is you will be using a larger gauge hook and need a rod and setup stiff enough to drive the hook home more times than not a hard snap set is key with bigger hooks. As far as retrieve I like to let the fish tell me. Sometimes drag sometimes hop but what I like to do is fish it kind of like a jig when it runs into timber or rock or something I'll pause and shake it a little and if nothing bites I'll rip it up 2-3' and a lot of times if it didn't peak there interest you'll get a reaction strike.

You haven't lived until you've caught a 5lb fish on a 12" trick worm on a shaky head lol

[Bass Junkie]

Mann's 12" Jelly Worm 

[J Francho]

 

So my questions - do you fish giant worms differently than regular sized worms?

 

Yep. I use a bigger hook.

[Catt]

Yep. I use a bigger hook.

Exactly! ;(