What 10" Worm Is Appropriate?

[Fishes in trees]

I am presuming that more than a few of us have read the July/August Bassmaster magazine.

In the article about why Terry Scroggins is a better big worm fisherman than you they describe his approach to how & why & where he fishes 10" worms.  The article mentions that the worm has to float, so as to stand the tail vertically off the bottom.  The article doesn't specifically mention which brand of worm is used.

 

My question becomes which brand of 10" worm is best for this application.  Berkley power worm?

Zoom worms?  I don't know.  

 

This article has got me rethinking how & where I throw the 10" worms and I want to throw one that meets the criteria set forth in the article.  Opinions please.

[J Francho]

He's sponsored by YUM, perhaps that's a clue.  None of the worms you mentioned, "float."

[F14A-B]

No, powerbait does not float, but they sure do have great swimming action on the way down..

I like the 10" just fine.. Good luck...

[primetime]

I have never seen a true "Floating" 10" Ribbon Tail worm, however I know that Charlie's makes "buoyant ribbon tails" but I find that a Power Worm works as well as any other and I am usually more concerned with my terminal tackle and color than brand since every company makes a good ribbon tail imo.

 

I often throw a ribbon tail on a jig head so I if you want the tail to sit upwards in the water and have a hard bottom a stand up football type jig would work well, or you could always add a small walleye style slip float or pill float in the shape of a worm weight either in between the weight on a carolina rig or instead of a bullet weight....You can get creative and throwing a big worm in the summer does work very well at certain times, so does flipping a ribbon tail which I think alot more people do, they just do not speak about it as much, same as punching a Senko....I find a Senko get's through anything easy and get's hammered better than alot of "typical" flipping baits..

 

I guess Zman would make a floating ribbon tail but I am not a huge fan of elaztach but I know alot of people are...The Strike King Zulu flukes are elaztach, not sure if they make more than just flukes and lizards, but they do work awesome for fishing near the surface.

[roadwarrior]

I have had great luck with the Rage Tail Thumper and Anaconda, but they do not float.

 

 

 

[primetime]

The anaconda has pulled in some of my personal bests, and I love the Red shad for stained water, that worm is a killer as it moves alot of water. You could make it float if you wanted by using a floating bullet weight or any of the other style floats that are used on walleye rigs.

[J Francho]

I think the idea is to have the worm float straight up (or close to straight) with the bullet holding it down.  About the best worm I've seen for this are the Roboworms and Power Shaky Worms, but I don't think they come that big.

[primetime]

The Big BIte Squirel Tail worms come in 8" I believe and do the head stand nicely and it is a good worm for fishing all the way back to the boat if on a shaky rig or if you are casting toward cover...

 

Floating worms that are truly floaters are usually hard in texture and can be tough to rig weedless and get good hooksets and fish also let them go faster than usuall from my experiences. I would think if wanted a ribbon tail that would give the tail lift while having the head anchored down, would be to check on the Zman, Strike king websites for eleztach. Also, Worms with ringed bodies like the Rage ribbon tail-forget name, new version of original anaconda, or any worm from Lunker city, El grande, or Stanley has a sidewinder worm that has rings to capture water and stand up right..

 

However, you can't beat a 10" power worm, Rage worm, or Culplrit  for Ribbon tails with some Megastrike & extra worm oil in weeds, and I have been dipping all my baits and lures in a mixture of megastrike and Worm Oil/Vegetable Oil in a Gulp tub and I believe it is helping me out since fish hold on and the slick in the water looks like shad have been getting slaughtered so it gets a bite going at times..That Megastrike and also the Pro-cure Gel UV have made me a believer in scents, but Powerbait is plenty scented as is gulp, trigger x etc.

[Heron]

I have a 10.5" worm that floats, but it is not a ribbon tail.   I use an Excite Maximus worm.  Its a big worm, and though it is not a ribbon tail, it floats very nicely for its size.  It even looks fantastic when fished weightless. 

 

Another bait similar to that would be a Yum Mighty Worm.

[Mike L]

I have had great luck with the Rage Tail Thumper and Anaconda, but they do not float.

 

 

 

Ditto...

[Loop_Dad]

I am presuming that more than a few of us have read the July/August Bassmaster magazine.

In the article about why Terry Scroggins is a better big worm fisherman than you they describe his approach to how & why & where he fishes 10" worms.  The article mentions that the worm has to float, so as to stand the tail vertically off the bottom.  The article doesn't specifically mention which brand of worm is used.

 

My question becomes which brand of 10" worm is best for this application.  Berkley power worm?

Zoom worms?  I don't know.  

 

This article has got me rethinking how & where I throw the 10" worms and I want to throw one that meets the criteria set forth in the article.  Opinions please.

 

Oh no! Now everybody will start throwing ribbon tail!

 

Culplrit floats without hook. With hook, tail stands up, so this might do the job for you. I just received the Culplrit in the mail and the weather has been pretty nastly here in central Texas last few days, so I am yet to fish with it yet.

 

I don't know how he fishes the worm, but I like to fish with big jigging motion, so actually probably it doesn't matter if it floats or not as my bait is constantly doing up and down. Does he fish slow?

[WRB]

Before we get into floating worms verses sinking worms, getting the tail to be above the weight as it sinks all the tail needs to do is create resistance to slow it down. A Senko with a swimming tail, the sinks slower than the front ends tail up when it's sinking. All worms with "action swimming tails" fit this criteria as long as the weight pulls the front down fast, it takes a few seconds for the tail to sink after hitting bottom and rest.

Floating worms are really neutral buoyancy and tend to suspend in lieu of floating like a cork. The plastisol must be lighter weight than the water or the plastisol needs to be air filled like foam to float. Oil is lighter than water and helps worms float, salt is heavier tends to make worms sink.

Injection molded plastisol used for mass production worms is heavier than water. Hand poured plastisol used to make worms is neutral buoyancy, add oil and they float or may sink very slowly.

10" hand poured worms with action type tails are ideal for presentation when you want a tail up worm at rest on the bottom.

Upton's Customs make a hand poured soft ribbon tail he calls 8 1/2" (body length) that is 13" long and floats at rest.

Tom

[benthinkin]

i use zooms

[Jtrout]

I use culprit they have awesome colors

[Fishes in trees]

Update:  in one of my boxes of seldom used stuff, I found a worm blower.  This is a little plastic bottle with a needle originally designed to inflate night crawlers.  Anyway, I' going to experiment with putting little bubbles of air in the tails of different plastic worms and see what happens.