Plastic Worms.

[Memo]

Hi, long time lurker here and finally decided to post something. I was wondering what are some of the favorite plastics people use. I also was wondering if someone remembers the name of some plastic worms that were sold as a very thin tail so it always swam even without a weight. Thanks.

[A-Jay]

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~

There are quite a few worms that work very well ~ Here's a few of my favorites ~

Berkley Powerbait Power Worms both the 10 & 7 inch, Power Team Lures 10" Ribbon Hinge Worm, Strike King Rage Thumper Worm, Mann's Jelly Worm 9 & 12 inch, Lake Fork Hyper Worm  5 & 6 inch, Both the Zoom Trick worm & the Zoom Magnum Trick Worm, and finally the Berkley Powerbait Power Shaky Worm.

A-Jay  

[papajoe222]

Welcome and thanks for your inquiry and also for letting us know there are some members that prefer to just sit back and read all the great information posted on the site.

You're likely to get more than a few replies concerning favorite plastics, not only styles but brands. There are a ton of styles when it comes to soft plastics. Worms, grubs, tubes, beaver and creature style baits, 'Flukes', swimbaits...........you get the idea.  For decades, the plastic worm was the #1 soft plastic mainly because of all the various ways it can be rigged. Anglers have been discovering different ways to rig other plastics and I doubt that fact still holds true.

As for your inquiry about that thin tailed worm, it was likely a ribbon tailed worm and just about every company has their own version of one. The original Mann's Jelly Worm was the first one I thought of, even though it isn't a ribbon tail, as it was the first worm I recall ever throwing that had anything but a blunt tail.

[MIbassyaker]

It does sound like you're talking about a ribbon tail; Original Culprit or Berkley Power Worm, maybe.

I don't honestly think there is any such thing as a bad worm.

[FloridaFishinFool]

I think the best rubber worm ever made was the Mann's mannipulator. It was half rubber worm and half tail, and a triple spiral design that swam like no other! And it fit my wishes for a low mass rubber worm which made it easier to set the hook when a bass grabbed it.

Unfortunately, this rubber worm was discontinued more than 10 years ago and when I contacted Mann corp. about it, they said it was not a good seller which was why it was discontinued and they have no plans on bringing it back either which is a shame because to me it was one of the best designs ever made and the bass here in central Florida went crazy for it.

I especially liked using it without a weight and with a 4/0 hook and swimming it around on or near the surface in lily pads it was very effective.

And believe it or not, I still have about a dozen bags of them stored away and use them from time to time... Love that worm!

This is how the triple tail came in the bag:

Grab one out of the bag and you had to break that little tab that kept the tail all rolled up, and once the tab was broken the tail would unfold into this:

Now you want to talk about a rubber worm that swims??? This was it!

I sure wish someone would replicate this rubber worm!

[MIbassyaker]

2 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

Now you want to talk about a rubber worm that swims??? This was it!

I sure wish someone would replicate this rubber worm!

Yep...I'd fish that.

[bowhunter63]

Rage Tail,Berkley power worms and the old Creme scoundrel are my main three.

[Memo]

That Mann worm looks sexy as hell. Thanks to all for your replies, its good to know theres a lot of friendly people here.

[blckshirt98]

By thin do you mean flat thing or pointy/needle thin?

[F14A-B]

2 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

I think the best rubber worm ever made was the Mann's mannipulator. It was half rubber worm and half tail, and a triple spiral design that swam like no other! And it fit my wishes for a low mass rubber worm which made it easier to set the hook when a bass grabbed it.

Unfortunately, this rubber worm was discontinued more than 10 years ago and when I contacted Mann corp. about it, they said it was not a good seller which was why it was discontinued and they have no plans on bringing it back either which is a shame because to me it was one of the best designs ever made and the bass here in central Florida went crazy for it.

I especially liked using it without a weight and with a 4/0 hook and swimming it around on or near the surface in lily pads it was very effective.

And believe it or not, I still have about a dozen bags of them stored away and use them from time to time... Love that worm!

This is how the triple tail came in the bag:

Grab one out of the bag and you had to break that little tab that kept the tail all rolled up, and once the tab was broken the tail would unfold into this:

Now you want to talk about a rubber worm that swims??? This was it!

I sure wish someone would replicate this rubber worm!

Since we are being sentimental, remember Gillraker outta Jacksonville? Those are my all time favorite.. I caught more big Ole Florida largemouth in Central Florida lakes than any other bait, even over golden shiners.. 

Those days were special...

[Memo]

1 hour ago, blckshirt98 said:

By thin do you mean flat thing or pointy/needle thin?

I mean the tail has a curve but it was so thin even the slightest water current made the tail swim.

[Fishes in trees]

There are lots of different brands of ribbon tail worms out in the marketplace.   Buy one and try it - if you don't like it buy & try another.   Sooner or later you will find one that you like.  I have some Gambler ribbon tail worms that have pretty long flexible tails, relative to their body length.   If I were starting out using ribbon tail worms I'd probably start out with Culprits, they come in lots of different colors.

[FloridaFishinFool]

5 hours ago, Alonerankin2 said:

Since we are being sentimental, remember Gillraker outta Jacksonville? Those are my all time favorite.. I caught more big Ole Florida largemouth in Central Florida lakes than any other bait, even over golden shiners.. 

Those days were special...

Yep! And I still have several bags of the gillraker too! I found an old fisherman on ebay who can't fish any longer and is selling off his old stockpile and I have been buying them up and all of his mannipulator worms too!

And the old gillraker is designed in sections so if you tear up a few you can cut them off, move the hook down to some unused sections and keep on fishing with it.

I just found some on ebay

[KDW96]

1 hour ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

Yep! And I still have several bags of the gillraker too! I found an old fisherman on ebay who can't fish any longer and is selling off his old stockpile and I have been buying them up and all of his mannipulator worms too!

And the old gillraker is designed in sections so if you tear up a few you can cut them off, move the hook down to some unused sections and keep on fishing with it.

I just found some on 

Culprit make a 6in worm that will work for ya. Ive used,and still do the Gillraker. Used them for 20 years. I get them usually on ebay. Great ole bait!

 

[WIGuide]

As far as ribbon tail worms go, I used to fish Berkley and Mann's as a little kid and then I finally settled on Cluprit being my favorite brand. 

9 hours ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

Now you want to talk about a rubber worm that swims??? This was it!

I sure wish someone would replicate this rubber worm!

It's definitely not the same, but if you're looking for a worm that will swim, check these out 

 

[roadwarrior]

Rage Tail 7" & 10" Ananconda http://www.ragetail.com/news/color-charts/rage-anaconda-color-selection/

Rage Tail 8" Recon  http://www.ragetail.com/news/color-charts/rage-recon-color-selection/

 

[Paul Roberts]

There is one way to make any swimming-tail worm swim at the lowest speed: boil the tail. Twenty seconds in boiling water will soften it and have it writhing with a 1/32nd oz weight ahead of it. Do not boil the head bc you want to retain some durability there.

Now, boiling has the nasty habit of releasing pthalates, toxic plastic softeners used in all common SP's. ElaZtech is one that does not use pthalates, however I'm not aware of a real ribbon tail bait using this material. Waiting....

 

[tholmes]

10 hours ago, Alonerankin2 said:

Since we are being sentimental, remember Gillraker outta Jacksonville? Those are my all time favorite.. I caught more big Ole Florida largemouth in Central Florida lakes than any other bait, even over golden shiners.. 

Those days were special...

I LOVED those Gillraker worms! My stash finally ran out a few years ago and I've discovered that there are numerous options for ribbon-tail worms. Culprit, Berkeley, Yum, etc., but I still miss thsoe Gillrakers.

 

Tom

[WRB]

Bass Assasin made a very thin ribbon tail worm, don't know if it is still available?

The original Berley Power ribbon tails were fairly thin and longer tails than the current Power worms.

Tom

[FloridaFishinFool]

Does anyone remember the Culprit sticky worm with a small patch of velcro embedded to stick to the teeth of the bass?

I don't think Culprit made these for very long because I don't think the idea worked the way they had hoped it would. It seemed more of a sales gimmick to get a fisherman to grab a bag of their special worms with something different on it and they (culprit) probably knew it was a hokey idea and did not work like they advertised.

They said once the bass picked it the velcro would stick the bass teeth and give the fisherman a longer time to set the hook. I think the problem was once the velcro got stuck in the bass teeth the lure did not go inside the mouth of the fish far enough to even get a good hook set. The velcro may have actually done the opposite and prevented fishermen from landing their fish!

I remember using one and catching a small bass with just the velcro! The hook was not in the fish! I was able to work the fish into the bank using just the velcro hooked onto its teeth! That was a first and a last!

I never bought another bag and let this one slip into the obscurity of the past...

Today you can't even hardly find these old culprit sticky worms, so they must not of sold very well.

[Paul Roberts]

Lotsa good, and not so good, stuff didn't sell very well. Fisherman are a fickle bunch. That Mann's Mannipulator looks excellent. I miss a number of baits and have even written to manufacturers about bringing some back, to no avail.

[Buckeye Ron]

Doesn't it seem that there have been some really great worms that we all used to catch a lot of bass on that are no longer made? I used to use a Bagley Eager Beaver worm in really tough conditions and always caught bass on them when nothing else would. There have been others just like that. Just makes me wonder if they really catch fish why do they disappear after a while?

[MIbassyaker]

9 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

There is one way to make any swimming-tail worm swim at the lowest speed: boil the tail. Twenty seconds in boiling water will soften it and have it writhing with a 1/32nd oz weight ahead of it. Do not boil the head bc you want to retain some durability there.

Now, boiling has the nasty habit of releasing pthalates, toxic plastic softeners used in all common SP's. ElaZtech is one that does not use pthalates, however I'm not aware of a real ribbon tail bait using this material. Waiting....

 

Strike King had a 3X elaztech ribbontail a few years ago -- I have a few packs. You can still find them occasionally online.

[Memo]

I wish I could remember the name of those worms, it seems theres lots of new options but I concur that discontinued items will always be nostalgic. I think the closest one is gene larew or gambler worms. I guess I will have to try out quite a few. 

So how do you guys recommend I boil the tail? just warm water and lets go or do I wear a mask? thanks all for your replies.

[Sam]

Memo, great having you with us.

As for plastic worms, just remember that the bass is an aggressive animal and it will hit whatever you throw if it is in the mood.

We have confidence in specific brands, styles and colors, but the truth is that if the bass sees our bait and gets upset he will eat it.

The fun is trying to find a specific bait, as we all have done, and then using that bait when you get back on the water.

Let us know what you find among all of the suggestions above.