Weedless Wacky Help -- Paging Wayne P!

[beardown34]

I'm just learning wacky rigging, and I've seen multiple times WayneP post his weedless rig, so I thought I'd give it a try. I got 5 bites in a short span this morning, but I didn't hook a single one of them. I must be doing something wrong. Please help!

 

I start with 1/4" heat shrink tubing and cut about a 3/4" strip. 

 

I slide it up over the tail of a Zoom trick worm and position the front edge of my tubing at the back edge of the egg sac.

 

I take a size 1 wacky hook (no weedguard) and insert the hook just past the barb into the front edge of the tubing (the part closest to the egg sac), where my finger is pointing in the first picture.

 

I only take a small bite down into the worm, just enough to get the barb into the tubing, and immediately bring the hook back up through the back edge of the tubing. This distance ends up being about 1/4".

 

I pull and turn the hook point, and pull the eye of the hook through the front hole I made, but NOT through the second hole. The eye of the hook ends up 'trapped' under the heat shrink tubing.

 

I pull the eye of the hook up to but not through the second hole, and then measure up what distance/angle I need to re-insert the hook so it lays straight in the trick worm.

 

I threw this on a Medium Light baitcaster on a BPS PQ1 with 20# braid and 10# yo-zuri leader.

 

Like I said, I got 5 bites in short order, and was unable to hook any of them. I could believe maybe 1 or two of them were sunfish, but the last fish held on long enough for me to see it was a bass, but it was not hooked.

 

My hook ends up looking like the last picture. I can see teeth marks all up and down the trick worm, including on the heat shrink tubing.

 

 

** So what am I doing wrong?

 

Is my rod/reel/line incorrect? I find it difficult to cast a trick worm with my PQ1 and medium light rod, so I'll probably try it with my Medium spinning rod next time.

 

Am I hooking the worm incorrectly? Is the eye of the hook not supposed to be left under the heat shrink tubing? Is it supposed to come out of the second/back hole? 

  - I can see that if I pull on the main line, as if setting a hook, the eye of the hook pulls back towards the front hole, but is unable to come back up through the front hole -- is this preventing the hook from traveling far enough to hook the fish?

 

Am I not traveling far enough when I go in and then come back out of the heat shrink tubing? I feel like if I use any significantly longer stretch of tubing, it's going to create an unnaturally long/straight portion in the middle of the trick worm.

 

Am I using too small of a hook? I just fish small ponds -- fish are on average 2.5#. 

 

Am I setting the hook wrong? I usually just reel-set with an exposed wacky, but with this weedless rig I was setting the hook over my left shoulder (LH reel). Not a huge hookset like a jig or texas rig, but certainly more than a reel-set. Am I supposed to just set the hook straight up?

 

 

Any input would be appreciated. My waters don't necessarily mandate a weedless presentation, but I'd like to learn how to use it effectively.

 

 

 

[riverbasser]

This is kind of hard to explain but don't make 2 holes in the heat shrink. Do everything else the same way but only one hole in the heat shrink. Still run the hook eye so its under the shrink with only the line showing.  I haven't missed any fish using Wayne's method. It looks like the right hook but just to be sure it need to be an octopus hook.

 

BTW I need to give a huge shutout to @Wayne P. and say thanks for sharing this with us. Caught many fish with this rig

[FCPhil]

Never tried this but I think the key to a good hookup ratio on a wacky rig is having the hook perpendicular to the worm. I'd try to get some weedless hooks. 

 

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Wacky_Jig_Head_4pk/descpage-OWJH.html

[smalljaw67]

Go with 1 hole, the problem is the hook eye isn't coming through that second hole clean enough to get any hook penetration. You may not like my answer but I've tried that method and now I use a wacky hook with a small weed guard or a wacky jig head, I too had a lot of missed fish with that rigging method.

[Wayne P.]

Only the hook eye should be under the tubing with one hole through the tubing.

Where you have the shank exiting the tubing is where it should be inserted and exit out of the end of it, not through it.

After that end gets torn up, reverse the tubing so it lasts longer.

 

The purpose of the tubing is to keep the hook eye from pulling out of the worm when fished in cover. In open water you don't need it.

 

 

BTW, if you are missing hook-ups switch to a shorter Finesse worm.

[Wayne P.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Comfortably Numb]

Just use a weedless hook. Much more simple and better hook ups.