Best soft plastic worm and way to rig it to learn to fish them?

[JFlynn97]

What do you guys think? I want to get better with soft plastics and worms seem like a good place to start. What do y'all recommend? Texas rigs, shaky heads, wacky rigs, etc? What worms and lengths? I fish smaller ponds from the bank mainly.

Thanks!

[Catt]

Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm

Texas Rigged 1/8 oz bullet weight 2/0 hook

[shovelmouth83]

texas rigged Zoom tirckworm with 3/16oz bullet weight. stand by is a weightless wacky senko.

[JFlynn97]

14 minutes ago, Catt said:

Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm

Texas Rigged 1/8 oz bullet weight 2/0 hook

do you think a 1/4oz bullet weight will work just as well too? Apparently the last time I ordered weights I didn't get any 1/8, so 1/4 is the smallest I have at the moment

[Catt]

39 minutes ago, JFlynn97 said:

I fish smaller ponds from the bank mainly.

 

 

1/8 oz ?

[Angry John]

Wacky rigged stick worm gets hammered and is easy to learn.

[jtharris3]

7” Berkley Power Bait Worm, 4/0 offset worm hook and a 3/16oz. Bullet weight.

[LCG]

You can get bullet weights anywhere. 1/4oz would be ok for pitching into cover, but its a bit heavy for finnese. YMMV 

 

Texas rigged Zoom trick worm or curly tailed worm, 4/0 round bend worm hook, 1/8-3/16oz bullet weight. My favorite. 

 

Wacky rigged 5" Senko, 2/0 wacky hook. 

 

Drop shot rigged 4-6" worm, 1/8-3/16 drop shot weight. 

 

Neko rigged trick worm, nail weight, o ring, Any of the above mentioned hooks. 

 

Weightless senko or trick worm, nose hooked, fished like a jerkbait.

 

All highly productive. 

[WRB]

2 hours ago, JFlynn97 said:

What do you guys think? I want to get better with soft plastics and worms seem like a good place to start. What do y'all recommend? Texas rigs, shaky heads, wacky rigs, etc? What worms and lengths? I fish smaller ponds from the bank mainly.

Thanks!

How about telling what rod, reel and line do you plan to use with soft plastic worms in a pond.

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

When I was starting out learning a T rig, I fished a green pumpkin Trick Worm with a 1/16oz bullet weight on a spinning rod and 8lb mono and slayed the fish. 

[GrumpyOlPhartte]

I just saw this post and another post related to my favorite worm, the Biospawn Exostick, so I’m gonna jump in based solely on personal results.  I fish western MA small lakes and have never had much luck with the small Zoom worms but seem to do well with the Biospawn. Funny thing is that when I use the larger Zoom worms, I have great results. Any Zoom product from the Magnum Trick worm to the Ol’ Monster has been productive for me.  I wouldn’t normally even buy the smaller (under 7”) Zoom worms; however, I did get a pack of Zoom 4-inch Fatheads that I intend to try for finesse fishing. (Hope springs eternal ... ?) If they don’t work, I’m going back to snipping segments off my Exosticks. 

[Mobasser]

Med fast action spinning rod. 8lb line, zoom trick or finesse worms, 2/0 hook and 1/8 bullet sinker. Texas rig these worms. Use a slow pull and drop retrieve on the bottom.This is a general setup to learn on. Unsure what type of cover or water your fishing

[Todd2]

I used to just lift and drop them until  several years ago. I was fishing with my non-fishing brother in law and he started reeling it back at warp speed. I think I was mid sentence in correcting his retrieve when I saw him connect with the biggest bass I'd ever seen in that pond. I stopped talking...and made a mental note...lol 

 

Hop, Drag, Swim them at different speeds. 

[Armtx77]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

When I was starting out learning a T rig, I fished a green pumpkin Trick Worm with a 1/16oz bullet weight on a spinning rod and 8lb mono and slayed the fish. 

My set up is similar. 8lbs test, 1/16-1/8oz bullet, #1 EWG and a 2.8 Keitech FAT Swim Impact.

 

I have no xpectations of breaking a state record. Just give me that tap-tap-tap and get to breaking heads. So, the smaller lures T-rigged are no issues for me.

 

[NYWayfarer]

11 hours ago, JFlynn97 said:

What do you guys think? I want to get better with soft plastics and worms seem like a good place to start. What do y'all recommend? Texas rigs, shaky heads, wacky rigs, etc? What worms and lengths? I fish smaller ponds from the bank mainly.

Thanks!

Here are my favorites and the way I like to use them:

 

GYBC Senkos for deeper water, t-rigs, weightless t-rigs and wacky rigs

 

Yum Dingers for shallower water, weightless t-rigs and wacky rigs

 

Biospawn Exosticks for football head jigs

 

Zoom Trick Worms for Shaky head jigs and Carolina rigs

 

Missile Baits 48 worm for Neko rig, wacky rigs, cut them in half and use the halves for Ned rigs.

[Fishingmickey]

JFlynn,

    I am in the same camp as Catt and Shovelmouth. My favorite worm rig set up is a 7" berkley power worm (pumpkinseed) I bite about 3/4 of a " off the head. 1/8 oz if it is calm, 3/16 oz if it is windy bullet weight. 3/0 Gamakatsu straight shank round bend worm hook tied to 12-14lb fluorocarbon line. 

Fishingmickey 

[TnRiver46]

I fish them with all different size weights depending on the conditios. They work well without weight too, and not just stick baits. Topwater worm fishing is very fun 

[LonnieP]

19 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

JFlynn,

    I am in the same camp as Catt and Shovelmouth. My favorite worm rig set up is a 7" berkley power worm (pumpkinseed) I bite about 3/4 of a " off the head. 1/8 oz if it is calm, 3/16 oz if it is windy bullet weight. 3/0 Gamakatsu straight shank round bend worm hook tied to 12-14lb fluorocarbon line. 

Fishingmickey 

I use the exact same setup but I use tequila sunrise and don't take anything off of the worm. 

[greentrout]

Lots of great info on this site to learn what you want...plus check out Larry Nixon...

 

From the bank weightless Zoom Trick worms on 10 or 12 lbs. test ln Watermelon Red or Candy, Green Pumpkin and Junebug...using baitcaster or spinning (8lbs.)...T rigged...

 

Read Larry Nixon on how important the speed of the fall for the worm is to get another tactic...

 

Good fishing... 

[blckshirt98]

Ask 100 people for their favorite worm and you'll probably get 100 different answers.  They all catch fish so get a worm that's within your budget that looks good in size/shape that give YOU the confidence to catch fish. 

 

It looks like you're fishing farm ponds from the bank so don't start out with anything big, a 4-6" worm will be fine.  The easiest technique to learn is probably a wacky rig because it's a hook and a worm.  The action on a Yamamoto senko is proven, the Jackall Flick Shakes are also solid.  T-rig/C-rig I'd pass those up and go right to a dropshot, any worm around 4" in length.

[N Florida Mike]

I second the motion with trick worms and speed worms. I usually fish the speed worms like a spinnerbait around weed edges.

Another one  I like are the 4 inch lucky strike worms in tequila sunrise. These are very light so I fish them with a light rig and bb shot at the hook.They are super cheap at wal mart.

The other is 7 .5 inch culprit worms. Start with red or grape shad.

I Texas rig worms with as little weight as I can get away with. They often see and/ or take it on the fall, and the more weight there is, it sinks too fast imo.

I use 2 or 3/0 wide gap hooks.

There is another less known worm called Producto. I think they are made in Sanford, Florida.

Their tournament worms are EXCELLENT. But you rarely see them in stores anymore.

 

[JFlynn97]

On 5/17/2018 at 12:42 AM, WRB said:

How about telling what rod, reel and line do you plan to use with soft plastic worms in a pond.

Tom

I bought a finesse set up recently, a Dobyns Seirra 6'9" medium-light/fast, paired up with a 5.6:1 daiwa rg with 8lb braid. Think it'll work for texas rigging a trick worm or fishing a shaky head?

[Mike L]

My current favorites are a Fat Max ribbon tail, Speed Worm (standard and magnum) and a Rage Cut R. 

All are rigged on 14# Sniper, 4/0 screw in or skip gap hook with a 3/16 weight except the magnum speed worm. 

For that I rig on a 5/0 with the same 3/16 weight or weightless. 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[thinkingredneck]

Start with a trickworm in standard colors.  Junebug, black, green pumpkin, watermelon red flake, scuppernong, gràpe, Candy bug (my favorite), tequila sunrise, etc.  Bill Murphy said in Giant Bass, to have brown, green, purple, black, blue.  That covers it. Try different weights.  I like  2-0 or 3-0 offset round bend hooks.  I like Gamakatsu.  You may need heavier braid in slop, but 8 lbs is strong enough to fight bass in moderate vegetation or open water.  The only problem is it may dig in on a BC reel.  Not familiar enough to know if yours is a spinning reel or BC.  I second the little lucky strike hook tail worms and u-vibe speed worms.  Don't forget lizards.

 

Creme scoundrels are a good  worm also.  So are Mann's, both old school.  Some prefer straight hooks for better hooksets, , but they hang up a lot.  Some prefer EWG hooks.  A little harder to hook, but they hold them well and don't hang up.  G-locks hold the worm better.  Some days Bass want one color or shape, another day it's different.  Before you know it you have a ton of plastics.  Hope this helped  and have fun.

[LCG]

12 hours ago, JFlynn97 said:

bought a finesse set up recently, a Dobyns Seirra 6'9" medium-light/fast, paired up with a 5.6:1 daiwa rg with 8lb braid. Think it'll work for texas rigging a trick worm or fishing a shaky head?

I have a fenwick hmg 6'9 ml-f that's my finesse rod. Drop shot, neko, ned, Texas rigged trick worm all work well with the rod.

 

Shakey head or anything with a senko I prefer to step up to my st Croix 6'8 m-xf. It's a heavier, thicker bait, generally using thicker gauge hooks which means a more powerful rod. The st Croix gets more use as it can handle any of the above techniques well.