The Clear Water Killer

[Mobasser]

Looking back on notes I've kept, a finesse plastic worm has caught more fish for me over the last four seasons than any other bait I've used.          This includes all surface lures, mid depth lures, and other bottom fishing baits.           Looking on the TW website, I counted over 100 finesse worms available. They carry every style. I'm sure at some point they could all work.                                  I can't explain why they work so well. My guess is that in very clear water, bass can see your bait much better. They often shy away from larger baits, especially large flashy lures, and the small, thin worms work great.                                                   I'm using Zoom, Brewers Slider worms and Netbait finesse worms. I used to be concerned with colors, but now not so much.I think it's the smaller size that makes them work well. I t- rig them with a light 1/8 or 3/16 oz weight.                   It seems ironic because the first small worm I used was a Cream Scoundrel that my older brother trimmed down over forty years ago, and now I've come full circle, still catching fish with downsized plastic worms. The bass in my clear lake love em.                                              What are your favourite finesse plastic worms, and, how do you rig them?

[flatcreek]

Zoom finesse worm

Zoom 4 inch Dead ringer

Charlie Brewer Slider worms

i always tie these on in tough bite conditions 

[galyonj]

I should mention that I don't get to fish very much of what we would term clear water, but the fish don't seem to care.

 

I mostly use Zoom trick worms or finesse worms, but all of them get rigged the same way:

 

- weightless t-rig; or

- light shaky head; or

- sometimes I bite the head flush with the back of the jighead, and i throw them on a mushroom jig.

 

@flatcreek dead ringers are money, too.

[Team9nine]

My No. 1 producer over the past half dozen years by a long shot - so incredibly versatile.

I use Zoom, Netbait, Zman and Roboworm - that’s it (unless you include bubblegum floating worms as finesse - lol).

 

As for rigging, Slider, weightless wacky, Ned, jighead wacky, shaky, split shot, drop shot, Texas, and even as a trailer on a finesse jig. 

[IcatchDinks]

I mostly use a Texas rigged Blue and black 4" Yum Dinger when fishing plastics. I haven't had a lot of success with finesse this year. Not sure why. Usually it's my number one bass bait. 

 

Edit: All my local ponds are pretty murky, and my local river is pretty clear. I have spent considerably more time pond fishing this year in comparison to previous years, where the river was my go to fishery. Now that I think about it, that might explain my lower numbers of bites on finesse. 

Edited July 19, 2023 by IcatchDinks
Additional thoughts

[gim]

9 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

The bass in my clear lake love em. 

I have a mix of clear and murky lakes here.  The clearer lakes, especially on sunny cloudless days, are far better with finesse plastics such as worms and stick baits.  I prefer natural colors like green pumpkin, root beer, and other darker shades.

 

When there's rainy or cloudy or other low light conditions, you can catch fish on faster moving power tactics.  But lately there's been a noticeable lack of conditions like this.

[Pat Brown]

Lately I've been slaying with a 4" senko and a 2/0 hook and a pegged 3/8 oz sinker on 15 lb fluorocarbon.

 

I can bomb this rig on a bait caster and I just 'hop hop pause.  Hop hop hop pause' all the way back to the bank at the super shallow pressured pond with clear water and it's getting bit a lot.

 

This rig also flips and skips exceptionally well.

 

Excited to test it off shore this weekend at the lake.

[galyonj]

@Team9nine I gotta pick your brain because you mentioned them, but are you referring to the Z-man floating worms?

 

I really want to like them, but they cast like a Kleenex. Do you have any tricks for casting them effectively?

[Catt]

1 hour ago, Mobasser said:

I can't explain why they work so well. My guess is that in very clear water, bass can see your bait much better.

 

I throw Zoom's Finesse Worm Gooseberry in our off colored to murky tidal waters. Texas Rigged 1/8-1/4 oz. 

[Pat Brown]

When I first got into bass fishing a little over a year ago now one of the first things I did was hit this spot at sunset during the summer A lot where I knew fish were.

 

It was just kind of like a little pocket along a public trail where I could see them feeding occasionally and busting occasionally and caught a few here and there on this and that.

 

I brought a pumpkin (not green pumpkin) Zoom finesse worm and dipped its tail in chartreuse dye and fished it on a 2/0 worm hook with an unpegged 1/8 oz lead sinker and I caught 5 bass in 5 minutes and the biggest was 4 lb.

 

It was unreal.

 

Definitely don't sleep on the finesse worm.

[Team9nine]

55 minutes ago, galyonj said:

@Team9nine I gotta pick your brain because you mentioned them, but are you referring to the Z-man floating worms?

 

I really want to like them, but they cast like a Kleenex. Do you have any tricks for casting them effectively?

Zman Finesse WormZ, which mostly float due to the nature of the Elaztech material. Any of their baits that sink do so because of the addition of salt for weight. That’s one reason why they cast best right out of the package. Once the salt dissolves, they float and don’t cast quite as well. But the bonus is you rarely lose worms because they come to the surface if they get separated from the hook. Countless times I’ve retrieved my worms back because of this - in some cases days or months later…and they’re still good as new.
 

If you’re not trying to get a true floating surface presentation, then simply add weight in whatever form fits the presentation. It doesn't take much. There are also little casting tricks like using fluoro as your leader material, downsizing your main line diameter, or leaving an extra foot or two of line out when casting (rotational inertia, I believe).
 

For a true floating worm, I use whatever brand I can find cheapest most times. 

[galyonj]

Right on. Last time I had them out of storage, I put a Z-Man floating worm on a very light shaky head. It was fun to cast – @TnRiver46 said it looked like I was throwing a pink tomahawk – but it sure didn't go very far. lol

[Team9nine]

32 minutes ago, galyonj said:

Right on. Last time I had them out of storage, I put a Z-Man floating worm on a very light shaky head. It was fun to cast – @TnRiver46 said it looked like I was throwing a pink tomahawk – but it sure didn't go very far. lol

Honestly haven’t tried their floating worm yet.  If I’m going shaky head, it almost always a Zoom finesse worm on the rig which has plenty of weight to cast well.

[galyonj]

My shaky head's a dead ringer a large percentage of the time. If it's not that, it's something else from Zoom. I've got some Netbait and Yum stuff, too; but Zoom just hits the spot for me.

[flatcreek]

@galyonj

i like the Charlie Brewer Pro slider heads with the thin wire hooks on these baits.

[Jig Man]

Anything Elaztech rigged shaky has been the best for me for the last several years.

[galyonj]

I don't believe I have any slider heads. I throw them on a little mushroom-head jig fairly often, though. I keep a lot of light wire stuff tied on.

[Mobasser]

3 minutes ago, galyonj said:

I don't believe I have any slider heads. I throw them on a little mushroom-head jig fairly often, though. I keep a lot of light wire stuff tied on.

I usually use light wire hooks, 6 lb Co poly line. The Slider " spider"head is a great head for any of these small finesse worms. It's a killer with the small Roboworm.

[galyonj]

How would you describe working a slider head to someone that does a lot of ned rig and shakyhead fishing?

[flatcreek]

I texpose the hook in the bait and pop it through the grass with ease.Works really well in Springtime

[Columbia Craw]

Robo Worm on a drop shot.

[Team9nine]

37 minutes ago, galyonj said:

How would you describe working a slider head to someone that does a lot of ned rig and shakyhead fishing?

Cast and retrieve (countdown), “DO-NOTHING”

 

…or just fish it like any other weighted soft plastic, but that somewhat defeats the purpose of the head, though it’s fairly common these days.

[WRB]

Finesse is a standard presentation where I fish.

Drop Shot usually 1/8 or 3/16 oz., size 1 Mosquito nose hooked or #5133 size 2/0 Down Shot hook weedless, 7# FC.

Slip Shot (Finesse C-rig) 1/8 or 3/16 oz cylinder weight,#5133 1/0 or 2/0 hook weedless, 5# UG copoly.

1/8 oz Dart Head and block head jig.

Nail weight 3/32 oz (Neko) wacky rigged, #4107 size 1 weedless hook, 7# FC.

T-Rig, brass ‘n glass, 3/16 oz bullet weight, 7# FC.

Roboworms 4 1/2” Sculpin, 5” curl tail, 4 1/2” & 6” straight tail.

Iovino* 3 1/4”& 4” little sluggers and reapers, 3” paddle tail grub, 5” & 6” straight tail.

Jackall 4.8 Flick Shake worm.

fishlab 3 1/2” nymph.

Colors range from translucent Shad, smoke and cinnamon w/ blue or purple, green pumpkin and watermelon.

Tom

*no longer available

 

 

[LrgmouthShad]

I am still playing around with finesse worms but my current favorite way to use them is on a Charlie brewer ultra spider head. Zoom finesse worm
 

A guy on Badin showed me firsthand that a shaky head can get the right bites. It is not an admission to yourself that “I’m having trouble catching fish.” It’s a legit strategy for catching a great limit. There were days on Badin when it would be before sun up, and I would be throwing one already. Sometimes it was the first thing I’d use

[FishTax]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

Finesse is a standard presentation where I fish.

Drop Shot usually 1/8 or 3/16 oz., size 1 Mosquito nose hooked or #5133 size 2/0 Down Shot hook weedless, 7# FC.

Slip Shot (Finesse C-rig) 1/8 or 3/16 oz cylinder weight,#5133 1/0 or 2/0 hook weedless, 5# UG copoly.

1/8 oz Dart Head and block head jig.

Nail weight 3/32 oz (Neko) wacky rigged, #4107 size 1 weedless hook, 7# FC.

T-Rig, brass ‘n glass, 3/16 oz bullet weight, 7# FC.

Roboworms 4 1/2” Sculpin, 5” curl tail, 4 1/2” & 6” straight tail.

Iovino* 3 1/4”& 4” little sluggers and reapers, 3” paddle tail grub, 5” & 6” straight tail.

Jackall 4.8 Flick Shake worm.

fishlab 3 1/2” nymph.

Colors range from translucent Shad, smoke and cinnamon w/ blue or purple, green pumpkin and watermelon.

Tom

*no longer available

 

 

Hey Tom I'm reading the Iovino book you recommended, good stuff. I'll certainly be focusing on my finesse worm game the next few times out!