Plastic Worms for Smallmouth Bass

[MJack]

I catch a lot of smallmouth bass off a Ned rig with Z-man finesse TRDs. I catch largemouth bass off weightless 5 inch senkos. Does anyone fish for smallmouth with a 4 to 6 inch plastic worm Texas rigged? If so, do you fish off the bottom or swim it back to you? Is it very effective? 

[IcatchDinks]

I use T-rigged 4" yum Dingers in my local rivers. I usually cast upriver and let the current carry it past the places I think might be holding fish. Sometimes I'll swim it. Sometimes in slower current I'll kinda jig it off the bottom. But I catch them. I've caught more smallies off that setup than all my other baits combined. 

[heavyduty]

4" t-rigged weightless. I fish it like a fluke, just like IcatchDinks says above. Fished it today and it worked well because alot of the grass in the river is cutting loose and floating along. Other baits were catching the grass where the senko was coming right through it.

[IcatchDinks]

10 minutes ago, heavyduty said:

Other baits were catching the grass where the senko was coming right through it.

 

That's the beauty of the Texas rig: it slips through weeds and obstructions better than anything else in my tackle box. I can chuck it into any kinda of structure and be fairly confident I'm gonna get it back. 

[MIbassyaker]

I also use 4" stick worms pretty often for smallmouth on a weightless t-rig.  In River and stream current, my smallies seem to get this size into their mouths a little better than the 5".   I feel like any brand will do, but I particularly like the Strike King Ocho in this size. 

 

And a 4" power worm on a Slider, or other light head like the one below (an Owner bullethead), is pretty great for hopping along the bottom:

[PaulVE64]

Omg

Smallies love a weightless plastic worm.

I like a 4" or 5" worm in either pearl white or green pumpkin. 

Doesnt matter what brand. Senkos are heavier but are fragile. Yum dingers are a nice value and quality. Lots of small companies make a decent worm.

 

[Jig Man]

When I use worms for smallmouth I use Elaztech.  I fish them on a vmc 2/0 hook in various weights depending on how deep I need to go.

 

[Spankey]

8 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

I also use 4" stick worms pretty often for smallmouth on a weightless t-rig.  In River and stream current, my smallies seem to get this size into their mouths a little better than the 5".   I feel like any brand will do, but I particularly like the Strike King Ocho in this size. 

 

And a 4" power worm on a Slider, or other light head like the one below (an Owner bullethead), is pretty great for hopping along the bottom:

This is also my preferred way to fish finesse size worms. Along with splitshotting and with light bullet weights depending on location I’m at. I like to fish a variety of finesse size worms for river Smallies, PowerWorm is probably my favorite but RoboWorms, Yammy KutTails and Sliders are right there also. The Yammy KutTails are hard to find (not sold out, not stocked). But the BPS KutTails work very well for me. 
 

They might get slammed as soon as they hit the water. Bottom bounce them, slide them, shake them, there is no wrong way to fish them. 

[Mobasser]

I don't get a chance to fish for smallmouths bass very often, but the Charlie Brewer Slider worm was developed on deep clear lakes in Tennessee. 4" worm with light Slider jig heads has caught many smallmouths bass.

[GRiver]

When I fished for smallies, I loved Zoom finesse, rigged Texas with as small of a bullet weight I could get away with.

[padon]

4 inch power worm or 5 inch cut tail worm (they run small) texas rigged or on ssome kind of slider head or similar has caught tons of smallmouth for me.

[roadwarrior]

GYCB Kut Tail

 

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Yamamoto_Kut_Tail_Worm/descpage-YA4CTW.html?from=basres&gclid=Cj0KCQjwuNemBhCBARIsADp74QQdPP13NI3TvF4DTR-XnomVjt4drKFyoK4YiTauBcwuZwWvbIOw2EgaAv3GEALw_wcB

[LrgmouthShad]

I done okay for small river smallmouth with a Charlie brewer spider ultra head 3/16 or 1/4oz and a zoom finesse worm. 

[TnRiver46]

On 8/9/2023 at 10:13 PM, MJack said:

Does anyone fish for smallmouth with a 4 to 6 inch plastic worm Texas rigged? If so, do you fish off the bottom or swim it back to you? Is it very effective? 

Yes, yes, and *%#* yes 

[galyonj]

Plastic worms are about all I catch smallmouth on.

 

little TRDs

finesse worms

trick worms

curlytail worms

 

They all seem to work just fine for me. As long as they're purple.

[learnbassfishing]

I've caught many smallmouth on 5-inch senkos. I find them very effectively. My favorite retrieve is to start my rod at about 9 or 10 o'clock, pull up for about 4 seconds to about 12 o'clock, lower for about 4 seconds, take the slack up, and repeat. I also like a slow, steady retrieve with an occasional pause or lift. If you're fishing spots with a good population of smallies, I don't think you'll have much trouble getting bite with them. 

[scaleface]

I had success on many different worms.

[MJack]

On 8/9/2023 at 10:24 PM, IcatchDinks said:

I use T-rigged 4" yum Dingers in my local rivers. I usually cast upriver and let the current carry it past the places I think might be holding fish. Sometimes I'll swim it. Sometimes in slower current I'll kinda jig it off the bottom. But I catch them. I've caught more smallies off that setup than all my other baits combined. 

Just curious—what color Dingers? Also, what power spinning rod—medium light or medium?

[IcatchDinks]

@MJack I like the Black Blue Flake, Green Pumpkin Flake, and the Watermelon Red Flake colors the best. All have yielded fish for me, though this year I've used exclusively the Black Blue. I have two medium light spinning rods that both work well. I've also used the same setup on a light rod and caught fish. 

[bowhunter63]

Good old ring worm swimming it on a T Rig 

[MGF]

I haven't fished anything except a worm of some flavor for small mouth this year. The zoom finesse worm with a split shot crimped on the line has been a killer. My other number one has been my used dingers and stickos. I tear them up fishing them wacky or texas weightless in the pond for green bass. In the river I fish pieces of the used worms rigged texas with a small nail weight in the other end for the brown bass. I've done well on 5" dinger in the river too but I haven't been doing it lately...the other stuff is working too good.

 

Yesterday I caught a mess of smallmouth including a few really nice ones using nothing but worn out dingers. LOL...and I used to throw them away.