Shakey head worms

[S I G M A]

I tried fishing the shakey head worms today, after no bites from finicky bass on anything else. I was able to get a few bites on the shakey head worms, but it seemed like i was missing a lot of bites by not being able to set the hook.

I was using a 5 inch power shakey worm by berkley in watermelon and camo paired with... i forget what kind of shakey head (possibly bagley i beleive)

I think it may have been the hook being too small and the worm always getting in the way, but am not really sure... are there larger widegap type shakey head jigs? any advice?

[hawgchaser]

Shakey heads are pretty good about hooking fish. It could have been small bream or other small fish hitting the tail. I was fishing tubes this morning and the dang bream would not leave it alone. They would puck it up then drop it and sometimes it felt like a real hit. That tap tap...tap tap :

[S I G M A]

no... i don't think it was bream... the shakey worm is like 3/4 the width of the gap of the hook, i got some hooksets that weren't good and a few got away that way as well.

[smallieking]

i had the same problem but it took me a long time to find the real answer to it and im still not sure if it is right   well ive heard that the fish are short striking the shakyhead so instead of switching hook size, switch worm colors so the bass will hit them harder and take them better  

[harshman]

i had the same problem but it took me a long time to find the real answer to it and im still not sure if it is right   well ive heard that the fish are short striking the shakyhead so instead of switching hook size, switch worm colors so the bass will hit them harder and take them better  

I agree with this 100%, but if you feel more confident with a larger hook you will catch more fish on it because you will fish it better and more often than if you think the smaller hook is going to mess up your chances. There are tackle makers out there that make their shaky heads in a variety of hook sizes. Not sure if I've ever seen an EWG shaky head though, I think it would take away from the action of the bait.

Harshman

[S I G M A]

hmm... that could be very possible

[S I G M A]

does anyone have preferences on the type of shakey head jigs they use? are the ones with the screw better?

[harshman]

I like the screw in type better myself it makes the bait last longer if you are catching fish, less chance that they get torn off of the jig.

Harshman

[Tanker4lyfe]

there are keys to shaky head fishing and ill try to point them out.

1-the plastic you are using should not out weight the shakky head hok your using what i mean by this is that the purpose of the shaky head is to keep the plastic elevated and if the plastic is either not a molded one or floater it will kill the whole setup

2- dont limit yourself to just using worms you can use any plastic ive found that when bass are on the bottom ( i.e. middle of the day in summer) i use a zoom super fluke and they see it as a minnow feeding the bottom. for spawners and this by far is in my opion the dealiest weapon for bass on beds i use a lake fork white 6'' lizard it absulutly drives them nuts they immediatly engulf it try it and youll see

3- here another little tip i just learned try this:

get some small 1/8 or 1/4 ounce crappie jigs heads i like white with red and black eyes. cut off the hook right where the bend begins and cut of the eyelit.  next take a 2-4 ought worm hook and feed it in the last 3/4 of the plastic of your choice backwards now cut cut the head or the plastic about 1/4 inch and place it on the modifieg crappie jig tie on thru the hook eyelit and shabam you now have a bunjee rig try it and you see its a awsome rig heres a pic

[Tanker4lyfe]

oops forgot to mention that you fish this on the bottom with a slightly slack line i use my fnger just to flick the line every few seconds to keep it dancin. hope this benefits someone out there

[S I G M A]

hmm... that might be worth a try... looks very interesting

[harshman]

That set up was featured recently in Bassmaster Mag and it looks very useful. I have yet to try it out though. Finesse fishing is not one of my strong points.

Harshman

[Tanker4lyfe]

exactly harshman that is where i got it from. and i have since tried it on 3 outings and it has proven very succesful

[harshman]

You've inspired me to try it this weekend...what worm do you typically use on this setup?

Harshman

[bigmountaineer]

Try a zoom finesse worm on the shakey head green pumpkin red is to die for

[Tanker4lyfe]

zoom trick worm

[guitarkid]

A friend of mine used that rig and caught a good number of decent bass.

                              -searoach

[Wayne P.]

You might want to try the Arkie U-Heads. Hank Parker was using and recommending them on his show. They have a regular offset worm hook and the lead head is not part of the hook, it is loosely connected.

[kmbassfisherman]

When I fish a shaky head I almost always hook fish in the top of the mouth...I love the new rigging idea from the bassmaster mag.