Fishing a Worm "Wieghtless"?

[RLinNH]

Whenever I fish plastics (about 95% of the time) I have always fished them Texas rigged. I am starting to look at other baits and also different way to fish plastics. I have heard a lot about fishing wieghtless plastics, but I have no idea what the rig would look like. Can anyone describle the method to me or point me to a link? Thanks.

[cjensen]

It's simply a texas rig without the weight at the front.  Line-hook-plastic thing.

[RLinNH]

And that's how a Senko is supposed to be fished?

[RoLo]

In the beginning, Texas-style and Carolina-style were rig names used to distinguish between

the type and location of the sinker (adjacent bullet-sinker vs. remote egg-sinker).

Today, "Texas-rig" refers only to the hooking style, which used to be called "self-weedless".

The "weightless T-rig" was probably invented by some guy who kept forgetting

to thread on his bullet sinker :

Roger

[RoLo]

And that's how a Senko is supposed to be fished?

That's one way

[RLinNH]

Very nice Strippahs RoLo. I heard yesterday that the Herring are already running up in Portsmouth, NH and that the schoolies are already running the Merrimack. Looks like a Fly Rod trip to the Merrimack for me this week. ;D

      As far as this thread and wieghtless baits, I just found Glenn's thread regarding Senkos. It has answered a lot of my questions. Great thread Glenn.

[Guest avid]

Fishing any worm weightless can be a killer technique.

Funny but the first place I learned to bass fish was the Peconic river in Riverhead, Long Island.  The water was very low most of the year.  3 feet deep on average.  I used to Texas rig (yes, that what's we called it) a Manns jelly worm on a tru turn hook with no weight.  Very effective.

I stopped using the tru turn hook because it introduced me to the joys of "line twist" Then I got my first baitcaster (Daiwa millionaire) in 1979 and the rest, as they say, is history.

My favorite weightless rig now is a straight shank 3/0 hook.  I thread the worm so it bends a little at the hook curve, then I expose the hook.  It's not weedless for sure, but I "swim" it over the weedbeds. A zoom finesse worm rigged and fished like this has accounted for countless bass.  I have caught bass up to 5 pounds with this rig.

[RLinNH]

just went through my Fishing "Boxes" and found 2 brand new packs of Bass Pro Shop Super Lock Worm hooks in 3/0 and 4/0. Also found a 5 count package of 6 inch Yamasenkos and a 10 count bag of 5 inch Yamasenkos. Both in Watermelon with Black flake (my 2nd favorite color). So, tomorrow I'll experiment with wieghtless T-Rigged Plastics.

[RoLo]

Funny but the first place I learned to bass fish was the Peconic river in Riverhead, Long Island. The water was very low most of the year. 3 feet deep on average. I used to Texas rig (yes, that what's we called it) a Manns jelly worm on a tru turn hook with no weight.

Life is interesting.

My first plastic worm was a Creme worm (then called a rubber worm).

But the second plastic worm in my life was a grape Mann's jelly worm,

purple was all the rage back then. I was fishing in Mountain Lake, NJ,

about 50 miles due west of Long Island, NY. I rigged it self-weedless

(you guessed it) on a cam-action Tru-Turn hook.

Like someone once said, "So many lures, so little time"

Roger

[Ikaika]

My dad was just telling me about Mann's Jelly worms...apparently he used to demolish fish with a purple one as well

[volpster31]

FISHING A SOFT PLASTIC WEIGHTLESS IS MY GO TO TECHNIQUE(CONDITIONS PERMITTING)I USE A CREME SCOUNDREL WORM & ZOOM LIZARD MAINLY BUT ANYTHING CAN WORK...SOMETIMES ADDING A SINGLE SPLIT-SHOT UP THE LINE CAN BE VERY AFFECTIVE ALSO..

[Guest avid]

I used to fish grape jelly worms alot, but also motoroil and the auger tail "firetips"  Man this brings back some great memories.

I used the creme worm with the propellers and double exposed hooks.  They worked real well 25 years ago and must still be working because I see the exact same rig at Wal-Mart.

Let the good times roll.  

[RoLo]

Man this brings back some great memories. I used the creme worm with the propellers and double exposed hooks.

How well I remember that unsightly contraption...But It Worked!

Small propellor-spinners fore-and-aft separated by bright red beads

threaded on heavy monofilament, the same lb-test you'd use on a partyboat for whiting and ling

Sometime during the mid-60s, Milt Rosko confessed that he caught more bass

on a rubber worm than all his other lures combined! Some things never change.

I see the exact same rig at Wal-Mart.

Me too, in fact it was just a few days ago.

I think we've gone full-circle Avid, maybe we don't need as much time as we thought

Roger

[BD]

I prefer to fish them weightless on calm days (i.e. no wind) for the simple fact it's SO easy to catch bass. When you throw the lure out, you can actually watch the line and the fall rate...anything faster than that, is a fish! 1/2 the time the fish will actually engulf the bait and you don't realize it....like the photo below. it was in the gullet >

this one was caught yesterday by fishing a senko weightless. (DON'T worry, I got the hook out by the diagram shown on this site...i took the hook out right after this photo, and she lived)

to recap throw it out, the line will fall at "x" rate, watch the FRONT of the line and the back on the line (around the rod) and you'll see every strike.

[Alpster]

I often cast a 10" or 12" culprit with a 4/0 or 5/0 hook and don't miss the weight at all. Boated quite a few nice fish this way.

Ronnie

[Deuceu72]

I caught all my bass yesterday on a weightless senko that was wacky rigged. Also a very effective weightless presentation.

[paparock]

At one one time or another I have tried all the below worming methods.

[BD]

Nice chart