Mastering the Weightless Wacky Worm | Pro Tips!

Hey, guys, Derek Hudnall here, Bassmaster Elite Series Pro, and we're going to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart. I am a big weightless wacky worm guy. So we're going to talk about times of year and this time of the year that we're going to talk about to throw this thing and to be effective is what I like to call pre-spawn. This is like your January through March when those fish are really trying to feed up and they're really trying to put on that bag or that big belly to hold them through. You know, pre-spawn can be where some of the biggest fish in a lake are caught. So that January to March area, you can be very very effective with a weightless wacky worm and really all around the year but this is one of my favorite times of the year to throw this bait and I'm going to tell you guys what I have spent years and years trying to find the correct setup for a weightless wacky worm.

That's your first step is making sure you have the perfect setup for a weightless wacky worm to make sure that you're more efficient and effective with your cast because you're going to be able to put a weightless wacky worm in places where nobody else can put it into any other bait. You are going to get bites on a weightless wacky worm when nothing else will. You know, whenever that weightless wacky worm sits there in front of them, it's kind of like sitting at your grandma's table and you just ate two or three helpings and then she puts the hot cookies in front of you. You don't want to eat it because you're full but it sits in front of you and it just antagonizes you. Weightless wacky worm is, you know, is absolutely incredible. The setup is so key and so important and we're going to start with the lure and we're going to work our way up.

This right here is, and a lot of you guys have probably heard of it and seen it, this is a Missile Baits 48. This thing right here has caught more fish in my boat than maybe any other thing in my tackle box. There's a reason they call this thing the 48. First of all, it's 4.8 inches long so it's a little smaller, a little bit lighter than your typical 5-inch stick Senko-style baits. It's going to be more finesse and if you notice on this weightless wacky worm, on this Missile Baits 48, either side is a little bit fatter than in the middle so why is that important? Number one, it allows you to skip it further, and number two, if you ever watch this bait fall in the water, it has that slow subtle fall. And because either ends are fatter than the middle, it enhances that kind of wobble action as it falls down, and if you ever put this thing in the water you're going to see exactly what I'm talking about. But that's the bait, guys, so that is the number we know. That's important and everything above it is as important, if not more important, than the actual bait that you're throwing but we're going to go to the hook.

Guys, I have people on the Elite Series that use this hook for weightless wacky worm that are not associated with Gamakatsu, but this thing right here, this is just your weightless, your wacky worm hook but it's got the titanium weed guards on it. This is the G-Finesse titanium wacky or the weedless wacky is what they call it. These little titanium weed guards right here are super, super limber, so it's my biggest thing with a wacky worm, yes, you want it to be you don't want it to snag much, you want it to be seedless, but at the same time, you don't want a weed guard that's going to impede the hook set. I've always said the most important part of a hook of a fish catch is making sure you get good hook point penetration into a fish and that's why this hook right here is absolutely incredible. It's actually a stinger hook. It's insanely sharp. The weed guards keep you from getting hung up a lot and then also it does not impede the hook set. Very, very important.

And then you go up to the line. So my line setup, again, this one right here is just, and all of these points are just as important as the next one. I am a 15-pound braid backer so this right here is 15-pound Sunline Asegai and this is the grain, this is the high viz green line. Very important. Number one, because it's a line-watching deal, you want that high viz. When you skip it in there, my eyes are solely on that line and whenever that line jumps or skips a little bit, you know the fish is in, you know the fish is on it you reel up to it and you can catch it.

And then the leader is extremely important and I will go a couple different ways on a leader when it comes to a wacky worm setup but I am typically a 10-pound Sunline Sniper leader and I'm typically, if you can see here, you know this rod is 7'3" long so this is probably about a 12-foot leader. I like that knot just outside of the reel and that gives me really good castability, super smooth, and there are situations, guys, especially down like in Florida. If you're down in Florida or you're dealing with some dark, maybe not so clear water, I will go straight braid. I will go straight braid on this, especially if I know I'm going to be wrangling some big fish but, guys, I caught absolute giants on this setup right here. I think one of the biggest fish I've ever weighed in in my Elite Series career was on this exact setup on a weightless 48, was a 9.8 on the St. John's River. So once a hook is in that fish, I have the utmost confidence in the setup, that it's not going to break.

Guys, your drag system, everything is so important when you're fighting that fish to make sure you're putting the odds in your favor but, guys, extremely strong setup. This thing will not break. If you tie the knots right, everything, this is a setup that you can have a lot of confidence in. And so I'm typically an Alberto knot in between. Some guys, some of you might like to tie the FG knot. Some guys are uni-to-uni. This is just one that I trust. Just make sure that knot is, whatever knot you choose, it's small, you trust it, and, you know, if you ever get into, you know, a situation where you're fighting a big fish a long time or you catch several fish, make sure, sit down, retie everything to make sure that you don't lose that fish of a lifetime.

And then we're going to go down to the reel. This is the GX Series by SEVIIN. Drag systems are so incredibly important on this setup. The one great thing about the GX Series is it actually has ball bearings in the drag system. So what does that do? Most drag systems are just metal to metal and then there's grease in between it so that what this ball bearing system allows it to do, is when that drag pulls, it's going to it's going to pull smooth, very smoothly instead of just, you know, sometimes, you know, ur, ur, you know, the drag will kind of hesitate when it's pulling out. This ball-bearing drag system does not do that so it allows you to fight that fish efficiently and effectively all the way around. Incredible setup.

And then the rod, again, I want to emphasize how important every single step of this setup is. The rod, this is a 7.3 Legend Tournament medium light extra fast MLXF and this is something that whenever they came out with this model a couple of years ago, I think in the Victory Series, whenever St. Croix released those a couple of years ago, that 7.3 MLXF was absolutely the correct setup for me. So another great thing about the setup here, another thing you need to think about is that we're all different. You know, look, I'm 5'9. I'm not very tall. I'm not very tall. So guys that are 7'3" or guys that are 6'3" or very tall, you may need a little bit longer rod just depending on your leverage and your control so play around with that a little bit. But I'm gonna tell you this 7.3 MLXF is probably gonna fit most of you very, very well. It has the correct length. It has an absolutely incredible tip to it, a backbone. It loads up so well on a fish. Why is that important? Because you need to have the castability. You need to be able to really slingshot this thing, and if you're not used to skipping a weightless wacky worm and putting it into places that that you need to put it in, if your setup is not is not perfect, you know, you're gonna struggle with getting the distance you want. You're gonna struggle with being extremely accurate. So you have to find that, you know, that perfect setup for you. But this 7.3 MLXF is absolutely that for me. So setup, again, is incredibly important. You have to make sure that you have this before you even start.

So let's talk about those pre-spawn months that I just mentioned, that January to March. You know, certain areas of the country, especially where I live in South Louisiana, when you're talking January and February, these fish are extremely pre-spawn. You know, these fish are starting to get up shallow and they're starting to look around. That's the time of the year where this bait can be extremely effective. They're not spawning yet but these fish get up shallow way earlier than people think. When it comes months before the spawn, they're starting to look around. They're starting to kind of feel that, I guess, that spawning vibe come around and so they start getting up shallow, they start cruising. They're looking for bluegill. They're looking for shad. They're looking for crawfish. They're looking for anything to eat and they're also looking for the area that they want to spawn in. That's where a weightless wacky worm is maybe very effective.

How many times have we been on the water pre-spawn and you start seeing fish up shallow cruising and you're like, "Oh my gosh, they're getting ready to spawn," when they're really not. They're just kind of looking for their home. They're looking for something to eat. And this is a very, very good way to catch those nomads, those really giant and big roamers that are kind of roaming around looking for just something to eat or anything. You see them swimming around and you can, if you can see them without spooking them, and you put a weightless wacky worm in front of them, guys, they absolutely will eat it.

Another great pre-spawn example is fish at boat docks. Whenever you get around boat docks, those fish absolutely love to suspend under these boat docks. I don't care if a boat dock's in 80-foot of water or 8-inches of water. Those fish like to suspend directly underneath it. So don't think because you're fishing a boat dock over 80-foot of water that you can't throw a weightless wacky worm around them because you think it's too deep. But those fish like to get right up underneath it, that way they can visually see any bait fish coming around them, weightless wacky worm can be absolutely incredible, not just that time of the year, any time of the year. But if you're looking for something early to put on your front deck, a weightless wacky worm is it. But it takes practice. It takes a lot of trial and error when you're trying to get efficient at a weightless wacky worm and there's a lot of parts of the country, guys, that a lot of people don't throw it. So if you're a young tournament angler and you're looking something to get an edge up, weightless wacky worm is absolutely something that you put some time in. It's not like a spinner bait you just throw it out there and you reel it in. This is something you need to spend some time with to try to perfect, get it down, become efficient with it, and then start focusing on the time of the year and where these fish are going to be.

I'm telling you, a weightless wacky worm will catch fish when nothing else will, especially in those early months, that pre-spawn, that January to March is where you can be really effective with the setup. So from the Missile Base 48 to the Sunline to the St. Croix setup, the SEVIIN reel, everything is equally as important and if you don't get them, if you don't get each of these setups exactly perfect, then it's going to be it's going to get a little tough on you. So concentrate, focus your setup first, then look at the time of the year, look at the lake that you're on, the forage, how these fish are going to set up pre-spawn, and in those late winter early spring months and this is absolutely going to help you put more fish in your boat and give some of you younger guys and tournament anglers a competitive advantage on the water that nobody else really wants to put the time in to really kind of master. But, guys, I hope this helps put more fish in your boat. Tight lines and we'll see you guys next time.