 Over
the last three years the most consistant bass catcher
I have used has been the "Wacky Worm," a.k.a.
"Jersey rig". The rig that most people look
at and say how can that silly little worm catch anything?
Well, once again it does not matter what we as the fisherman
think looks good, but rather what Mr. Bass thinks that
matters. The Jersey rig was first used years ago when
the first rubber worms were sold; no doubt those first
prehistoric or BT (before tournaments) worms were Crème
Scoundrels. They were natural colored and rather hard
in comparison to those hand-poured super saty worms of
today. For the benefit of the younger generation they
were sold on a card, two at a time, hooked up to a harness
complete with a propeller and beads, or sold separately,
five at a time as a refill pack. They had a large color
selection of natural and black. At that time, rubber worms
were fished in three ways: 1) the aforementioned propeller
harness, 2) a swimming rig with a swivel and 3) the body
curled (still very deadly) and wacky style known as twinking
or tweaking, whichever you preferred. The last few years
has made me a believer in the power of that little worm;
hopefully, I will be able to give everyone a primer in
"wacky worming" and help everyone get a limit
when nothing seems to be working.
The equipment I use for "wacky worming" is simple.
The rod is a Team Diawa Tony Bean Smallmouth rod (the
best spinning rod ever made for under $80.00, good for
grubs, hair jigs, tubes and pointer 78 jerkbaits). I use
the Team Daiwa 1300 SS series spinning reel (still the
most durable and smothest spinnig reel made for $129.00),
and on the reel I use either 8# or 10# Bagleys Silver
Thread or 6# Vanish. The hook is either a #2 Gary Klein
grey shadow finnese hook or my new favorite and Brendan
sponser #2 Eagle claw Nickle Teflon Circle hook. My favorite
worms are Gold Jersey rig worms, Zoom green gourd centipede
worms, green pumpkin Senkos and a 2.5" clear smoke
Caseys worm. All of these worms are 4" long and range
in softness from the harder, more durable Caseys worms,
to the ultra-soft, go-through-a-pack-a-limit Gary Yamamoto
(means soft expensive worm in Japanese) Senkos. I do use
other colors and on occasion will use a small fiddler
crab looking bait that sinks like a coin thrown into a
fountain. All of these colors catch fish, but the little
gold one and the green gourd rate very high in my book.
The real beauty of this worm is that anybody, even the
beginner, will catch bass on it -- just add water and
see what happens. The worms and hooks complete with the
little paneling nail in the head cost about $1.50 per
lure, so you can throw them anywhere and fish without
fear. Skip them under trees, boat houses, bushes, and
any number of nasty places and most times they either
come out with a bass or through the snags with few interruptions.
The rig lends itself to the beginner, as well as to the
expert. My ten-year old son caught his first five pound
bass on the 4" green gourd Wacky worm in Forge Pond.
The bass was caught in open water over a mussel bed.
This demonstrates just how versatile this lure is...throw
it in 20’ of water over weeds or throw it under
a tree and it will catch any bass that is there. The Wacky
worm skips better than any lure and once the lure is in
place under anything that has not seen a lure in a long
time, you leave it there as long as you can stand it then
just lift your rod about 2' and shake the worm let it
fall (as you pull up you will feel the little worm vibrate)
suddenly you will either feel a slight tap, bump, or pressure.
When this happens way back in the lanscaping do not set
the hook, just tighten up and slowly reel until the Bass
clears the cover then pull and reel. The little ultra
thin hook will penetrate and Mr. Bass will head for open
water where he will be all yours.
The best way to rig a Wacky worm is to tie on the hook
(thin wire and super sharp) with a palomar knot; take
the worm and push a tiny black panel nail into the head.
Take the hook and push the hook through the middle of
the worm and turn the hook point back toward the nail
and push the hook point back into the worm. This should
place the line tie of the hook on the opposite side of
the worm with the nail stuck in it. This rig is best thrown
and let settle raise the rod 2' to 4' and shake, wait,
wait, wait and wait!!! Bass will eat it and just swim
away with it. To set the hook just pull and reel. In closing,
if your not fishing with the Wacky worm you are not catching
all the bass you could be catching!!
See you on the water ...Dan McGarry
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