Although one of the hot new lures to come out recently was a power-fishing tool (the Rad Lures Chatterbait), it seems more and more that the new baits and techniques are tending to be of the finesse-style. The Chatterbait and finesse approaches are opposite extremes, but they address the same solution: catching pressured fish.
While the Chatterbait and copycat cranking jigs trigger reaction bites from neutral- to negative-mood fish, the finesse approach tries to coax those same fish into activity and feeding.
The problem with both is that the fish often just nip at the bait without total commitment to inhaling it. Fish in deep, clear waters in a cold-front-induced funk, and fish pounded by 2 solid weeks of 200 boats practicing for a tournament, are prone to frustrate fishermen who swing on strike after strike and come up empty.
Empty of bass, and maybe with half their shakey-head worm bitten off. The solution?
Sting 'Em
If you ask Arizona FLW Tour pro Cliff Pirch, he's likely to suggest a seemingly unlikely lure.
"A pre-rigged worm like a Westy Worm has been a big deal out west for years," he said. "It's got a jighead built into the worm, with an exposed hook, and an internal wire going to another exposed hook (near the tail of the worm)."
Essentially it's a worm with a trailer or stinger hook.
"You can fish it on bluff walls, steep rocky points, and pretty much anywhere you don't have a lot of brush and vegetation. It's typically a summer pattern, but it can be used year-round. Guys out west like to fish it at night a lot."
He'll fish it right under the boat in deeper water, or hop it through shallower areas.
"(Around sparse cover), that rear exposed hook (will solve the short-strike problem)," he noted. "And why not use it if you can get away with it? You don't have to punch the hook through the plastic, and an exposed hook will hook more fish than a hidden one.
"Spotted bass especially like to bite where they're just getting just half the worm. With a normal jighead worm, you jerk and you get half a worm back. If you're fishing a rocky type of cover, or isolated brush that you can work around close (but not through it), it works great."
The Right Conditions
Whether it's due to fishing pressure, clear water, a cold front or some other reason, the time to throw the pre-rigged worm is when the fish are just pecking at the lure and not engulfing it. But the relatively open hooks obviously aren't going to help much in some situations. Grass, brush, and other grabby cover will get the worm before the fish can.
"It's not as versatile as a jighead worm," he noted. "But it's definitely a good finesse rig and you'll get a lot of bites. And it will catch big ones too. It catches big ones on my home lake (Roosevelt). It's not what I would target monsters with, but it will catch them."
Asked whether he thinks we'll start hearing more about pre-rigged worms on the tournament trail, he said it was distinctly possible.
"It sure could become more popular," he noted. "Using it depends on the aggressiveness of the fish. On day 3 or day 4 of a tournament, when you start getting some of those shorter bites after they've seen too many jighead worms, (the pre-rigged worm) might be what you need. It'd be a great tool to use when you encounter that situation."
Gearing Up
Pirch uses a 6' 1/2-foot, medium action Rogue Rods jigworm spinning rod and 6- to 8-pound line when fishing a pre-rigged worm.
"It's a versatile bait that you can fish at any depth," he said. "But the deeper you fish, the lighter the line should be. It works (the lure) better and you have more control over it."
In very deep water he'll drop down to 6-pound line, or maybe use 10-pound braided line with a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader.
"The Rogue rod helps a lot," he added. "It has a graphite handle that really transfers sensitivity into your hand. Since the bite is typically a light tick, you need all the sensitivity you can get."
Hooksets with the exposed hooks don't have to be fierce.
"You don't have to whack them. It's usually a pressure bite – in fact there was an old brand called the Pressure Bite worm – or the lure just stops falling or feels mushy. Then you just lift up and crank (to set the hook), similar to a drop-shot set. Just get a good bow in the rod and keep pressure on them."
As to which worms to use, he said the western anglers typically choose a 1/4-ounce head in a 4- or 6-inch worm. There are pre-rigged worms that are not weighted at all, but he personally doesn't use that kind much.
Color choice is the same as for any other worm, though he noted that bright blood red and purple are popular out west. Night fishermen usually use solid black, or black with a chartreuse line down the side.
Notable
> The original Westy Worm is available at LobinaLures.com, as well as other retail outlets.
> When BassFan called on the first weekend of June, Pirch was driving home from Roosevelt Lake. "We just got done, and we killed them today," he said. "We did some of that (pre-rigged worm fishing)."
