Fishing The Icesickle

Looking back at the 2001-02 season, it became apparent that Davy Hite caught a bunch of fish (and won a lot of money) in part with a seldom-mentioned soft-plastic bait called the Gambler Icesickle Worm. It's sort of a finesse bait -- "sort of" because he prefers the 8- inch version.

"It's more of a finesse worm, although I use the 8-inch worm most often," he says (it also comes in a 6-inch version). "It's good when fish don't seem to want a lot of movement, like with a curl-tail worm."

That means "when the fishing is tough, when there's been a lot of pressure. Most people, including me, automatically think that when there's pressure or tough conditions, you downsize. But I just like to have something that doesn't have as much flash, movement or vibration, and that's when I use that worm."

He rigs and fishes the Icesickle several different ways.

Texas Rig

He Texas-rigs the worm during post-spawn. "I like to use a straight worm," he says. During that time, "most people use a curl-tail worm, or a ribbontail worm. But I like a bait that just glides a little more."

Plus, the tail of a ribbontail worm makes it fall in a certain direction, "like a tail on a kite," Hite notes. "The fall of a straight worm is a little more erratic."

The rest of his rig is a 1/4-ounce bullet sinker, 3/0 Owner J-hook, 7-foot medium-heavy Trion rod, and Trion baitcasting reel strung with 14-pound Trilene XT (green).

Carolina Rig

At the Eufaula BASSMASTER, Hite caught a few bass on a Carolina-rigged Icesickle worm that helped him to a 3rd-place finish.

"A lot of people fish a lizard when they're fishing a Carolina rig," he says. "But I like to change things up and give the fish a different look," though he notes that in pre-spawn he likes to Carolina rig a lizard and a Gambler Bacon Rind. "When the water's warming, I like something with more bulk."

Post-spawn, summer, fall and winter -- basically, when conditions generally are tough -- are his favorite times for Carolina-rigging an Icesickle. To fish it he uses the same rod and reel, 17-pound green Trilene green and a 2/0-3/0 Owner J-hook on a 30-36 inch 10-14 pound leader, depending on the type and height of the cover. In stained water or at night he typically fishes a shorter leader.

When it comes to colors, he likes the same ones for both Carolina- and Texas- rigging: watermelon and green-pumpkin for clear water, and red shad, junebug and black/blue for darker water.

Floating Worm

Hite also likes to use the Icesickle worm as a floating worm -- even though it doesn't float. "It sinks really slowly," he says, and to him that's an advantage. While others are fishing on top, he keeps his worm 12-18 inches down, "where you can just barely see it."

Floating worm time for Hite is when the water is "55 degrees on up, almost when you're ready to start using a topwater."

Here he uses 14-pound Trilene XT, a 6' 6" medium-action Trion casting rod, Trion reel and a 2/0-3/0 Owner rigging hook. "Most of the time I'll use a barrel swivel 10-12 inches in front of the bait," he notes. "To get it to sink a little faster, I'll use a larger barrel swivel." A swivel not only helps the bait sink, it also helps prevent line twist.

For this technique he prefers fluorescent colors, or "sometimes junebug or straight black."

Notable

> The Icesickle worm works for Hite because it "gives the fish a different look," he says. "The bodies of water we fish are getting more and more pressure from more and more knowledgeable fishermen. The fish are somewhat educated, if you can educate a bass, so I'm always looking for something with a different look, vibration or action in the water."

> The Gambler Icesickle Worm was designed by Hite and fellow Gambler endorser Clark Wendlandt.