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By Juan Veruete (centralpafishing.com)
I'm a tough nut to crack when it comes to new baits. Years ago I can remember seeing my first soft stickworm. It was a Yamamato Senko. I also remember thinking to myself, "what's the big deal?" It was soon after that I began experimenting with the bait and catching fish. A lot of fish! Well, years later stickworms are still catching fish for anglers across the country and we can be rest assured that this bait is more than a passing fad. It has become a mainstay for many largemouth and smallmouth bass anglers. I know stickworms have certainly gained my respect and a permanent place in my fishing arsenal.
Like any bait, it does have some limitations. That being said, I'm always trying to extend the use of a good bait by finding new ways to rig and present it. The stickworm is no exception. Most fisherman think of this bait as a shallow, open water bait. Through some creative rigging and ingenuity, a stickworm can be utilized across many different cover types and depths. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Fishing shallow sparse cover or rock
When fishing shallow water or sparse cover, your best rigging option is often an exposed hook. I prefer exposed hook rigging when possible for two reasons. First, the exposed hook helps increase your hook up ratio. Second, the hooks used in this rigging technique are smaller and lighter and, therefore, will not hinder the vertical slow fall that makes a soft stickworm such a great bait for river smallmouth bass. My two favorite rigging options for a stickworm in sparse cover are "Nose Hooking" and "Wacky Rigging."
Nose Hooking
Nose hooking a soft stickbait is fairly simple. Just as the name implies, you find the nose of the bait and hook it. There are several types of hooks you can use when nose hooking a soft stickbait. A few of my favorites are circle hooks, Gamakatsu Octopus Circle hooks and Gamakatsu split shot/drop shot hook. For example, if I'm rigging a 3" soft stickbait I'll most often use a 1/0 Gamakatsu drop shot hook.
There are several advantages to nose hooking a soft stickbait. I've already mentioned that the exposed hook increases your hook up ratio. A second important advantage is that you have the hook in the place where the fish is most likely to attack the bait. Smallmouth have an uncanny ability to know where the "head" of an artificial lure or natural prey is and hit it. If you've ever observed a smallmouth attacking a soft plastic bait in clear water, you know what I mean. In a smallmouth’s world, the skinny part is the tail and the fat part is the head of a bait.
Wacky Rig
I like "wacky rigging" a bait mainly because I think the name is funny. Of course you know I'm kidding… right? Wacky rigging is one of my mainstay rigging techniques in sparse cover and around rocky areas. I will typically wacky rig my soft stickbaits with a circle hook of some type or even a size 1 or 2 Kamakatsu offset extra wide gap worm hook. Circle hooks are great because they can significantly reduce gut hooking and take very little work to set the hook. Just reel up on the line, sweep the rod, and you’re hooked up!
To wacky rig, just find the center point of the bait and stick the hook straight through. It's important that you find the center point at which the bait balances on the hook evenly. The head end of soft stickbaits is usually a little bigger than the tapered tail end so the "mid point" to balance out the bait is often a little toward the head of actual center.
I'll switch over to an offset worm hook when I'm getting bit but still have trouble getting hooked up on fish. Many times fisherman think they are missing smallmouth because the fish are small. I've found that this is not always the case. The bigger offset wide-gapped hook has helped me connect on fish when the bite is very subtle. I think the bigger wide-gapped hook gets sucked in momentarily and when the smallmouth tries to spit the bait, the hook gets hung up on it's mouth, resulting in a hookup when normally you'd feel a subtle tap… tap… then nothing more.
In general, the wacky rig is great for smallmouth in a negative to neutral mood. Typically under those conditions smallmouth move up on a bait and "mouth" or "taste" it. When a smallmouth does this it is not necessarily attacking the bait at the head. It most often is picking the bait up at the mid point. I've observed this behavior quite often. A good general rule of thumb is to start with the nose hook then move to the wacky rig if you are getting bites but not able to convert them to catches.
Fishing Vegetation and Wood
In the summer, fishing message boards are full of fisherman trying to solve the "weed" problem on the Susquehanna River and other flows that see a fair amount of summer growth. Most often their looking for advice on presentations that will allow them to fish in the weed beds where the smallmouth are seeking refuge during sunny summer days. Fishing cover with a soft stickworm is where we start "weeding out" (pun intended) fisherman who think this is difficult to impossible. Contrary to popular belief, this bait can be extremely effective in wood, weeds, and pads. Two very simple rigging techniques will get you in the thick of things.
Texposed Rig
Texposed rigging is great for sliding the bait through submerged weeds and wood. You can slide it through the cover and when you feel it hit an open pocket of water let it fall. That's typically when smallmouth will hit the bait. When fishing weeds in current, I'll position myself downstream of the weeds, cast up, then slide the bait through the weeds as it moves downstream. This will also help reduce snags significantly. You can also use a similar technique when fishing a downed tree. Position yourself near the crown of the tree and pull the bait through the limbs.
My hook of choice for texposing soft stickbaits is a Gamakatsu extra wide gap offset worm hook. It's a long name for a darn good hook. Size of the hooks will range from to 5/0 depending on the size of the soft stickworm. For example, if I'm rigging a 3" stickworm I'll often use a size 2 offset worm hook. If I'm rigging a 6 inch or large bait the size of the hook will be 3/0 or possibly 4/0. The primary factor that determines hook size is the length and thickness of the bait. I try to use a hook that will allow the body of the stickworm to move out of the way when the bait is taken in and chomped down on by the fish.
Texposing is fairly simple. Insert the point of the hook about 1/4 inch into the nose of the bait and punch it out the side. Flip the point of the hook toward the worm and pull the hook thought until it reaches the bend of the offset hook. Then punch the hook point straight up through the worm and out the other side. The worm should be rigged perfectly straight on the hook. If not, most likely you punched the hook point through the worm at an angle or in the wrong spot. Try backing it out and punching though again.
Wacky Rig with weed guarded hook
Emergent weeds on surface of the river? No problem. This is an excellent situation to wacky rig your soft stickbait with a weed guarded hook. My favorite hook is a Gamakatsu finesse wide gap weedless hook. It has a nice little flexible weed guard that you can drag through some serious slop without getting hung up. Typically when I'm tossing soft stickbaits into emergent weeds, I'll throw bait that are 5" or larger. I find that a size 1/0 hook does the job nicely with this size bait.
The bait can be presented two ways. First, you can just drag it across the weed slop and let it sit on top of it. This is more of a "top water" presentation and it is very effective in early morning or overcast conditions. It is also what I refer to as a "horizontal" presentation of the bait. Second, you can cast it to holes or gaps in the weeds and make a more vertical presentation by letting it drop on a slack line. Let's take this one step further. You can also combine both presentations by casting the bait out across the surface weeds, dragging the bait across the slop and as the bait reaches a gap, hole, or the edge, let it free line down. This can be an extremely effective presentation because the smallmouth will be able to track the bait across the weeds and then jump all over it when it falls though a hole. Strikes will usually come in the first foot of the drop so hang on!
Fishing deep water and current
Now it's time to take our soft stick bait fishing to a new level. Most river smallmouth fisherman will fish the bait down to 5' or 8' but find it very difficult to fish the bait effectively any deeper. I'm of the mind that if a soft bait can catch fish at 5' it can probably also do the job at 10 feet or more. We just need to find a way to get it down. We also need to be able to keep reasonably good contact with the bait so we know when we have a hit or when we are bumping bottom. Here are a couple of solutions that will not only get the bait down but also enable you to fish the bait in more current than you thought possible.
Nail Weights
As the name implies, nail weights look like nails but are made of lead. I saw my first nail weights back in the mid 80's when they were developed for the new soft jerkbait referred to as a Slug-Go. The nail weights were inserted into the plastic baits to get them down deeper. Nail weights are typically about 1/2 inch long and can be used as is or cut into pieces depending on how much weight you want insert into your soft stick bait. The weights are basically pushed into the soft plastic so that they are completed buried under the "skin" of the bait. When nail weighting soft stick worms you need to make sure that you use a single weight in the center, or if you are going to use multiple weights, make sure that the weight is evenly distributed across the bait so that it still falls in the horizontal position.
Jig Heads
Using a jig head with a soft stickbait is a great way to get the bait down to smallmouth holding in deep runs. It does negate the action of the bait but it still presents that great soft stickbait profile that smallmouth love. I will typically only use a jig head with soft stick worms in the 3" or 4" length. Longer baits just have too much bulk and the weight needed is just too much to make a good presentation. Most often when rigging the 3" or 4" stickbaits I'll used a standard 1/8 oz. jig head. I fish the bait much like a tube, bouncing it along the rocky bottom keeping contact with the bait so I can feel the most subtle strike.
A soft stickworm is one of the most effective summer time baits for river smallmouth. Almost every fisherman I know has at least a few in his or her bag of tricks. Some of the best fishermen I know catch fish because they have a handful of go-to baits that they are able to adapt and present in a wide range of fishing conditions. As you've seen, with a little thought, experimentation, and effort even a simple straight worm can be adapted and presented in a wide range of fishing conditions. This was just a quick overview of what you can do with the bait. Hopefully it will be food for thought and lead you to more ideas and ways to fish the bait. Like I always say, experimentation is a fisherman’s best friend. Without it, we would still be fishing with live baits and bone hooks.
From top to bottom: 4" bait wacky rigged on a size 2 offset shank worm hook, 4" bait wacky rigged on a size 1 Gamakatsu Octopus hook, 3" bait nose hooked with a 1/0 Gamakatsu split shot/drop shot hook
From top to bottom: 5.25" bait texposed rigged with a 4/0 Gamakatsu offset shank extra wide gap worm hook, 4.25" bait weedless wacky rigged on a Gamakatsu finesse wide gap weedless hook
From top to bottom: 3" bait rigged on a 1/8 oz. jig head, various sized nail waits that can inserted into a wacky rigged stick worm increase the depth that it can be fished
Juan is a member of several fishing industry pro staffs including kayakbassfishing.com and the Centre Sportsman TV Show. He has almost 40 years of fishing experience on the waters of Pennsylvania. Get more great fishing tips, techniques, and reports on his personal blog, www.centralpafishing.com.
