Wacky Worm Rod and Reel

[Dan L]

I am just curious what everyone uses for a rod and reel when fishing a 5" wacky worm. I like to fish this with a baitcaster reel and 7' MH rod. I also use braided line with a flourocarbon leader. I watched the "Bass Pros" this week and they were using a spinning rod with 8 - 10 pound line. After reading a few articles that seems to be what most pro's use. I must be in the minority in using a baitcaster set up. I do fish a wacky worm in shallow weedy water often and like the power.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

If Im wacky worming around shallow cover like docks and laydowns I prefer a 6'6" MH spin rod with 30 lb braid so its easier to skip. Ive tried to do it with casting gear a few times but it makes skipping difficult. Open water I prefer to use a casting setup.

[Slob_Samurai]

I use a 6'8 med ex fast spinning with 20lb braid... Great for skipping in my opinion. Different rod manufactures have "medium power" ratings that I feel differ vastly. So my med legend elite is comparable to a mh cumara or kistler. You def need to play with the rods a little to see how you define their power.

[RK]

Hiya -

I use a 6'6" MH or 7' Medium spinning rod with 20# braid most often. Sometimes with a fluoro leader, sometimes not. Same rods I use for skipping around docks and all sorts of other stuff so I can't say that these are technique-specific choices, but they do the job very well. If I'm in really heavy cover like rushes and I don't think the spinning rod has the snort to haul fish out, I will switch to a 6'8" Heavy casting rod with 17# fluoro once in a while. In those situations I'm not casting far, and if you adjust your reel (and your thumb) you can still cast a pretty light bait far enough to get the job done.

[BassNut33]

I don't like using spinning gear, I will use casting gear when I can get away with it, but if you are around docks and need to skip it you have to go to spinning gear. I think my dislike for spinning gear keeps me away from some finesse tactics. Most of the time they become my last resort, it's just how I fish.

[Fever]

When Wacky rigging a stick bait / senko type plastic, I too I use a 6'6 Med. G-Loomis GLX with 20 power pro tied to an 18 inch or so snell of 10-8 lb flouro. I use this around docks and inside weed lines and usually have very little problem with loosing fish. I have used bait caster set ups but rairly for wacky rigging as if the situation calls for that type of power or backbone there is usually a high % of snags in area thus I wont be wacky rigging and will prob throw a tube, creature bait, t-rigged worm... etc on a heavier baitcasting set up and just very the weights to adjust the rate of sink. I always thought of wacky rigging as a subtle finesse type aproach. thus lighter line, flouro leader almost for sure, small hook, and spinning set up to make skipping 5 yards under docks possible.

[Larson15]

I use a 7'1 medium extra fast spinning rod on 10lb fluro. A big part of fishing a wacky rig is to allow slack in your line to have the right presentation. Using a baitcaster is harder in my opinion to allow slack in the line.

[mww24]

i use a 6 foot medium light st. croix avid spinning rod with 10 pound braid. It seems underpowered but seems to work great for me. I also use a fairly large size octopus hook when fishing it.

[Jig Master]

if the water is flat I can skip a wacky rigged senko on a baitcaster a lot easier. It's really quite easy. Of course if it's a wacky rigged trick-worm, the spinning gear must come out.

[mainbutter]

I go with 7' med spinning and 20lb power pro with 25lb fluoro leader. I always use back to back uni knots to attach leader fluoro to braid, and another uni knot to the hook. I use VMC drop shot hooks for wacky rigging, I find their weird-ish shape really works nice for wacky rigged stickbaits, keeps the worm at the bottom of the hook curve for great penetration on hooksets.

I've caught a few hundred too many pike and three too many muskies (including a 44''er) with wacky-rigged senkos to not have bite protection. Gotta love bonus fish