Pre-rigged worms (ie. Bills Scented worms)

[Deitz Dittrich]

I make my own.. Its also called a florida swimming rig.. Simply a deadly presentation in the spring of the year. I wrote an article on it somewhat... I'll copy and post it here.. hope someone can get something from it... FYI to basser.. those small hooks on the pre rigs work just fine...

Aggressive Tactics With Soft Plastics

People associate soft plastic baits with fishing "finesse". Most of the
time this can be true, but there is a different side to fishing soft
plastics that can put a lot of fish in the boat. What I am talking about are
'aggressive soft plastic techniques'.

Many of you who know me, know that I am on the MisterTwister/Exude Field
Staff. This allows me the opportunity to try new and different kinds of
lures and techniques. Not only that, but being a teacher gives me my summers
off and plenty of time on the water. Fishing lures are usually broken up
into two large categories: Vertical, and Horizontal. Usually soft plastic
fall into the realm of vertical presentations. In this article I want to
look beyond that and try to put some of these soft plastics in the
horizontal category. One of my favorite rigs for this aggressive mode is the swimming worm.

To rig a swimming worm, you run a sinker (size depending on depth start with
1/8 oz and go from there), a swivel, and 2 small hooks. You tie one of the
hooks on first making sure you leave yourself enough of a tag end so that
you may tie on another hook behind the first.
Rig a 7" straight tail worm with the first hook in the nose of the worm exposed and the second hook through the tail of the worm, or there abouts.
You want the worm to hang in a half moon. Not a full C but an arch.

This rig should spin as its pulled through the water. Once you get good at it, you will be able to rig this bait so that it spins so the hooks face inward and stays fairly weedless. This lure can be used anywhere you would throw a spinnerbait.   It's a search lure--simply cast it out and reel it back in at a medium to slow rate. The lure has its own action, you need to do nothing other than reel it back in. When you do get a bite it will just feel like pressure. DON'T SET THE HOOK! Just reel faster and the hooks will set themselves.

Another aggressive way to fish soft plastics is to speed up your normal retrieve. I think of a R.T Slug(slugo) type bait and how slowly people work these, which most of the time this is a good technique. But at certain times when the fish are aggressive, you can really clean house if you think of this lure as a horizontal presentation rather than a slow jerk- pause technique. Instead, rip that R.T.Slug across the surface jerking the rod tip as you reel in the slack. This presentation works very well in the pre-spawn stage
of the year. You may need to add splitshot weights or weights to the hook so
that the lure stays in the depth that you are targeting.

Lastly, I may go back on what I originally said. You can have an aggressive attack on soft plastics and use a vertical presentation at the same time.

When a cold front and high pressure hit you can do two things. You can slow
your presentation down and shrink your baits. Or, you can get aggressive and
try to pick off the active fish. The best way to do this is by going to a
slightly heavier weight that you may be used to and making your rod actions
a little more erratic. Plastic worms, tubes and craws work best for this.
Instead of your normal lift and fall presentation, let your jig/worm fall to
the bottom and rip it up, pop your rod tip so that your lure moves only a
foot, but make the action fast. If you do this right, your lure will only
move a foot or less forward, this way you stay in the strike zone longer.
Think of it this way, you got Mr. Largemouth who's feeling kinda like just
hangin out, not into feeding. He sees this lure fall and land on the bottom
with a thud (extra weight, remember) a cloud of stuff flies up from the
bottom. So he heads over to see what's going on, just as he gets there,
whatever it is shoots off the bottom...He has to make a split second
decision, and believe it or not his brain will never think, he will just
react by eating whatever it is that is trying to get away.

Finally, I wrote this just in hopes that I can get you to think outside the
lines a little bit...Have fun with it, you don't have to do what everybody
else is doing. You may invent something totally new.

[Juice]

Hey ExudeDude, Thats was pretty informative and got my gears a turnin' I think i may have to try some of those things out early next year. How did you get to be a Mister Twister/Exude Field Staffer? Cuz im a HS Senior now and LOVE to fish and would like to get paid for something i like to do! Any help would be appreciated.

[basser]

Has anyone ever used these? They look awful small for a Bass, but I have heard guys swear by them. What is a good time to use these, and what kind of presentation works for them? Always lookingt for something new to try!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Juice-

I first made a resume. that resume delt with fishing as well as buisness. First realise that fishing is a buisness. From there I sent that resume to companies that I knew I could represent. And thats about it. However, its not that easy. You need to know that there are a ton of young men/women just like you that would love to fish for a living. And thats the biggest mistake you can make. I dont get "paid" for being on the prostaff. Insead of green backs I get product for work that I do for the companies that I represent. Sometimes it means writing an article for a webpage or paper magazine, sometimes it means speaking at a seminar, or woking a store promotion. Other times it means working the different sportshows...For that work I recieve product.

As stated, i am a school teacher...I fish as a side job/hobby.

If I had adivse for you it would be this. Take as many speaking classes in College that you can. Major in buisness... Companies want a person that can sell product.. If you are a good fisherman, all that much better. From those that know me.. I am just an average fisherman, but a pertty darn good salesman...

Good luck!

[basser]

Thanks Dietz! One question , do you weight these rigs? Or is it a weightless(senko type ) set up? With all the tubes and senkos being thrown I got to try another finese rig.

[Jim W]

Bill's scented lures ROCK! However, millions of plastics and combinations of, will as well!

To answer your question, no not too small.

Caught my personal to date largest bucket mouth on one!

You'll get like above, a ton of great info here!

Jim W

[Deitz Dittrich]

Not a problem basser...However, This is going to be one of them depends answers... It all depends on how deep I want to target. I have at times put a small splitshot, or at times I use just the swivel as the weight... I have found that the Water Gremlin Bull shot sinkers come threw the weeds best for me... good luck

[tinski]

Good information Exude, thands. I've had pretty good luck with Bill's in the spring. I've fournd slow retrieve seems to be key with them. I'm having trouble finding more Bill's worms around. I live in Duluth, but do get to the cities. Doe's anyone know where I can find more?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Tinski- you can buy any walleye worm harnes and rig a stright tail worm on it.. Berkley makes them.. Exude makes them.. zoom makes them.. just when you rig it.. rig it so it hangs in a half moon shape..

Or make your own.. then if your all that worried about hook size you can upgdare a little... all you need to know is how to tie a snell knot.

If I ever get my digital camera back from the wife, I'll take a pcit of how to make it and post it here.

[This message has been edited by Exudedude (edited 09-21-2004).]

[Jim W]

They are every where in "Sconny".

Ya need a very good bearing swivel. Slowretrieve IS key as mentioned.
If deep weedlines add a small split shot above leader!

Jim W