Wacky rigs

[Cooter]

Curious about what people's favorite plastics are to rig wacky style and more so how they prefer to work them. I'm gonna give them a try on a weedy, shallow lake near home this May. Will not be using any weight - most likely use a weedless hook(wire hook guard?).

Sorry if this topic was recently discussed, I don't hit the bass forum very often. Thanks.

[JPSavage]

Hard to beat a senko type lure!

[sightfisher]

Yup, a senko works great wacky rigged. You said weightless, but look at a worm hook with lead on the shaft. I have some, can't remember who makes it..... maybe mustad..falcon?.?.? With it weighted you get the benefit of working more water while still having the effective presentstion.

[Lunker]

I third the motion of wacky rigging senko style baits. It's definitley the best producer for me. I really like the wacky rig under certain applications.

[delmuts]

i agree with the senkos! but if you have other types of plastics, don't be afraid to try those too!i have heard of guys using the french fry style plastic( that was so popular a while back) too.

[Cooter]

Thanks all, sounds like the Senko is gonna get the first try. How about working them? Let them sink and sit, or work fast with twitches, or try a little of everything and let the fish tell ya?

[delmuts]

i'd stay with the OR! but!! most of the guys talk about the fish taking them mainly on the fall. so you want to be a line watcher!

[Slyster]

I had such success with wacky rigged Senkos last summer that I felt bad... they limited my use and learning of other lures. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing? As my avatar shows.. I had GREAT success with bubblegum colored senkos in clear water.. usually at 7-9 feet at the edge of weed beds- hundreds of bass in perhaps 7 actual fishing days.

This summer.. I plan to NOT focus on Senko's.. but other plastics.. such as jigs/pigs and tubes.

[Mr. Pike1]

Sly, you can focus on some other plastics but if you want fish in the boat on a consistant basis the old Senko is tough to beat.

That weighted 5" salt impregnated chunk wacky rigged or strait just drives the small mouth and large mouth crazy. Last year I also got three tiger musky to attack Mr. Senko and one was a true monster that about ripped the rod out of my hand and on the second run from the boat detroyed my 6 lb mono and got me hook, line, and "Senko"

[OnTheWater]

Either retrieve will produce. I personally move the bait very slow, and catch them on the fall. This is a great application to use with Transition fluorocarbon; because you will need to watch your line, and the gold tint helps a bunch. On the other side of things, the fast twitching retrieve can also produce under certain conditions. In fact, probably the biggest MN largemouth that I've ever witnessed being caught, was landed using the fast twitch technique. So try'em both until you find what works best. As far as the right lure to use, I would suggest using a senko type bait, but DO experiment with others. One of my favorites is the RingFry from Lake Fork Tackle, it’s somewhat of a mix between a ring worm and a french fry bait. For a hook, I would suggest trying a circle hook. The bent hook point seems to stay off the weeds. No matter what you end up using, wacky riggin' will produce.

[Deitz Dittrich]

as stated the soft plastic stick bait is probably the #1 choice.. but something I have done is to use a crawler/trick worm type plastic and wacky rig it.. then insert a nail in the one end for weight.. .really a different action that is awesome at times.

[Daze Off]

Ditto to everything mentioned so far - awesome bait/presentation. They are great to skip under docks - especially the smaller senkos and they work very good in rivers for smallies as well.

Daze Off

[delmuts]

what size circle hook do you use?

[Mr. Pike1]

Daze, now you have me day dreaming of the open water. Launching the boat as dawn when the lake is like glass, the sun is just rising, and there is a little fog rising from the lake. From there sneaking up to my favorite docks dropping the Senko under the dock and seeing the pick up, the hook set, and yes another 20"er....

I have an entire bag with about 20 different packs of Senkos in the 4" and 5" and a variety of colors. Of course I still have my favorites.

-Pumpkin with green sparkle

-Rootbeer

-Smoke with the blue red sparkle

-Baby Bass

I could go on an on but these are a few of my favorite colors. Next on my list is the classic tube jig (I like the craw color, smoke, or green), spinner bait, Mepps, topwater, crank...You guys all know the game.

[Sproguy]

Guys if you want just a GREAT hook try the Finesse Wide Gap from Gamakatsu. It comes in both reg. and weedless. Buy the size in something like a size 1, 1/0 or 2/0. It works! I've seen them all over, Gander, Cabelas, and many others.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I'm with Spro on this one.. its the only hook I use for the wack!

[Slyster]

I used the wacky rig so much last summer, I never even tried stickbaits with other methogs.. like texas rigged.

When does a situation merit a different rigging than wacky rigging?

[RossT]

Other times to texas rig a stick bait like a Sinking Minnow or stick worm is pitching it to thick vegitation. When texas rigged, these baits can punch through milfoil really well. You typically do not need a real heavy weight. I can get by with a 3/16oz. weight and that seems to do the deed.

Another neat trick is to rig a 4" or even 5" stick worm on a mushroom style jig, like the Outkast money jig. When rigged on jig-worm, they have a spiral action almost similar to a tube, but when the bait reaches the bottom you can shake your rod tip and this creates a quivering action.

Very versatile baits and it seems that there isn't a wrong way to rig them. Carolina rigged, weightless texas rigged, texas rig w/weight, wacky rigged, jig-worm, etc. The only mistake you can make with these baits is not fishing them at all.

For wacky worm hooks, I prefer the Falcon weightless hook. Joe's, Fleetfarm, and some other tackle shops carry them. They come in 3/0 and 6/0 size.

[Cooter]

Thanks all, I'm pumped for May! Lots of pressure but also lots of nice bass where I will fish - don't believe they have seen much of the wacky rig there. Later. Oh yeah, how bout colors for a clear, weedy, spring fed lake?

[Mr. Pike1]

I would lean to some of the darker craw or cinnimin colors. Then go to the watermellon or brighter colors if not succesful. I really like the look of the bubble gum senko in the aviator but have never actually tried it. You might want to try this in clear water.

I believe the gentleman who has that in his aviator fishes White Bear quite a bit for bass and White Bear is a very very clear lake and it appears to work well for him.

Don't rule of tubes. You can fish them weedless for the thick stuff