Finesse worms are very popular for targeting largemouth bass, especially in clear water. Most anglers will use finesse worms with light line on a drop shot rig and they will target bass in deeper water. Don’t rule out shallow water cover, darker water or using heavier line when drop-shotting finesse worms. These worms can be very effective in a variety of situations.
What Sizes are Best for Largemouth Bass Fishing?
There are so many good finesse worms in the 4 to 6 inch range. The smaller worms work great for action and are usually preferred by smallmouth bass anglers. For largemouth bass, you don’t really have to go to the 4 inch worms to get bites. Their mouths are big, which makes it easy for them to eat these baits, so try using the larger 5 to 6 inch finesse worms instead. You will catch bigger bass on average, but the bait is still small enough to provide you with plenty of action from smaller bass too.
How to Rig Finesse Worms
Most finesse worms look great on a simple jighead, but there are a variety of different jighead types that will work great. The drop shot rig is a great rig for finesse worms and some anglers like to use a Texas rig or Carolina rig.
Best Techniques
Hop Them Along the Bottom
Finesse worms look great when hopped along the bottom. Use a lighter jighead, small Texas rig or a drop shot rig and just hop them along the bottom with some pauses mixed in.
Fish Them Slowly Through the Water Column
Use a simple lift and pause retrieve with some occasional erratic jerks to tempt bass that are suspended in the water column. Most of your bites will come on the slow fall on the pause of your retrieve.
Shaky Technique
The twitching technique is a technique you can use with a shaky head jig or a drop shot rig. It works better with a drop shot rig, however, the shaky head jigs look good too. Basically, you’re trying to give the bait action without moving it much out of its original spot. By doing this, you’re creating action while keeping your bait in a good spot to draw more strikes from largemouth bass.
Swim Them
The smaller, curly tail worms work great when you swim them with a slow and steady retrieve. Use a baitfish colored pattern and swim these baits where bass are feeding on schools of baitfish and you’ll catch a lot of bass.
