Wacky worms may be the most popular types of worms to fish weightless. The wacky style rig has swept the country and bass anglers can’t get enough of this technique. You can use some different rigs when fishing wacky worms, but these worms were made to be fished weightless.
Popular Techniques
Let It Free Fall
Fish them with a twitch and pause retrieve and you are going to get a lot of bites as the worm falls through the water column. If you cast the bait into a good spot, you can literally just let it fall and do nothing and you will get bites. It is one of the easiest baits to catch largemouth bass with.
Go Light Weight
Adding a little bit of weight to this bait will let you fish a little deeper and cover more water quicker while trying to fish down deeper. Some good ways to rig it for adding a little bit of weight are weedless finesse jigs or a split shot rig. The weedless finesse jig is tough to beat, but a split shot rig can be effective too.
Jerkbait Retrieve
Some anglers will use a jerkbait retrieve for wacky worms and this technique can work as well. It may not be as effective as a free falling wacky worm, however, it has its time and place. When the bass are a little more aggressive, a jerkbait retrieve while fished on a Texas rig can draw a lot of bites.
Skipping Wacky Worms
The skipping technique is an awesome way to get under overhanging trees, around wood and under docks, boat lifts and pontoon boats.
Popular Fishing Rigs
O-Ring (Wacky Style)
Using an O-ring is the easiest way to increase your ratio of fish caught per worm. One of the negatives of using wacky worms is that the bait comes off the hook very easy when you rig it wacky style. You can easily land 4 to 5 bass or even more per worm by adding an O-ring. Without an O-ring, it’s possible to lose a worm per bass, which can get costly.
Single Hook (Wacky Style)
The single hook, weightless rig is the most popular way to fish these worms. Fish them with a twitch and pause retrieve and you are going to get a lot of bites as the worm falls through the water column.
Weedless Finesse Jighead (Wacky Style)
Weedless finesse jigs are a great way to rig wacky worms as well. A lot of times, you will catch more largemouth bass with this technique than with a weightless rigged wacky worm because it allows you to get down deeper faster, which gets your bait in front of more bass more quickly. The slow sink rate is still super effective at getting bites too.
Drop Shot Rig (Wacky Style)
The drop shot rig is an awesome rig for targeting largemouth bass. Use it in deeper water to help you get down deeper quicker. Use a twitch and pause retrieve and you will catch plenty of bass.
