Glenn: We have a customer.
There we go.
Oh, you're gonna want to go over on this side,
okay?
There we go.
That floating worm is right in his face.
Look at that right there.
And he took that.
You don't think these guys want it?
I just...
It's literally the very next cast.
And that hook is in there.
Wow.
There we go.
A little buck.
Oh, hey.
All right, let's let this boy go.
Off you go.
Hey, folks, Glenn May here with BassResource.com,
and today I want to talk to you about fishing
floating worms, and I'm going to show you
a way to do it that I've been doing it for
many decades and, honestly, if you look on
YouTube, I don't think I've seen anybody show
you how to do it this way.
If they have, I just haven't seen it.
Or if you're watching this video a few years
later and you see a lot of videos about how
to do it this way, well, this is how they
learned it.
So, first of all, to fish a floating worm
you can do it any time of the year while the
weather is warm.
The best time is right immediately after the
spawn.
That's where I've had the most success with
it.
The fish are just a little lethargic, they're
still guarding fry.
That couple of weeks right after the spawn
is really the prime time for fishing a floating
worm.
But it works throughout the entire summer.
Even in the spring I've done really well with
that and into the early fall.
It's just triggering the fish, their instinct
of to hit a bait that's dying, that's injured.
You're just preying on that, and they have
that all the time.
So don't think you're limited to just a certain
time of the year.
I haven't had as much luck, obviously, in
the winter time when the water temps are in
the low 40s.
But any other time of the year works really
well.
So let me show you what I do here.
First of all, let's talk about equipment and
how I rig it, and then I'm going to show you
how I fish it.
First of all, I'm starting here with a baitcasting
rod.
Now, you can use spinning as well.
I'm fishing a little bit of cover and stuff
out here today, so I went a little bit heavier
with 15-pound line.
A lot of times I fish it with spinning, with
six-pound line or eight-pound line when I'm
fishing in open water, say rocky banks and
riprap and that sort of thing.
You can use whatever you want when it comes
to that.
Just if you fish a little bit heavier cover,
remember, if that fish buries down inside
the weeds, you're going to have to get them
out.
So using the eight-pound line and six-pound
line is a little difficult.
So that's why I'm heavying up a little bit
today, I'm using 15-pound copolymer line.
I don't need to go too crazy here.
I don't really like to use fluorocarbon when
it comes to this, the worm.
Although, it doesn't float per se, fluorocarbon
is a little bit heavier line so it will help
it sink a little bit faster.
And I don't want it to sink real fast so I'm
using copolymer line.
I don't use braid because I don't want to
spook the fish.
A lot of times I am fishing clear water, braid
just gives it away.
It's a big flare.
It looks unnatural to me and I don't think
the fish like it.
So I don't use braid for this application.
So it's straight up 15-pound copolymer line.
Or if you're using spinning gear, again, six
to eight straight up.
Now, tied with it...
Well, this here is a medium power rod.
This is a 6'8", yeah, 6'8" medium power rod.
If you're using a spinning outfit, same thing,
medium power rod fast tip.
That's the sort of thing you want to go...even
a medium light, you can do that as well if
you're using that real light line.
But again 15 pounds, I'm using medium with
a fast tip on it.
The reel, again, reel speed isn't a big difference
here because we're not bringing that lure
in really fast.
So anything with a gear ratio between 6:1
and 7:5 is fine.
Don't rush out and buy another baitcasting
reel.
If you don't have that speed, you can use
an 8 or 9:1, I'm just saying.
If you are looking to buy a new baitcasting
reel for this particular application, you
don't need to spend the extra money on high-speed
reels.
Talked about the line, the reel.
Now let's talk about the set up a little bit.
This is interesting.
I want you guys to see this.
What I've done here is I've got a leader on
here, about a one-foot leader, and I've got
a little swivel.
This is a number seven swivel right here.
Now, this line is exactly the same line here.
This leader here is exactly the same one as
I have here.
The reason why I'm putting the swivel here
is it helps enable that lure to twist and
spin and move around without twisting my line.
This is especially necessary if you're using
spinning gear.
Line twist is a problem with spinning gear.
Putting this little swivel on here will prevent
that, all right?
But even with bait casting, it still allows
this bait to spin and move around freely,
and that's what I really like.
So a good quality, like a number seven bearing
swivel is what you want.
I'm using a 2/0 offset shank worm hook.
That's real important in this instance.
Usually, I use an extra wide gap, but in this
instance, you can see the hook point is higher
than the eye of the hook.
That's important, and I'll show you why in
a minute when we rig it.
I'm just tying with it, tying to it using
the uni knot.
I've been using the uni knot for over 30 years,
never had it fail.
I'm real comfortable with the uni knot and
tying it, so that's what I've been using.
A lot of you guys like to use polymer knots
or San Diego jam knots.
Those are equally effective as well.
If you're used to tying those knots, feel
comfortable with those knots, go ahead and
use them.
All three of them are pretty much equal.
There we go.
It's a strong fish.
Okay, I got him.
Loving worm.
Boy, he ate it too.
He certainly took that.
It's the only way he can get that out.
There we go.
Good fish.
Thank you.
All right, so to rig it.
Well, let me tell you about the bait here.
First of all, I take it right out of the package
and I store it in a little baggie like this.
If you notice, the baggie is not quite as
long as the bait, and there's a reason for
that.
When I store it in my tackle box, you can
see it's not straight.
I don't want it to store straight.
And over time it's actually going to mold
and hold on to that.
It's going to have weird kinks and angles
in these things.
They are not going to be totally straight
all the time.
So I happened to pull one out that is straight.
The tail is a little kinked on that one.
But a lot of times you'll get some weird kinks
in these things.
Yeah, that was a little kinked a little bit
towards the tail as you can see, which is
what you want.
You want these little kinks and bends in them,
and the reason being is that it's going to
enable it as it goes through the water to
be really erratic.
It's going to deep and dart and spin and do
all kinds of weird things.
So that's the first thing I do, is I distort
kind of an awkward position so it gets some
weird kinks into it.
Now, to rig it, this is an important thing.
Let me show you.
Let me pull this up here for you.
I'm going to get right up here so you can
see what I'm doing.
Now, the first thing you want to do is look
at where the flat side is.
That's where you want the hook point to be
resting when you're done.
So you start off by putting the hook point
in this way.
Now a lot of people put the hook point right
in the center.
Don't put it right in the center.
What you want to do is put it underneath right
about here, okay.
That's important, it gives a little upturn
on the bait.
So put it right about there, then you go in,
straight down the middle just like so.
Now a lot of people right about here, that's
where they bring the hook point down, the
traditional Texas rigging.
Don't do that with this.
You want to give it another inch or so, about
an inch and a half.
It's like bringing down the hook about that
much, about the whole bend of it, now bring
it out.
Now, flip it around, just like so, and I'm
going to bring it through.
This takes a little bit of work but working
on through.
Come on, there.
Now flip it around.
Now, look at this.
Look at what you got here.
Okay?
We've got about an inch or so.
Look at that.
Now, what that does is it enables this worm
to get a lot of erratic action.
The line is coming out right towards the bottom
like that, see that.
Not through the center, and you've got this
extra amount of worm here that's going to
give it some more irregular action.
Now, before I bring it in, now you can see
why I want the hook point up here because
it's going to give it a little kink when I
put it on here.
I'll show you that in a second.
But before I do that, what I like to do is
I'll get a spool of 40-pound real cheap mono
at my local tackle store.
I like that because it's really wiry.
I use that to peg the hook in place.
So I'll take the line and I'll peg it right
through the eye of the hook.
Right through the eye of the hook, just like
this.
Boom.
There we go, okay.
Then I'll cut that off.
So what that does is it holds that hook right
in place.
It's not going to slide down, move around.
It's right in there.
So now that hook isn't going anywhere, okay?
See that?
I'm pulling on it, it's not sliding down.
So it holds it in place.
And now, finally, what you want to do is just
bring it right on through, just like so, and
now we Tex-pose it.
Now look at this.
Doesn't this look funky?
That's what you want.
You want this lure to be kind of kinked up
and looking kind of weird.
What that's going to do is it's going to give
a lot of action on the water.
It's going to make it spin and twirl and flutter
and do all kinds of weird stuff.
It's going to look like an injured baitfish.
Going back to this swivel, that's why you
want it.
This is going to give it a lot of action.
Now, I'll rig it a little bit differently
and maybe even use an extra wide gap hook
if I don't want that much action to it.
But, typically, this is how I start off.
Especially in the warmer months, fish really
want that action.
All right, guys?
So that's the equipment, that's the line,
that's how I rig it, that's what I do with
the bait.
I know you haven't seen it done this way before,
but trust me it really works because we're
going to go out fishing and I'll show you
how it works.
There we go.
Whoa.
I just about got him right off the boat.
He's small, and he's not very big.
Keri: He's not very big, but he'll do.
Gawd Glenn!
Glenn: Yeah, welcome aboard, buddy.
Keri: There you go.
Glenn: Yeah, I'm trying to hold down.
There you go, even little guys like the floating
worm.
Oh, boy.
He just hit it like a missile.
That's why I set the hook, I saw him coming
after it.
I was primed, I was coiled and ready, so...
Keri: You yanked him right out the window.
Glenn: Here you go little buddy, I'll let
you go.
All right, so the first thing about casting
this is because it's on a longer leader, your
cast, don't cast it really hard.
Do a nice easy lob cast.
Especially when you're using bait casters,
you'll avoid those nasty backlashes.
So make a nice easy cast and then I'm going
to show you the first retrieve which is essentially
you just want it to sink a little bit below
the surface, give it one hard twitch with
some slack after you twitch it, and let it
rest, let it sink a little bit.
Then give it another twitch and let it sit
and relax.
So we just throw it out there, let it sit,
let it fall a bit on slack line, reel it up
and just give it a good twitch.
And let it sit, let it fall and give it another
twitch.
And make sure you have that slack in there
when you do it, because the slack is what
gives it that action.
If you hold it real tight, it's not going
to have that much action.
Every once in a while give it a little pop-pop
and let it fall again.
What I've got here is some emergent and submerged
weeds.
This is perfect for throwing a floating worm
because it'll go right...
Like we have some milfoil here that's just
under the surface, and some, as you can see,
a bit of weeds above the surface.
It just falls right between all that and you
want to just give it these little power twitches.
And I mean power twitch.
You want to twitch it pretty good, you want
to give it that action.
If you don't give it a hard twitch, it's not
going to give a whole lot of action.
That's what I start off with.
I'm going after the aggressive bites.
So I start off with that hard twitch, let
it rest a little bit and then just give it
another twitch or a couple twitches and let
it pause.
It's very similar to fishing a jerk bait,
if you've ever fished jerk baits.
This is very similar to that.
It's just here it's sinking down a little
bit right between those weeds.
This is perfect, especially in an area that
you wouldn't normally fish a jerk bait, but
because of all the weeds you get tangled up
in it.
It's a good place to fish trick worm like
this.
Now, another way to fish it, if the fish are
really aggressive, is I'll throw it out there
and as soon as it hits the water, I just give
it a twitch, twitch, twitch, and I'm constantly...if
you notice, I'm popping it, just like you
would a jerk bait and giving slack between
those jerks.
And when you do that, boy, this bait really
comes alive.
It starts dancing, shimming, going side to
side, it twists and turns.
That ball bearing is going to work for you
right there.
And that really works really well when those
fish are aggressive.
It will elicit those bites, just twitching
and keep it coming at you and just make sure
you give it that slack in between each little
jerk.
And you'll be surprised how much this thing
just dances when it comes back.
The last one is I like to let it fall down.
If they're not as aggressive, I'll throw it
out there and let it sink down, almost like
you would if you're fishing a soft plastic
stick bait.
Let it sink down and it falls real nice and
slow, and then just give it a little pause
or two and let it pop back up through the
weeds and let it slip back through in another
pot.
This works really well in rock areas as well,
real clear water.
This is a visual bait.
It doesn't put off a whole lot of vibration.
So in muddy water, it doesn't work as well.
The fish have to see it in order to hone in
on it.
But that's how you work it through, just like
that.
I let it sink a little bit too deep there,
it got hung up on a weed for a second.
But that's good, it popped it free.
Sometimes the fish will nail it right when
it pops out of those weeds.
Just let it sink down in those little holes
and those pockets and hold on because you
never know.
What you want to do is watch for that strike.
Because you're fishing on slack line, watch
the line.
A lot of times that line will just do a little
pop and you didn't do that, or the line will
start to swim off in one direction.
Well, you didn't do that.
When it starts to do something that you didn't
do, probably something on the other end did,
so you want to set that hook.
Keri: There we go, another one.
Glenn: All righty.
Come here.
Keri: Nice one.
Glenn: That will work.
Keri: Nice one.
There we are.
Glenn: There, we've got a floating worm right
in his face.
That will do the trick.
We've got the power poles.
It's a good fish, it's fun.
He can go back right where he came from.
I hope those tips help.
I hope it helps you catch a lot more fish
on a worm like this.
For more tips and tricks like this and for
the answers to all your questions about bass
fishing, visit BassResource.com.
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