Entry 123-4
Mark Davis - Weird Ways to Catch Bass
Dropshotting a Wacky Worm
Editor's Note: Mark Davis has been successful in his fishing career. He's not afraid to try different and unusual tactics and baits that most anglers don't think will work under certain conditions, but they just do. Most anglers who know Mark think of him as a creative fisherman. In other words, he's not locked into only fishing particular baits at specific times of the year, under certain water and weather conditions. Davis has the ability to think outside the box and willingly uses various strategies that most people won't attempt to fish with, and therefore catches bass that most people won't take. This week let's look at some of the off-the-wall tactics that have enabled Davis to catch fish in ways no one else has considered using.
Davis: I'm always looking for new and more-creative ways to fish soft plastics. Thirty-years ago I was fishing those old Creme worms by hooking them in the middle rather than Texas-rigging them, and this time was before we had a definition for wacky-rigging a plastic worm. Everyone knows that one of the best ways to fish a wacky worm rigged wacky style is to cast it toward a log, a stump, a bush or a boathouse, let the bait begin to fall and then twitch it ever now and then to get the worm to wiggle back and forth. This wiggling of the worm as it's slowly falling to the bottom will often pull a bass out of thick cover and cause the bass to come up and inhale the bait.
Although most people use the wacky-worm technique in shallow water, I began to fish this tactic in 15 to 20 feet of water and catch a lot of bass with it. However, that wacky worm seemed to take forever with no lead to fall from the surface down to 15- or 20-feet deep. So I began to think about how could I use the wacky worm tactic in combination with the dropshot tactic?
The reason I started thinking about this was because the dropshot gets your bait down to the bottom quickly and allows you to fish your bait near the bottom for a long time. I started tying about 12 inches of leader coming off the main line and caught a few bass using this tactic. However, then I began to think, "The reason the bass attack the wacky worm is because they can watch it fall." I tried to think of ways I could get my worm down to the bottom quickly but also allow it to fall.
Now I tie my hook 3 to 4 feet up the line and hook my worm in the middle, wacky style. I use a 1/2-ounce weight on the bottom of my line and cast it out to the structure. Once my lead hits the bottom, I pull my line tight, but I don't move the lead off the bottom. Next I shake the line, which causes the worm to wiggle, and then drop my rod tip, which causes the worm to fall.
Using this tactic, I can get my worm down much quicker, shake the worm 3 or 4 feet off the bottom, and then let it wiggle and fall, just like the wacky worm does in shallow water. The next time I pick the worm up I'll move my rod 3 or 4 feet, shake the worm and then let it fall back. I can fish this rig in 20- to 30-foot water. I've learned that when the bass are suspended up off the bottom, this fishing strategy is deadly on them.
Contents:
- Part 1: Weird Ways to Fish a Crankbait
- Part 2: Fishing a Jigging Spoon
- Part 3: Shallow-Water Crankbaits Fished Deep
- Part 4: Dropshotting a Wacky Worm
- Part 5: Finesse Worms in Public Waters
