How to Fish With Plastic Worms in Dirty Water

All images and illustrations by Daniel Ray

Plastic worms have a reputation as being one of the top lures to use when bass fishing. The soft plastic body and lifelike movements are qualities that help make worms a favorite lure of many anglers. Becoming proficient with a worm takes time and patience. The strikes are often very light and can be easy to miss. Learning to fish in dirty water is something that an angler needs to learn to be able to consistently catch bass.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Variety of worms Hooks Cone weights Toothpicks
Variety of worms
Hooks
Cone weights
Toothpicks

Step 1

Pick a color for the plastic worm. Dark colors such as black, purple and "motor oil" work well. Don't hesitate to experiment with different colors.

Step 2

Decide how to rig the worm. Texas and Carolina styles are popular, along with the traditional weedless hook.

Step 3

Texas rig with cone weight

Use as light of a weight as possible. The light weight will help give the worm a realistic movement as it moves through the water. Peg a cone shaped weight with a toothpick to fix the position of the weight if you don't want it to slide on the line.

Step 4

Cast the worm and let it sink. Allow the worm to rest on the bottom for a short period, then raise and lower the rod tip while reeling at a slow pace. Make the worm slowly hop and twitch all the way to the boat. Vary the retrieve to entice a bass to strike.

Step 5

Monitor the line carefully for strikes. Many times a strike may be indicated by a slight movement of the line or a soft tap or twitch of the worm. Set the hook as soon as you think the bass has the bait.

Tips & Warnings

Keep hooks sharp. Try scented and salted impregnated worms. Keep a wide variety of worms in your tackle box.

Keep hooks sharp.

Try scented and salted impregnated worms.

Keep a wide variety of worms in your tackle box.

Use caution when working with hooks.

Resources

Plastic Worms

Article Written By Daniel Ray

Daniel Ray has been writing for over 15 years. He has been published in "Florida Sportsman" magazine. He holds an FAA airframe and powerplant license and FCC radiotelephone license, and is also a licensed private pilot. He attended the University of South Florida.

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