ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS: ARTIFICIAL WIGGLERS WORK WONDERS ON BASS

How convincing are plastic worms to bass?

Not only will a fish grab an artificial worm, but if he's given too much time before the angler sets the hook, the fish is prone to swallow the fake wiggler. When you think about it, that's pretty stout testimony for the ability of the worm to fool fish.

It has been said that, since the emergence and upsurge of the "rubber worm" in the 1960s, it has caught more bass than all other lure types combined. I don't know if that can be documented but it is safe to say that the plastic worm and all of its spinoff soft plastic cousins are primary lures essential to every bass fisherman's tackle box.

Top anglers regard worms as non-memory baits. That is, many believe bass can be conditioned by negative experiences to remember and avoid some types of lures -- but no so with worms. Every time a soft, wiggly worm drops down near a bass, the fish is just as susceptible to it a s the first time he saw one, they believe.

The key to plastic worm effectiveness is that it undulates, flexes and wriggles. It looks alive, and its texture makes it feel like a small living critter when a bass does gobble it.

What does a plastic worm represent when beheld by a bass? Who knows? In its tiny little fish brain, a bass might perceive the plastic lure as a worm, but fishermen suggest that fish respond to it as a baitfish. Perhaps they see it only a something small, vulnerable and edible, but no species with which they are familiar.

The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what a bass thinks a plastic worm is. The only thing that counts is that it looks good enough to eat, and that's usually the case.

Worms come in a baffling array of sizes, shapes and colors. Picking a certain good combination of features can be important some days when fish are picky, and other days it might not mean diddly.

As a general rule, worms of 6 to 7 inches in length are sort of a standard size. In clearer waters and where fish tend to be spooky from heavy fishing pressure, smaller worms, those of 4 to 5 inches, may be preferred. In darker, dingy water where bigger fish are targeted, worms of 8 to as much as 12 inches could be a better bet.

Shapes -- the thickness and tail design of any particular worm -- could be a factor. Fish that are reasonably aggressive may be more inclined to hit curly-tailed worms that " swim" when they are moved. Passive, reluctant-to-bite fish might be coaxed more with a starlight worm that has little or no built-in action.

Worm profile or thickness is sort of the same deal as length. Active fish might want a bigger mouthful and more aggressively respond to a fat-bodied worm. Conversely, a fish that really doesn't feel like eating might be more easily tempted to nibble a skinny worm.

Colors in worms can be perplexing because there is and endless selection of hues and combinations -- with and without metal flake of still more colors -- available to the fisherman.

Most fishermen tend to believe that lighter, translucent colors particularly those with metalflake injected into the worm body, are tops for clearer waters and on bright days. The flip-flop of that opinion is that the darker, opaque colors are preferable in dingy to muddy waters and on dark, cloudy days.

All-time favorite colors seem to be dark purple (black grape), light violet (plum) and black. In more recent years, there's been more sway toward dark ambers -- the pumpkin and motoroil shades -- plus and emergence of dark greens.

I suspect that certain colors are better than others on certain days, but most of the time the color issue probably is more important to the fisherman's confidence level that to the tastes of the bass.

Plastic worm fishing is rudimentary stuff to experienced bass anglers, but there still are plenty of those to whom it remains as foreign as reading Sanskrit. It's a little less complicated than, say, a kidney transplant, however, and should be well within the capability of any fisherman to whom the basics are unveiled.

To begin with, there is the essential rigging -- the Texas rig with which the worm is readied in a self-weedless manner with the point of the hook buried in the soft plastic. The vast majority of worm fishing spins off of this rigging.

For a basic Texas rig, begin by threading a sliding slip sinker onto the line with the pointed end toward the rod tip. Next, tie on a worm hook, one designed specifically for plastic worm fishing. Most popular these days are Sproat-type hooks with an offset (a zig-zag) in the shank that helps hold the eye of the hook inside the worm. For most 6- to 7-inch worms, a hook of 2/0 to 3/0 size is about right.

Stick the point of the hook into the top of the worm head, then bring the point out the side about 1/4- to 1/2-inch back from the entry hole. Slide the head of the worm up the shank, turn the hook so that the point lies toward the body of the worm, then slide the penetrated head of the worm up and onto the eye of the hook.

Finally, lay the body of the worm against the point, push it up just a bit, then insert the point into the worm before sticking in the point, when it's all done, the body of the worm should be held in a rather straight line, which makes it more snagless.

A Texas-rigged worm will slide through some awful cover without hanging up -- that's the reason for it. The downside, however, is that the hook point is not exposed and must be pulled through the body of the worm before it can stick in the fish's jaw. That's the reason a worm fisherman requires a rather affirmative hook-set when he gets a bite. Upon feeling a hit, he should quickly point the rod tip at the unseen fish, take up the slack, then sweep the rod straight up to drive the hook point home.

My general feeling is that if you're not rocking the boat when you set the hook, you're not putting enough gusto into it. Hook-setting is underdone more than overdone. Keep the intensity of effort turned up until you start popping the line, breaking rods and/or launching fish over your head, then back off just a notch or two and you'll have it about right.

There are all kinds of subtle variations that go into the actual fishing of worms, but the essential tactics are rather basic. First, cast the rigged worm to a fishy spot and let it fall all the way to bottom. Watch the line as the worm sinks, because a high percentage of strikes come as the bait falls. An inappropriate twitch or the worm stopping before it gets to bottom is indication of a bite, thus warranting a hook-set.

Always bear in mind this: A hook-set is cheap, so when in doubt -- if you think a fish might possibly have the bait -- do it. Do it quickly. And hard.

Once the worm settles to bottom, point the rod at about the 10 o'clock position, take up slack, then lift and move the worm by raising the rod tip -- to about the 11 o'clock position or straight up high noon. The worm is moved with rod motion and the reel only takes up slack until the lure is moved through the target zone and it quickly reeled in for another cast.

With a good, sensitive rod -- one that's rather stiff and rattles vibrations all the way to the hands -- a bite on the worm will be felt as a thump or bump, or possibly only as a slight wet-rag-sort-of added weight.

Bites from bluegill and other small, pecking panfish will be sensed usually as "rat-tat-tat" attacks, and a fisherman usually learns quickly to distinguish them from bass bites, which often are less forceful.

Experience tells much more than mere words, and worm fishing is something you have to feel for a while to fully grasp. Line watching tells much, too. but always set the hook emphatically upon any suspicion that a bass may have the lure.

Plastic worm fishing isn't exactly no-brainer fishing. It's not just throwing something and reeling it back. It does require a tad of developed skill, but then it isn't brain surgery, either.

Any fisherman with a modicum of ability can harness the tactic with just a bit of practice -- and if he really wants to accomplish much in bass fishing, he'd better.

Steve Vantreesse is outdoors editor of The Paducah Sun.