Posted on Sun, May. 04, 2008

Allure of plastic still strong after 57 years

The first soft plastic lure for bass and other freshwater fish hit the market 57 years ago. In 1949, Nick Creme, a machinist and avid angler from Akron, Ohio, melted soft plastic materials in his kitchen and hand-poured the concoction into molds made from night crawlers in his basement to produce the first "rubber worm." Creme's Wiggle Worm was offered for sale two years later, some with a harness of two exposed hooks and a tiny propeller on a short leader. The lure's name was changed to the Scoundrel a few years later.

When I met Creme in the late 1960s, after he had moved the Creme Lure Company to Tyler, we marveled about how his soft plastic lure was stirring such a fuss in the bass-fishing world. Scores of new soft plastic lure designs have followed, and so have ways to rig them. More than a half-century later, anglers continue to learn, and invent, various ways to rig soft plastic lures shaped like worms, lizards, crawfish, shad and many other creatures.

The methods, hook styles, weights and hardware for rigging soft plastics are many. Here are my six favorite rigs:

Texas rig

It emerged shortly after Nick Creme introduced the Wiggle Worm and remains one of the most popular rigs today for catching bass in both open water and thick cover. In the late 1950s, Texas anglers became the first to put the point of the hook inside the worm with a bullet-shaped weight against its nose so they could pitch the lure into flooded mesquites, salt cedars and willows without hanging up. They called the technique "doodle socking," now known as pitching and flipping. No other soft plastic rig can match the Texas rig in weedless effectiveness.

Weightless rig

This is just like the Texas rig, but the sinker is removed. Anglers cast the worm over mats of potato weeds, coontail moss and other aquatic vegetation and work the lure across the surface by holding the rod tip high on an erratic retrieve. In the late 1970s, I whittled a piece of quarter-inch wooden dowel into a popper type head, drilled a hole through it and slipped it onto my line ahead of the worm. The result was a top-water popper-type worm rigged Texas style. Later, a lure manufacturer produced something similar out of foam that looked like a snake head. Regardless how you dress them, soft plastic worms and lizards are very effective bass catchers when fishing flooded vegetation in shallow water.

Carolina rig

This is one of the oldest hook, swivel and sinker techniques, probably first used for catfish. The basic Carolina rig involves placing a heavy sinker (barrel or bullet-shaped) on the line and tying the end of the line to one end of a two-way swivel. A 14- to 24-inch leader of line is then tied to the other end of the swivel followed by tying on a hook. Some anglers add a bead or beads between the sinker and the swivel while others prefer to replace the swivel with a special "line stopper" made by various manufacturers. The idea is to let the sinker go to the bottom where the plastic lure will float above the bottom structure as it is retrieved by slowly lifting the rod. Generally, use a short leader for shallow water and a longer leader for deeper water or bottoms with heavy aquatic vegetation.

Wacky rig

I think this rig might have been developed by someone who just didn't know any other way to rig the worm. It has been popularized in recent years by Wacky Worm Inc., and, now, a wide variety of soft plastics are used in wacky rigs. The original method is to push the point of a hook through the middle of the worm, leaving the point of the hook exposed on the opposite side. This is a rig for light tackle, usually spinning or spin-casting rods and reels spooled with 6- to 10-pound test line. Many anglers use it to fish boat docks or edges of aquatic vegetation by casting the worm, letting it free fall, then twitching or rapidly lifting the rod two to six times and then letting it fall again. If you want the worm to fall more rapidly and "dive" under a boat dock or similar structure, insert a small panel nail into the nose of the worm.

Mojo rig

This relatively new rig uses a hook, swivel and weight set similar to the Carolina rig but with a slender, lighter weight and usually a shorter leader. Some weights made for Mojo rigs have long slivers of rubber that can be inserted through the middle of the weight to peg it on the line. The rig is designed to catch bass suspended in the tops off trees or other structure, or hiding under boat docks. Leaders 6 to 8 inches work well in shallow water, but you might go to 12 to 18 inches in deeper water. It is effective with spinning or bait-casting equipment and works best on lighter lines. Twitching or shaking the lure once it is at the desired depth gives the soft plastic its enticing action.

Drop shot rig

The drop shot rig was first used for catching bass near the bottom or suspended in deep water. It requires a finesse technique involving light weights, small hooks, finesse soft plastic baits and spinning gear with 8- to 12-pound test line. Many anglers use this rig by casting it to the bank and then "shaking" it back on the retrieve by erratically lifting the rod. I prefer to use a 3- to 5-inch curly tail worm but wouldn't hesitate to use any other small soft plastic designed to produce a lot of action. A Palomar knot is best for tying the hook to the line. I use a 12- to 18-inch leader unless I'm fishing heavy moss or other vegetation on the bottom in deep water. For that, I go to a longer leader to keep the worm above the weeds. Tapered weights or those that are long and slender work best. Although you can rig the worm wacky style I prefer to push the point of the hook through the nose of the worm and then bring it back out with the point exposed.