“What’s that, some sort of special truck?”

I chuckled at the young man’s response – not for sake of making fun, but because I myself did not know what a Carolina Rig was when first learning to use plastic worms for bass fishing.

As I looked at the photo and once again commended the youngster on his exceptional catch, it hit me – although the idea of fishing with a plastic worm seems pretty basic, the ease can be quite deceiving to a newcomer.

My education as to the ways of the worm began innocently enough, as I sat glued to the television watching celebrity fishermen reel in lunkers, one after another, using something that closely resembled gummy worms in my eyes. Not long afterward, I begged a ride and secured several different colors and varieties of slippery plastic worms, whose slender bodies left specks of glitter and grease on my fingers.

While standing ankle deep on the pond bank that inaugural afternoon, it didn’t take me long to learn that, much like my previous experiences with ice hockey and twirling pizza dough, the pros made worm fishing look much easier than it actually was.

I was plagued from the beginning. The worm did not look right on the hook, I could not cast very far, and in the event that the worm actually made it to the water’s surface, it would not swim correctly.

My confidence lay shattered in the mud – alongside the dozen or so plastic worms I had mutilated while trying to affix them to the hook. Jimmy Houston could re-tie a rig and be kissing another fish within seconds – I just didn’t understand what I was doing wrong.

Those early years of experimentation were tough; it seemed that the only piece of the puzzle I held was the plastic bait itself. As time passed, I eventually learned that to fish a plastic worm correctly, one needs an entire system of equipment – along with the ability to recognize a subtle strike – if they are going to successfully use plastic worms.

Texas Rig

This workhorse of the worm riggings is what most folks cut their teeth on when mastering plastic baits.

Texas Rigs are straightforward and easy to make. Slide a bullet sinker onto the line and tie on a hook made for plastic baits; desired results won’t happen with just any kind of hook. Push the tip of the hook about halfway into the head of the worm, pull the curve of the hook back through the underside, then slide the worm up to the knot.

Carefully reinsert the hook back into the body of the worm until the sharp point of the hook is just under the surface of the worm, so that the bait won’t snag itself on debris or weeds. Once a person can place a worm onto the hook where it will swim correctly, the hard part is over – the rest of the riggings are simply combinations of varying weights and line lengths.

Simple and effective, the Texas Rig accounts for a large percentage of the largemouth bass caught.

Carolina Rig

Everyone has that “confidence lure” that gives them a good feeling when tying on, and mine is a salt-impregnated, skirted, double-tail grub in chartreuse, coupled with a Carolina Rig.

Carolina Rigging is about as personal as barbecuing, but each individual’s way shares a common ancestry.

I like to begin with a brass bullet sinker, followed with two glass beads – these what creates the “clacking” noise that piques interest in the underwater offering.

The noise supposedly sounds like an escaping crawdad when the brass sinker and beads hit the swivel that connects everything together. Attached to the other end of the swivel is a heavier test leader of depending length with a plastic worm, lizard or grub, hooked in the same fashion as the Texas Rig, minus the bullet sinker above the hook eyelet. Determining the length and test weight of leader has to do with many considerations, including water clarity, depth, and the type of structure being fished.

Customization options for these two rigs are endless, with rattles, assorted glass and plastic beads, sinkers of all shapes, and even glow-in-the-dark apparatuses sometimes installed to make the system even more eye-catching (oftentimes more so for the angler than the fish).

While these are only a pair out of dozens, if not hundreds, of different rigs, they are the true heavyweights of the plastic bait world and lay a solid foundation for a lifetime of fishing savvy down the road.

Snagging the prize

Lastly, I would like to congratulate Kevin Snider for landing the largest bass at the Hilltopper Black Bag Classic hosted by the WKU Recreation Administration Program last weekend.

Dozens of other winners and participants made the event a grand success, with more than $4,300 being raised for the Dream Factory to benefit critically ill children in our area.