Fishing with Bass Rigs

To create a Carolina Rig, place an egg sinker or a Carolina Rig weight on your line. As with the Texas Rig, the weight should slide freely. Next tie a swivel to the line under the weight. Once this is complete tie a 12- to 24-inch leader of lighter line to the bottom eye of the swivel. (The length of your leader will be dependent on the area you are fishing).

After this is done, attach your worm hook to the end of the leader. Casting this rig is a little more challenging than with a Texas Rig because of the long leader, but with a little practice it becomes second nature. The Carolina Rig is a very good method of covering a lot of water. Most often anglers will use the Carolina Rig when fishing main lake points or flats.

2. Reel up the slack line and begin your retrieve by making short hops with the weight. You should be able to feel the resistance created by the weight as you hop it off the bottom.

3. After each hop let the weight sit for a few seconds to enable the worm to fall back towards the bottom. Each time your weight comes in contact with the bottom slowly reel up any slack in the line.

4. The way in which this rig is designed allows the worms to have a more lifelike presentation because there is virtually no resistance on the bait as it falls. Given the fact that it is weightless the worm will fall at a much slower rate than your weight will.

5. When setting the hook while using a Carolina Rig reel up any slack and make a sideways sweeping motion with the rod. Many fisherman have found that this technique has a greater hooking ratio than simply setting the hook by jerking the rod tip straight upward.

The Carolina Bass rig is one of the most effective ways you will catch fish. But it is not the only game in town. Outside of the Carolina and Texas bass rigs, there are other effective fishing rigs you can employ.

Drop-shot Bass Rig
Here you are reversing everything from the previous technique. You attach the weight to the bottom of the line and tie the lure above the weight. It's a technique that has really been catching a lot of fish.

You basically tie an offset hook onto the line using a Palomar knot with a long tag end. The tag end may be any length depending on what the fish want. Eight to twelve inches is usually a good starting point. At the end of the tag end you place a weight to get the bait to the bottom.

You throw the whole rig out, allow it to go to the bottom, drag it along and shake it a little bit. The worm sticks straight out in front of the face of the fish. It's a very simple way to fish because the worm is doing all the work. The standard is a 3/16-ounce weight but you can adjust the weight according to the conditions.

The drop-shot is a great horizontal presentation and the lure is presented more naturally. A shad doesn't go up and down, they stay on an even plane, much like the drop-shot worm.

Other Common Rigs
You can also try split-shot rigs, finesse rigs, wacky worm rigs, and floating worms. Choosing the right rig to use under various conditions is important to learning to how to catch fish on them. It can get very confusing when you start trying to decide what color is best, how long the leader should be, what kind of sinker to use and even what material the sinker and bead should be made of. But stick with it and before long you will be pulling in some nice bass!

Weights
Use the lightest slip sinker you can. The lighter the weight, the more natural action the worm will have. In most situations a 1/16 to 1/8 ounce sinker will be heavy enough in water less than 6 feet deep; a 1/8 to 1/4 ounce sinker for 6 to 12 feet; a 1/4 to 3/8 once sinker for 13 to 18 feet and a 3/8 to 1/2 ounce sinker for water deeper than 18 feet. Needle nose weights are good for vegetation, but hang up in rocks and gravel. Use bullet weights instead.

To sum it all up
Like all techniques, these will require a bit of practice before you can consistently catch fish on a plastic worm. The bottom line on worm fishing with bass rigs is they catch fish! Now is the time to go out and give the plastic worm a chance.

Pick a color, choose a way to rig it and go fishing. The only thing you can really do wrong with a worm is not fishing it. Give the fish a chance and they will hit a wide variety of colors and bass rigs.

Thanks for reading.

Good fishing.

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