Jiggle Your Worm

 This article originally appeared in the Fisherman magazine

Ahh, the joys of surf fishing. The serenity of it all, the ability to unwine after a long day, the beauty of a nature around you. …and that darn surf bag around your shoulder, weighing a ton and getting heavier with each step you take in humid summer night.
You must admit that carrying a large surf bag stuffed with your favorite plugs can wear on you at times, especially when long walks are required to reach fertile fishing grounds. When targeting weakfish in the calm, clear waters with rods ranging from 7 to 9 feet long it seems counterproductive to carry anything more than a few choice lures and few leaders. After all it’s supposed to be “light tackle “, right? But choosing among the plethora of lures that we own is not as simple as it seems because they all are productive under certain conditions. I chose to reduce my lure selection to the bare minimum, bunch of plain lead heads of different weight sizes with a handful of jelly worms, some bucktails (chartreuse or red), a Storm Wild Eye or two and a few hard plastic lures; a small Redfin (silver), small Rebel (silver) and 1 oz Yo-Zuri darter (yellow or gold), that’s it. The plastic swimmers afford me to probe the waters on the top or slightly under it where jelly worms and Wild Eyes work the lower water column. Besides my bag being light there is an added benefit to carrying a limited amount of lures. Because I wont be reaching in my bag every few casts to change a plug it forces me in a way to experiment with whatever I have on the line at the time by varying the speed of my retrieves or by adding a slight twitches to it. It’s a foolproof way of getting really familiar with a particular lure, which in turn will give you a greater sense of confidence when making a cast with it. But, I wouldn’t want to give you the impression that plastic lures get a lot of play when I am hunting for weakfish, they don’t. Usually I will use them on those nights when weaks can be heard feeding on top sucking in grass shrimp or to deliver a small teaser imitating small prey. Most of the time, I will use Jelly worms to probe areas close to bottom in search of feeding weaks. There is something magical watching a jelly worm being brought to life by your retrieve and then being engulfed by a large weak. Although in the past weakfish have shown a fondness for many small plastic lures, I still feel that the jelly worm is “the” most productive rubber lure you can use for weaks. These worms should be cast up current and allowed to sink to the desired dept. The best retrieve slowly with a slight twitch of the wrist taking care not to lift your rod while doing this. That would lift the worm in big arches off the bottom, making it appear unnatural and taking it out of the strike zone. One retrieve that has proved very successful for me in the last few years is keeping my rod pointed and parallel to the water as I retrieve the Jelly worms slowly with a twitch causing a worm to move in a forward burst horizontally and then fluttering down instead of the up and down technique usually employed when working a bucktail. You will find most of the hits will come as the Jelly worm is moved forward on your “twitch” and is fluttering downward while your reeling in the slack. These hits can be vicious in nature and considering you have slack in your line it is imperative that you use one of today’s braided lines in order to get a more solid hook up. Keep in mind that because your rod is pointing at the water, hook up is obtain by striking your rod sideways as you often see freshwater anglers do on the bass boats and not over your shoulder as you normally would set the hook when using large rods. As you are all aware there are many manufactures producing worms in every size, shape and color and just thumbing thru your favorite catalog is enough to leave you scratching your head as where to begin your selection. After using offerings from few different manufacturers, I settled on a Mann’s 8 to10 inch worms in strawberry color because of the length, texture and durability of their worms and of course their swimming action. Smaller worms in length can be substituted without any obvious loss of success but I always feel that larger worms attract their share of larger weakfish, which at times ignore your smaller offerings. Berkley Power worms are a very good imitation of sandworms that you find in our local waters, especially in the motor oil color. However, I find them prone to braking off after a few casts in addition to being priced higher then most similar offering from other makers. While I mainly use worms in strawberry or red color I cannot ignore the fondness of weaks for pink color soft baits. One trick that produces an excellent shade of pink is to mix some white worms with strawberry ones in a plastic Ziploc bag. The white worms will take on a wonderful pale color of pink after a few days in contact with the strawberry worms giving you a custom color that will drive the fish and your buddies crazy.
 
                                                Does color matter?
 
I find myself thinking less and less when it comes to color selection for the leadheads that I use, preferring unpainted ones over others these days. When picking a lead head your first concern should be their weight and shape as that will have an effect on how your worm is presented in the water and not the color .I find that heads in weights from 3/8 to 1 ounce are best suited to use with jelly worms. If you need more that 1-ounce of weight to get your offering in the strike zone bucktails are usually a better choice under those conditions than plastic worms. I am not too picky when it comes to picking a head shape preferring to stick with round heads in most conditions but I do insist on strong saltwater hooks and some kind of a contraption to hold a worm in place as you tread it up to shank. Most lead heads feature a small “hook” or bait holder that acts as a stopper and prevents your worm from sliding down your hook. One of favorite of mine is a “treaded” design, which look like small treads winding up the shank of the hook and ending at the base of the head. I feel this design with its low profile holds the plastic lure better that a “hook” design and it also creates a smaller opening in the worm when treaded on, limiting the amount of damage to the worm and decreasing the chances of it sliding off. When rigging a Jelly worm make sure you are only treading it on the strait part of the hook, exiting the body before your reach the hook’s bend. You want to present the worm in as lifelike a manner as possible and if your worm is scrounged around the bend of the hook your offering will look unappealing and unnatural. When picking weight for your lead head go with the lightest possible weight you are able to reach the zone, were you think the fish are present. A heavier than necessary head will “drag” your worm towards the bottom too fast. You want you worm to flutter in the current, if possible to be carried by the current flow as you often can see the real live worms doing.

Another approach that has proven successful over the years when targeting weakfish is to add your jelly worm to your bucktail instead of using a grub or pork rind. When rigging this way I prefer to use shorter worms, either store bought or cut down on long ones I always carry. The added benefit in this setup lays in floating characteristic of a worm itself. If you use a “floater” worm with your bucktail you will effectively be able to “float” your bucktail as the buoyancy of a worm will prevent the bucktail from dropping to fast to the bottom. This can prove to be difference from going home skunked or having a good night if conditions require you make a decent cast but the fish are feeding in the water that is shallow. Small bucktail with plastic worm will sink slower than regular bucktail/rind combo thus keeping your bait in the strike zone without plowing them the sand on the bottom.

                                To lead or not to lead?

Leaders are an essential part or our arsenal and you should never skimp on quality when it comes to buying the components you need to use to make them. Most of my fishing is done around rocks and jetties and therefore a stiff leader made out of 50 lb Perlon and swivel and crosslock or duo-lock snap is a must. However I do make exceptions when fishing back bays. In fast moving currents predominantly found around our inlets and jetties bordering them water clarity leaves a lot to be desired. They way I see it, fish have a split second do decide if it wants to hit your lure before it gets swept out of the strike zone by the currents. The same thing can be said for open beaches, as at times crashing waves will obliterate your offering. But in a more tranquil setting in the back bays that feature crystal clear waters, where the majority of the movement of sediment and water will be caused by your shifting feet, begs for adjustment to your terminal tackle. Fish can often be seen trailing just behind your lure for a considerable period of time, having the luxury of closely inspecting your offering. Although I always felt that fluorocarbon leaders are overpriced and unnecessary under most conditions in the back bays they are not a luxury but a necessity at times. Then there is the age-old argument of tying direct versus using a snap at the end of your leader. Those who tie direct are correct in their assertion that by eliminating a snap there is one less component of your rig that might fail. In fairness to their view I must mention that I lost my biggest weakfish of the season last year by virtue of an open duo lock snap. Adding more pain to my misery I was in the process of trying to get my Boga grip around its jaw. Although this episode proved to be a painful one to anyone within shouting distance from me that day it has not compelled me to change my approach and tie my lures direct to the leader. There are two benefits to the use of snaps, one obvious and second more subtle one, but equally important. When using a snap you can change your lures with ease .At night you can generally swap your offering without ever needing to put your flashlight on, a big plus when fishing in calm and shallow waters of back bays. The other advantage is by using a snap your lure has room to “move” in the throat of the snap resulting in a better swimming action of your lure. Although this has been accepted to be true in surf fishing community some still insist that bucktails or lead heads should be tied directly without any hardware. I would disagree with that and say that if anything, snaps enhance action of a bucktail, especially the one’s that feature pork trailers on a free swinging hook. There is a legitimate downside to using it, though. Snaps sometimes do open resulting in a loss of fish or an expensive lure. The most common reason for tying a bucktail direct is a fear that large fish might take the bucktail deep and crush the snap with its powerful jaw. Considering the chance of this happening is very slim and taking into the account the benefits of a snap, it’s a tradeoff I am willing to make.

                                   Lure for all seasons

If implore you to give Jelly worms a try, jigged on a lead head, bucktail or even on a plain worm hook if you are fishing shallow waters with no current. They catch bass just as effectively as they do weakfish, they are inexpensive and yet one of the most consistent fish catchers you can add to your arsenal .I will leave you with this thought. We all know different lures are made for different times of the year. When small bait is around in the spring we hunt them with tiny lures, increasing the size of our offerings in summer as snappers and peanut bunker become gamefish favorite forage. Then in the fall as bass and blues gorge on mullet, adult bunker and herring we go to our large wooden plugs. Each part of the our season, spring, summer and fall require surfcasters to update the lure selection in their bags in order to “match the hatch” or closely resemble their lures to bait present at the time. But Jelly worms catch fish in early April as schoolies arrive on their northward migration, in summer months when bass and weaks are raiding bait in our inlets and back bays and in fall too, all the way to the last day of the season. Worms are local bait available thru the whole year in our waters and I never meet a gamefish who ignored them while it tantalizingly dances in front of their noses. Yes, even the gorilla blues will chop it of, if for no other reason then just because they can. That’s the reason you will always find some on my bag spring, summer or fall and why you should find some room to stuff them in your bag too.