hot action.

[Fish_Hunter]

went for some Blues 2day after work to a new spot. man it was on, they were hitting worms with vengeance. Not to big, but dam. going from working in the office to catching fish, I don't care what size they are. It was fun. Any way, How do you guys hook live bait. Sometimes they would tear off the squirmy ends of the worm, so i would go with smaller chunks and they would grab it and I had a hard time hooking some. Still fun, but how should I hook a worm so as to make sure the get the business end more often than not.

[Eric White]

Usually smaller fish will steal the worm off the hook, but if there are larger fish present try a lure with a sliver of live bait the smaller ones may steal the worm but the bigger fish will still have the lure to bite.

[robsabloke]

There are some special worm rigs out there... usually tandem hook types... I don't care much for those though...

If I'm after bigger fish I will use a slightly longer shank hook and when I tie it on I'll leave the tag end of my line a little longer than usual... then I thread the worm onto the hook and up the shank making sure to pass it over the hook eye and tag end of my line... this helps keep the worm threaded properly and harder for the gills to take bits off the worm... This makes an enticing presentation especially if you leave the worms tail dangling an inch or so from the hook barb so it still wriggles...

You also may want to look at the type of hooks you are using... You may have more success with hooks that have the barb 'Offset' slightly (That is to say... not straight in line with the shank of the hook)... sickle style hooks are good for this... and as mentioned on this forum in an earlier post... some guys swear by the circle hooks...

Tight Lines
Rob

[Jim Kearney]

Fifty years ago my grandfather told me that "they can't tell its a worm unless it looks like one."
I am sure that is because as a kid my tendency was to the thread the worm up the entire hook. Grandpa caught lots of fish and I was not a slow learner so I generally leave a little piece to wiggle off the end of the hook. It seems to have worked. I know that is not always quite that simple and that there times when a small chunk (especially of nightcrawler) will do the trick. When using earthworms (which I pefer) I still follow grandpa's advice however.

[GLENN MARTIN MILLER]

The right size hook and contact with the business end of the hook through the line/rod are keys. I have also started tipping the hook shank with a piece of Gulp or Mister Twister with Exude, nipping the piece so it is small, but remaining as a dangling attractor when the worm is gone. Retrieve slowly after the bob-bob-bob stops, and a strke often occurs.


I like to hook the worms midsection. When little ones steal bait, I go to a 1/3 fat crawler, and embed the hook in full, with only a bit of dangle. Little ones pay attention, bigger bulls often push them away.

[AZ Fish]

I've have the same issue. Increasing hook size doesn't help me in the lake I fish at since small yellow bass just grab a hold of it. What I did was change to meal worm from earthworms since the yellow didn't like it as much. Using a slip sinker, I try to locate the outter edge of the school of bluegills. I've notice the large ones are out deeper.