Wacky Rig (or Jersey Rig)

[javlin2]

First, let me introduce myself. I'm a new member from just outside of Pittsburgh. I'm 24 years old and I've been fishing all my life, but I don't own a boat. Being from the north, I have a rather short ammount of time to fish, and without a boat, I have limited options on how and where to fish. I don't know that many anglers around here, so this site has become the main source for bass fishing info.

Now, the Story:

Today was a good day for fishing. Though the bass which were biting were small, they were biting none the less. I'd take a day full of small bass over a day of no bass. However, I did land one lunker right at the end. The sweetest part was the timing. For the last hour of my, a father and son duo followed me to every hole. I'd be catching fish til they showed up, and once they showed up, they'd catch fish and I wouldn't. After I left the last "shared" hole, I heard the father say to the son "Heh. We caught all his fish and he got mad and left." Then it happened. I landed the lunker. They congratulated me as I displayed the fish to the crowd that gathered around me, and I heard them talking about how nice a fish it was as I was packing up and leaving.

Now, I have a question. For as many fish as I landed, and there were alot, I had alot more hits that I couldn't set the hook on. Now, I was fishing a Zoom Salty Centipede wacky rigged with a #1 size Gamakatsu Drop Shot hooks. I was wondering if the reason why I was missing so many hits was because of the hook. Right at the point of the hook, it hooks downwards rather then coming to a point. Or could it just be the simple as simple as the bass were just hitting the ends of the worm and not the center?

[fastcat]

Welcom to the forum InEccess. There are many things that could affect this. You rod tip might be to flexible, You might want to try a stiffer rod. Your line might have to much strech. I use Power Pro 20lb. test (6lb. diameter) for my wacky rigs. That line has almost if not any strech. You might just be waiting to long to set the hook. But I dont realy know much about hooks. Cant help you there. 8)

[OKie]

Welcome to the forum. I live in NJ and i use wacky worm all time. Its so affective!

[Bassin_Dude]

i would change the hook for worms wacky or not. i like ewg hooks in either 3/o or 2/o. this way, you wont have to change the hook when switching to t-rig. you might not have to anyways, but these hooks are alot better for t-rigging, and wacky. oh, also a 1/o ewg hook will work. also, make sure your hoks are sharpened. BTW, how big was that lunker? welcome to the site.

[Rich]

Welcome to the forum!

I'd bet a lot of the hits you missed weren't bass but bluegill. A bass will usually hit the head or center of a bait, but bluegill love to grab the end and try to swim off with it. It feels like a good one hit it but when you try to set the hook there is nothing there.

[jglassguy]

I'll give the tip of the hat to rebbasser, it sounds like those bluegills to me, they tend to spawn for months and right now are fiesty, they are hitting everything

[javlin2]

I don't know if all of them were bass, but I know a good number of them were. Several times I got the bass within sight before it let go, and I know I jerked well enough to set the hook. Maybe I'll give another style of hooks a try. I have 2/0 hooks for my sluggo, but the hook just looks comically oversized for the rig.


And when I said lunker, I mean lunker for the small ponds outside of Pittsburgh. It was about 22 inches and a good 6 and a half pound Largemouth. Previously, the largest that I caught and weighted was a 5 lbs. smallmouth, and this was much bigger then that. I see why they're sometimes called hawgs. This suckers back was impressive for a fish.

[Rich]

A 6 1/2 is a good fish in anybody's book. Â*

You might just need to sharpen your hooks-that is one area that often gets overlooked. Â*I learned that lesson the hard way many years ago and have never forgotten it

[bassmaster1983]

Welcome to the board InEccess...I am from south of Pittsburgh. Where were you fishing catching all those bass. I was at Pymatuning this past weekend and caught 2 dinks. The advice the others gave you is pretty good. Bunch of fine fishermen here.

Bob

[Bassin_Dude]

like i said, try the extra wide gap hook, it may look bad on the bait, but it wont make as much difference, and if the size concerns you, try a ewg 1/o. and sharpen the hooks.

[javlin2]

I was fishing out at Twin Lakes, out in Greensburg. I also have priviledges to a private lake just east of Uniontown. VERY nice bass in that lake. Maybe, after I fix up thier dock, we could spend an evening wearing them out.

[bassmaster1983]

Sounds good to me. I had priviledges on a lake also. But new owners forced me off. Let me know if you need help fixing the dock. Is twin lakes open to the public? Where is it off of Rt. 30?

Bob

[javlin2]

Yes, Open to the public. And it's kinda off 30. After driving through the Westmoreland Mall underpass, you make a left at the light and get in the right lane. Take that road until it tees. Make a right at the Tee. Then, I believe it's the second stop sign, you make a left. You should drive through another underpass. After going about half a mile, you should see a turn in to a parking lot. That's the parking lot for Camp 2 on the upper lake. If you missed the turn, don't worry, the road will dump you into the lower lake's parking lot. Both are good, but I think the lower lake has a better potential for big bass.

[macgyver]

[quote author=Dyas link=board=news;num=1117679397;start=0#1 date=06/01/05 at 22:41:26]Welcom to the forum InEccess. There are many things that could affect this. You rod tip might be to flexible, You might want to try a stiffer rod. Your line might have to much strech. I use Power Pro 20lb. test (6lb. diameter) for my wacky rigs. That line has almost if not any strech. You might just be waiting to long to set the hook. But I dont realy know much about hooks. Cant help you there. 8)[/quote]


I agree with Dyas on all of the above, plus 3 more.
1. Not setting the hook hard enough.
2. As 02 said to small of a hook.
3. You may have tried to set tthe hook too soon.

Welcome and enjoy.

Lizards

[BassNva]

welcome to the board.it's good to see someone someone introduce themselves and start with an intelligent question.
the other guys pretty much covered it.IMO,i would think you are using too small of a hook.
what type rod are you using?maybe you don't have enough backbone for a good hookset.for soft plastics i prefer a 6' or 6'6" MH or H rod.
despite me being a grumpy old man(this is my 12th day without a cigarette,after 35+yrs of smoking),i'll be glad to help you(or any other serious members)with any questions you may have.again,welcome.and keep the waders handy,the BS tends to pile up pretty fast around here.

[james33]

Hey I'm with Tom. Nice intro and welcome.

Like everybody said there can be a million things that can cause you to miss a fish. I would start with the hook though. If a hook doesn't have enough gap and shank theres a good chance that the plastic will ball up and not let the hook penetrate.

If you found this info helpful please send 1 rothlisburger (the sandwich not Ben) those things look tasty.

[javlin2]

Thanks for the compliments on my intro. I've been reading this site for awhile and never found the need to post a question until now.

The rod I'm using is a 6' Medium action rod. I know I should upgrade it to a MH and add about 6" to it, but I'm young, over worked, and underpaid. As such, my fishing gear has to be shared for both trout and bass. Bass are my love, but trout are free dinners when I'm broke.

I'm not a fan of the hooks. They're sharp enough, but the point of them looks like a falcon's bill. I may try another style of hooks, but size 1 is big enough. The Salty Centipede's are very thin, so I can't put too large a hook in it. I'm sticking with the Centipede's and small hooks because they fall slower and when working the shoreline, stay in the bass' strike zone longer. Just to test them, I compaired the Centipedes to the Senko's rigged wacky. The Centipede's out preformed the senko by a mile.

[BassNva]

a fine inexpensive rod is a berkeley lightening rod..about $34 or so...and a pack of eagle claw laser sharp EWG hooks wouldn't break the bank..and it would help your catch rate.

[jglassguy]

Try to penetrate the plastic with the hook and then recess the hook back in the plastic to keep it weedless.
Try dif brands of hooks (Owner, Gammys, ) and you'll notice that there are several styles to the dif hooks, like a aberdine hook, and also try a #2 or #3. this should get your confidence back when you set the hook hard

[javlin2]

Okay, I went fishing again today. Same lake, again with a Wacky Rig but this time with a 3/0 Offset hook. I'm still having the same problem with not sinking the hookset. A cold front moved through so the fish weren't as active, but of the bites I had, I didn't hook a single one wacky style. However, using the same hook with a Sweet Beaver rigged weedless/weightless, I was able to hook afew small bass. My problem must lie in the bite on a wacky rig. I must just be discovering the bite too late and I start yanking as their having second thoughts about what they just hit.

[Bassin_Dude]

sure those arnt just bluegill? and is your rod may be to light, and not a strong enough backbone. or you could be slow on the set. many variables there.

[Rich]

despite me being a grumpy old man(this is my 12th day without a cigarette,after 35+yrs of smoking),

Good job, Tom! Keep it up.