Bass Rutten

I use weighted (inchi wacky) 99% of the time. It casts better and is more versatile, can control fall rate and action by varying the jigs weight. Finesse worms only though, I never use stickbaits.

What is your setup? Rod, reel, line, lure, hook, weight, rigging, and how are you fishing it? Cover, depth, etc more info helps.

I owned the Orochi perfect pitch and found it heavy and unbalanced with way too short of a handle. St croix mh rods are tip heavy too, even the higher end rods. I had a 7’ mh legend elite, both have been sold off. I’d go with kistler, especially the helium if your budget allows it, super light and balanced. I use a 7’3” hmh for flipping, casting and swim jigs.

The silicone tubing is widely available by the foot or meter: Amazon, Ali ex or ebay where I got mine, search "clear silicone tubing". I purchased 3 feet each of four different sizes of tubing five years ago and still have most of them and I use them a lot for wacky worming, inchi wacky (flickshake), and neko rigging. I used the heat shrink previously and while it does help the durability some I find it inconvenient to use. The silicone tube is not only clear and much stealthier but is far tougher and re-usable too, in fact I've never actually wore one out, but I have lost some due to breakoffs. The sizes I bought were 5/7mm, 6/8mm, 7/9mm, and 8/10mm (inside/outside diameters). These are what they call the thin walled food grade variety of tubing. Cut into approx. 1/4" pieces. This size range will cover plastics from very thin finesse worms like the zoom swamp crawler to 5 inch stickbaits. The wacky tool or speculum is a completely unnecessary expense, I just push the thinner end of the worm through just enough to pinch it and it almost always pulls right through, sometimes a little saliva helps to get it on, but I no longer need a tool to rig one onto a worm. Zoom swamp crawler with 1/4" section of 5mm silicone tube.

I've got an old rei hip pack I've had since the 90's that has many miles on it. I can fit 2 plano 3500's plus some bags of plastics in the main compartment, and a bunch of hooks and terminal in the smaller front one, with room for some tools as well on the outside pocket, about 7x10x4in. Perfect to keep in car for a quick bank sessions or unplanned stops, I spied a few used ones on the bay. Also a good pair of cargo pants with some spacious leg pockets is worth it's weight in gold for the additional storage space.

A few more... walleye on a devils horse, gator on a flipping jig, carp on a husky jerk, bowfin on a spook, which is to date still my most devastating topwater strike, it was literally like a small explosive went off at my lure.

My 42 inch pb muskie was caught on this, a 3" berkley pintail minnow on a 3/32oz og mushroom head.

Small spinners can be finicky, have you tried tuning it? I honestly haven't used smaller spinnerbaits in probably a decade but I used to like the 1/8 stanley's which I believe are still made. Terminator made a good titanium one that's unfortunately out of production.

A wise man once said you only truly understand something when it confuses you

Best at finesse fishing, worst at waiting too long to shift gears and change things up in presentation or location. In my early fishing days I used to be the opposite, changing things up too often, which is an entirely different problem.

Owner ultrahead & Gamakatsu wacky head have 1/32. Plain 'ol ball head jigs work great too, no need for a technique specific wacky jig. The first jighead I ever bought and used for flickshake (comes in 1/32) were these... https://www.ownerhooks.com/product/finesse-type/

I'll try 'em, this is about how well most of my skips go...

Go light around vegetation, try 1/32oz. I fish the flickshake all around central Florida (lotsa salad), it's one my goto's as a backseat tournament fisherman. I pick up a little bit of weeds or grass on occasion but not enough that it's a nuisance. My general approach is to put the lure at the edges of things, not in them. About half of my bites happen the initial drop, or right after it hits bottom. If no bites after a few subtle shakes then I'll start "flicking" it high off the bottom, 2-3 lifts/drops then reel in. How are you retrieving it?

That is true, and hooks are even harder to remove from silicone tubing. I keep a bunch of neko and flickshake worm options pre-rigged and just re-tie when changing presentations.

Shrink tubing helps a little, but silicone tubing is way tougher and transparent.

Threading the worm through the nose and out the back as you're describing will stiffen up a good portion of the worms length and has no real advantage. The tip hook method used by Aaron Martens, as wrb explained, gives better control and more natural action to the worm, is quicker to rig than threading, and will be more weedless. Hard to beat the Gamakatsu #1 dropshot hook for 4 inch worms, the berkley fusion dropshot hook is pretty good too. See drawing for tip hook rigging.

The sportsman's warehouse in Tampa has one of the better selections I've seen in a while, as good as the local bps or any of the dsg's around here.

DId you know Sturgill could rock? This is why God created the tele.

No finesse fishing box is complete without finesse worms. They can be rigged so many ways; dropshot, weightless, wacky, flickshake, shakyhead, neko, splitshot rig. I'd keep a few small finesse jigs on hand too. Jigs and worms are foundational imo, everything else is gravy.

What's your rods length, power, and action?

Ned rig Dropshot Inchi wacky/flickshake Honorable mention…Jig

Mustad alpha point flip. I'm liking this over owner and gamakatsu. Metal keeper, sealed eye, quality through and through. Their finesse straight shank hook is superb as well.

My best pitching setup ever is my kistler helium 7'3" hmh paired with a jdm zillion, 6.2oz reel + 3.5oz rod, under 10oz total with line. I can pitch and punch all day long fatigue free, the power to weight ratio on this setup is silly.

100% agree, frog was my first thought too.

Soft jerkbait Swimjig Spinnerbait Swimbait (weedless boot tail) Swimming worm (speedworm) He mentioned no topwater