I talk about swimming Mr. Wiggly's Jr. but lets expand on why and how a little to add another technique under your belt. With a crankbait like a balsa lure or even a rattle trap what draws strikes is the frantic random movement. It is this nervous movement that catches the bass's attention. The bait is shaking and moving a little left or right then it will correct itself. It makes the bait look like it is running for its life. If you ever watched a shad swimming it has the same frantic swimming action that changes within the water column while maintaining the same swimming direction. Bass are able to pick out the weak and are able to pick out stressed fish and target them based on movement. This is the same stressed and nervous frantic movement that I employ when swimming a wiggly's jerk bait. Growing up in Florida swimming a creme worm was the rule not the exception for many anglers and has accounted for many double digit fish. The basic idea is to make your cast and while pulling the rod to the side you quiver the rod tip. This makes the lower section and tail of the worm swim and wiggle frantically. At the end of your pull you gather line and repeat the process of sweeping the rod to the side while quivering the rod tip. To mix it up you can spook the bait or let it free fall before swimming the lure again. As a soft jerkbait I was very disappointed with Carlson Tackle's Mr. Wiggly and the Jr model. The problem I had was that the lure had a tail section shaped like a baitfish tail. because of this design the tail acted like a rudder and prevented the bait from gliding any distance from side to side when you jerk it. This is why a super fluke has a tail at a different angle it helps cut down on the drag of side to side movement. Other than the tail the wiggly bait has a weight or rattle pocket, raised fin to help keep it weedless and a hook slot. You take the same bait that stinks as a jerkbait and swim it and this bait becomes a powerhouse. Fishing it the same way as the creme worm it gives the bait a awesome nervous frantic movement of a stressed shad. I have found that fishing it on light line spinner and a offset hook works best and the hook helps keel the bait along with a split shot to get it down when needed. When you mix it up between rod sweeps with a jerk and fall tends to seal the deal. This technique works great for clear water and site fishing cruising fish. When done right the Mr. Wiggly bait mimics a nervous or stunned shad perfect.

Also FYI you can Texas rig it with the lure laying flat like a Mann's ghost minnow but backwards with the hook eye at the tail and use a lead nail weight pushed in the head and get the bait to glide backwards under stuff if you wanted to. When you rig it on a jig head the bait will spiral on the fall like a tube.

Great info Chris...that's exactly why I use a 1/2 oz Johnson Silver Minnow with a 6" chartreuse or white worm as a trailer...it has a built-in side-to-side wobble that already gets the preys attention, but every time you pause, or speed up the bait, or even let it dead-fall and jerk it up suddenly it triggers alot of aggressive strikes.