ok, so I am looking to setup carolina rig on some rubber worms.  I do the whole setup from the million videos i have seen.  what i had expected was the weight to be on the bottom and the worm to almost want to float. the tail being higher up off the ground then the head of the worm. and with crawdad ragetails, the claws should be a few inches off the bottom. 

My setup results in the worm and crawdad just dragging along the bottom. If you were to look at my bait from the side i assumed a V shape, with the weight being the apex of the V.  I get a weak dragging sad worm.....

why?

Just about all soft plastic baits sink. So mostly to have them above the bottom, you get that when the rig falls thru the water column and the sinker hits the bottom first. To repeat the bait higher than the sinker during the retrieve, you have to raise the sinker off the bottom and let it fall again.

Most of the floating soft plastics are the ones made of Elaztic like the Strike King series of baits which will stay above the sinker.

Those "classic" photos and drawings with the lure quite a ways above the sinker are misleading in most cases.

Enter the modern world and use the terninology of the subatance the lures are made of (soft plastic). I don't know of any company that has made a "rubber" worm in the past 50 years.

As Wayne mentioned, the material that most softies are produced from is a polysol plastic and they are commonly referred to as "soft plastics". And the other material he mentioned, "Elaztec" is a high floater product.

The Rage Craws are produced from the first material but are popular for C rigging as well as other presentations. As you drag the C rig slowly along the bottom, Fish that are nearby feel the vibration of the weight as well as the bait, then move closer to investigate. When they investigate the disturbance, this is when they locate the bait crawling slowly by. Often, a fisherman will move the C rig the bait too quickly and the fish won't have time to locate it so most will say "Slow as you Go".

Here's an recent interview on Strike King Pro Mark Davis where he discusses the keys while C rigging the Rage Lizard at the Elite event at Clarksville....I will use a 2 ft leader most of the time.

http://www.strikeking.com/journal/00358/3.php

Hope that helps

Big O

www.ragetail.com

Thanks Big-O, i will check that out.

Rather than drag the weight along the bottom lift your rod and hop it a little which will make the worm or other plastic ride up giving it a fall when you lower the weight again.  A lot of bites come on the fall of the worm.