After specific experimentation I am listing the O-Ring sizes for various soft plastics (one size does NOT fit all !

 

• For 5"  Yamamoto Senkos , Big Bite Trick Sticks and BPS Stik-O's : An O-Ring with 3/8th" I.D. is correct.
• For 4" of the same above stick baits an O-Ring with 5/16th" I.D. is correct.
• For 5" Yum Dinger an O-Ring with 5/16th" I.D. is also correct .

 

*Now I want to experiment with correct O-Ring sizes for 4" Yum Dingers , Trick Worms and then Finesse worms as these get the lion's share of wacky rigging duty for soft plastics . Lastly , creature baits and craws are starting to get some attention needing large o-rings for Neko rigging - these would be good candidates to for researching o-ring sizes but I expect more variation in sizes than I do with stick baits and worms ... I welcome comments so hopefully this topic can become a sticky note for future reference here .

My thought is that for the senkos, a 3/8 i.d. would be a little loose.   The only baits that I wacky rig are senkos and for me the 3/8 o.d. - 1/4 i.d. work best and don't slip.

I just took a few of my worms with me to Lowe's and picked out the right sizes.

20 hours ago, Fishes in trees said:

My thought is that for the senkos, a 3/8 i.d. would be a little loose.   The only baits that I wacky rig are senkos and for me the 3/8 o.d. - 1/4 i.d. work best and don't slip.

*I was going off of a list I made , I will pull out my O-Rings and measure again . I believe three sizes of O-Rings will cover from larger diameter Senkos , Medium size Yum Dingers and smaller for Zoom Trick & Finesse Worms .

You may be over thinking it.. Also the bands from Tackle Kraft are far better than the O rings.

They allow you to hook the bait in the same manner as you would without the O ring.

Crossways with the bait.

He also makes a great spinnerbait ,reminds me of the old Hank Parker and is probably the best custom painter I personally have ever seen.

I just buy the $1 pack of shrink tubing from Harbor Freight.  Pick the size that fits the bait and cut off pieces to slip on the worms.

I use Goody rubber hair bands from Walmart for my wacky rigs.  One of the bands can be doubled over and will make an X where you can put the hook perpendicular to the  Worm for better hookups. You can get a pack of bands for around $2 for 100 or so. 

I don't think that there is a significant difference between having your hook parallel to the bait or perpendicular to it.   For years, I didn't think about it at all, always had the hook parallel to the bait, and I feel like I caught my share of fish and had a pretty good strike to land ratio.   Then someone told me about making an X with 2 o-rings, hooking through the X, so as to have your hook perpendicular to the bait.  So I did that, for a couple of years.   Got to say that I didn't notice a significant advantage either way.

When I choose to skip the bait underneath branches, or something like that, I feel the hook parallel to the bait skips better.

 

 

You would be better off using this - I just tried this and it works great. 

https://www.m3outdoors.com/post/diy-wacky-rig-neko-rig-sleeves

 

 

I haven't used an o-ring for a while switched over to the silicone tubing and speculum life. Also works great for repairing a ripped swim jig or regular jig trailer.

Looks like they have precut kits on eBay now. When I bought mine a few years ago, you just got the full length of tubing and cut it yourself. https://www.ebay.com/itm/76-Pc-Kit-Co-Angler-Special-3-Size-Wacky-Worm-Neko-Rig-Silicone-Tubes-Tool/264699724174?hash=item3da155418e:g:P2cAAOSwRRheLalb:sc:USPSFirstClass!49505!US!-1

On 5/24/2020 at 10:54 AM, Michigander said:

I haven't used an o-ring for a while switched over to the silicone tubing and speculum life. Also works great for repairing a ripped swim jig or regular jig trailer.

Looks like they have precut kits on eBay now. When I bought mine a few years ago, you just got the full length of tubing and cut it yourself. https://www.ebay.com/itm/76-Pc-Kit-Co-Angler-Special-3-Size-Wacky-Worm-Neko-Rig-Silicone-Tubes-Tool/264699724174?hash=item3da155418e:g:P2cAAOSwRRheLalb:sc:USPSFirstClass!49505!US!-1

Very cool ! I want to try for sure ...

Do the long rolls of tubing sold on amazon hold up well when rigging through the tubing (perpendicular to worm)?