I am learning the weightless worm presentation.  About 8 to 12 feet of small pads encircle my neighborhood lake I fish from the bank about every day.  I have been catching plenty of 1-2 pounders now on the weightless senko type worms, but no larger fish.  Surely where there are dinks there are some larger fish.  Seems like the routine is just to toss out about 15 feet past the pads, slow retrieve and when the line makes contact with the edge of the pads and the worm starts up toward the pads the strike happens.  

Do I need to let the worm totally bottom out and lay there for a while before starting the retrieve?

I have been bombing them with dropshots from the bank and am use to the line tension with the weight on the end.  The feeling of no weight at all is taking some getting use to.  I am catching more fish though this way fishing in the very early morning around these pads.  

Any tips to try to move up in  fish size. Many thanks. I have learned so much from you guys.

Surely where there are dinks there are some larger fish.

That may very well be true, but it doesn't have to be. I have seen ponds that are overpopulated with 12-14" fish to the exclusion of decent numbers of bigger ones. You might try some large lures to see if that reduces the number of smaller fish and attracts bigger ones. Also keep at it through the fall as bigger fish are often accessible to bank fishermen at this time, as well as spring.

WHILE SALTY STIK BAITS ALWAYS SEEM TO WORK, IN PADS THIS SOMETIMES WORKS BETTER:

6inch Zoom Trick worm, any darker green color  will do, weightless t-rigg. I would use an oldfashioned t rigg hook  here not a wide gap.Cast it on top, around and through the pads.

when i fish senkos or wacky rigged worms  ill let  it sink and sit there for a while(sometimes up to a minute or more)then i give it a pop or jerk & let it sit again......most times a bass will take it pretty quick ,but ive had them nail it after its been sittin a while...

Fished a pond today and when I was reeling in my Wacky Worm over some grass along the shoreline a bass came from no where out of the water and hit it.

What was so amazing is that I did not expect the strike and was actually reeling in the Senko fast as I thought it was out of the strike zone and that the grass was not holding any fish.

So try reeling fast and slow and other presentations so the fish will tell you what they want.

The trick worm rigged Texas-style without any weight is a good presentaion.  Work it like a snake over the tops of the pads and grass.  Let it sit on the pads for a few seconds and then move it some more.

Try bubble gum (pink), too. For some reason, they like pink trick worms.

Remember, fishing pads can be unproductive for a lot of time so be patient. Or, they can be a lot of fun if the bass are under them.

Big bass in pads,sounds like a frog or rat to me.My suggestion would be a black Mann's Phat Rat in the early morning.

Rick Wells

Tallahassee

Big bass may only be 1% or 2% of a population  

Try going to a larger 8-10 worm with a broad tail like a Zoom G-Tail; rig it with a 1/16-1/8 oz weight thus changing the fall rate.