Here's a comparison between the Zoom mag || ( top )

And Zoom ol ' monster ( bottom ) .

I tend to find that how I rig a big worm has a LOT more to do with how long it lasts than anything else.

 

Yes fish destroy soft plastics and that's life - biting them down and continuing to use them is a great work around most of the time to get some more fish per bait but what really busted the doors wide open was really dialing in exactly how I stuck my worm on my hook and WHAT hook I'm using with each worm.

 

You said you use straight shank hooks. 

 

Those tend to have Barb keepers which very quickly rip your plastics up because they have to go in and tear the plastic up before they can grab the plastic on the way back the other way and that usually in a very thin plastic like a worm just doesn't work. 

 

I like straight shank hooks better with a fatter flipping bait that has more meat for that little toothy thing to grab. It seems like the straight shank hooks with the little bait keepers still tear my plastics up the most unless I'm using plastisol/floating plastic baits or something. 

 

I would just go with a boring offset medium light wire worm hook from your favorite manufacturer of the appropriate size and practice rigging it so that hook eye is just barely beneath the plastic and the tag ends of the knot are just sticking out of the plastic and what happens is everything there kind of protects the knot and if you use the right sized hook for the plastic, it won't slide down every time on your cast or tear the plastic up and it will slide down the hook properly on a hook set and not tear on the hook set and you can slide it back up and use it a couple times because of the lack of that bait keeper. 

 

Just something to consider.

smallmouth: Maxscent lunch worm

 

Guess I'm no help because I run zoom. Mag 2 and ol monster.

Thanks everyone!!! This has been great!! 

7in and 10in Mondo Worm

On 6/13/2025 at 4:53 PM, Mike L said:

I got my PB on a Culprit 7” Fat Max 

‘Nuff Said

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

This x2