I was watching a YouTube video recently where the angler said that he scuffs all his worms before using them. He even used his hook to rip into them.

I thought, "The first bass or two will do the same thing to your worm. I like to have a shiny, new worm for a few casts."

Are you a scuffer? If so, why?

Or are you like me, enjoying a brand new worm for a few minutes?

No but I do stretch them and let them snap back.

Then they are 6” instead of 5 with less salt and easier to skin hook.

I've never heard of anglers doing that? Now that I think of it, it does create some more resistance than a slippery non-scuffed worm? I guess?

Some guys in our old club would rough them up with coarse sand paper, balderdash. Have you ever seen a scuffed up wet night crawler?

I'll roll & stretch any salted baits, to give them a more matte color and release some of the salt.

just the scented plastics... You've been watching Randy again!😉

I let the bass do the scuffin’ of my worms

No I don’t

Elaztec neds I will give a couple good stretches and squeeze them a bit. That knocks some of the salt out and they float a little better. Otherwise nope. Maybe split a tail on a trick worm with scissors to have two little tails.

No I don't.

No the bank and rocks I throw onto does a good enough job!

I stretch them out and roll them around in my hands and such. The get limper and more action that way

I watched a video a while back of Randy Blaukat doing this with zoom plastics. Of course after watching the video I had to try it a few times. With salted plastics it does give it a different texture but I personally did not notice any difference presentation wise.

I use them right out the package, nice, new, slick and shiny.

Honestly I’ve never heard of scuffing them, seen people stretch them.

5 minutes ago, GRiver said:

I use them right out the package, nice, new, slick and shiny.

Honestly I’ve never heard of scuffing them, seen people stretch them.

I believe she’s referring to a randy blauket vid. I’ve seen it. And I will say rolling them around and stretching them makes them more limp. Like a stick bait. The action does improve. But I don’t know that when I’ve tried it I caught anymore fish lol

29 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

I believe she’s referring to a randy blauket vid.

Guilty!

Just now, Swamp Girl said:

Guilty!

I watch his videos also lol

No, I do not intentionally shorten the lifespans of plastic worms.

I don't see myself intentionally scuffing surface of a worm. I will fish a worm until it's beat to death, but I don't try to help it get there. I have stretched a worm to release some of the salt, but I don't have any idea if it has helped me catch a fish.

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Thirty years ago , I had a very special worm I loved. The main reason I loved it is that it is that it was the best, most productive worm I ever used. It wasn't a popular worm, so I kept it to myself and rarely shared it.

One of the other reasons that I loved it was that the smooth surface of the worm allowed me to see teeth marks whether I hooked the fish or not. I could actually estimate the size of the fish I was dealing with pretty reliably by how far apart the marks were. That was almost certainly not an intentional feature.

Nope

One of the reasons people do it is to get some of the salt out to change sink rate. It also can make the worm more supple for a bit more action.

Lots of Elaztech users really stretch out their worms before using!

After watching the same vid , i tried it a few times but it didnt become a habit.

Never felt the need to intentionally dull soft plastics but I have definitely taken some 220 grit to a jerk bait or crankbait to make it more matte and less shiny.

There have been instances where a matte jerkbait catches fish on every cast but a shiny one doesn’t get a single bite for me - I figure they just see a lot of shiny baits. Sometimes a bait that’s very not shiny is the ticket when the action and profile meet their expectations.

Don’t see why it wouldn’t apply to soft plastics also - by all means give it a try! Just never really felt the need - places I’m typically throwing a plastic bait - they’re not really seeing it great probably anyway.

I don't scuff them but I do spray a couple squirts of my preferred scent in the bag with them. The longer they sit in there, the more softer and pliable they become. I do use more baits that way but I swear the fish hold on longer on a soaked bait than they do one straight out of the bag.

No Scuffing for me