I have been fishing for largemouth bass since 1955, and I have learned a few things. Number one, I am a slow learner.

I learned what little I knew from old outdoor magazines and trial and error. Joining this forum has shown me the extent of my ignorance and how much I underachieved. I am overwhelmed with the extent of knowledge of the people here. My big advancement this year was catching a PB and finally learning how to fish a T-Rig. I have not mastered the T-Rig, but I have begun to get a feel for it and catch some bass.

This has made me cocky, and I have been branching out into other soft plastic rigs though still focusing on the Texas Rig. So, I have been catching a fish here and there on the Ned, the Drop Shot, the Shakey Head, the Neko and the Wacky rig. One thing I have struggled with is what one does after learning how to tie the rigs. I mean, how do you retrieve the darn things.

I keep looking for distinctions between these various worm techniques and find no clear explanation. I have read articles and watched videos, and a small glimmer of light is seeping through the murky confusion in my old man fishing brain. So, I would like to explain what I think is going on and ask you kind folks to tell me if I am right or wrong.

It seems to me that the different rigging causes a slight difference in the way the worm moves, but the retrieve is the same as a T-Rig with all of them. Slow, pauses, small hops or twitches, slow dragging. It also seems to me that the basic worm is the most reliable over lizards, frogs, crawfish, etc.

Am I on to something here?

Seems you have a few years on me but we may be similar in that my learning phase has never stopped. May have stalled out briefly. But it wasn't long before I was back in school. Your description on presentation sounds about right to me. But let's not forget. I'm a hack.

One thing that worked for me is believing that the bass I am targeting is the queen of her castle and well aware of everything in her habitat.

So there are instances where doing as little as I can with the bait as I bring it back to me the better. It's like I am retrieving the rig without it ever being detected. All sneaky like.

She knows it's there, and nothing else on her meal plan tries to get eaten.

So I roll with that.

Good luck

A-Jay

I swim a drop shot more than I swim a Texas rig. Otherwise, yeah, you're not far off.

We're glad you're here. We will get just as much from you as you will from us.

Of the techniques you listed, I fish the Texas rig daily, but you have that nailed down. I also regularly fish a Ned rig, shaky head, and a wacky. I let the wacky fall as long as reasonable because that's when I get the most bites, then I retrieve it with little 'pops' of the rod tip so it's wagging back and forth as it slowly comes toward me.

The shaky head and Ned rig I don't retrieve at all unless I'm moving on. I just put those on the bottom and gently shake the rod tip and then pause. Try rigging a Ned rig with some kind of plastic made by Zman. Throw it in a few inches of water so it's submerged but you can see it clearly. Then watch what current, a passing boat, or a gentle shake of your rod tip makes it do. It doesn't take much input to get excellent output from a Ned or shaky if they have the right plastic on them.

Haven't fished a T-rig in 2 years, it use to be my most fished technique for many decades.

Once I discovered finesse I became tunnel vision and no longer willing to expand.

Ned has been the most productive bait in clear water which is most of the water here.

Drop-shot is right up there with Shaky head.

Oh don't forget about Karashi, you'll need a light rod 😁

I fish clear water, so I can see the action that my various rod twitches impart to my lures. As I'm retrieving and trying various twitches, I say what I'm doing so that when a bass hits, I'm more likely to remember what retrieve I was using. I've found that two quick twitches with short pauses is the retrieve most likely to encourage a bass to bite.

I too have been fishing a long time in both the boat and the banks as many different places as I can find. For the first 15 years I considered myself a top water, open water guy guy. Fishing poppers, devil horse, and rapala stickbaits. I caught a mess of bass doing this but certain times of the day the bite would be none existent. Then I got a bass boat in 1978 and started fishing with other guys that I would take out in my boat or follow them in their boat. This was the greatest learning tool I ever had because these guys all fish different from me, and I learned every trip what they were doing, and sometimes what not to do. If you want to get better, learn new things and how to do it, invite as many different guys to come along and fish with you. Sadly many close friends have died off, or just quit fishing for health reasons. I met a ton of great guys, and always came back learning new stuff!

I agree with you that day in day out, all hours of the day, in all weather conditions there is nothing better than soft plastics, fished slow, in high impact areas. Regardless of exactly what bait it is, or what technique used, they draw attention from bass whether from hungry, or territorial, it draws bites. I no longer throw top water all day, no longer burn baits much, and now consider myself a slow methodical plastics guy, with a lot more big bass catches, and more consistent numbers.

The best tool is fishing with as many different sticks as you can find, and as many days as you can. Just keep an eye on what their doing and save the good parts!

I always have a 6” straight tail worm Texas rigged and ready to go. 1/0 light wire hook, 1/8 oz weight.

Slow dragging with the occasional pop is the general rule here.

11 hours ago, geo g said:

If you want to get better, learn new things and how to do it, invite as many different guys to come along and fish with you.

Great advice.

Don’t neglect the powerful option of the dead stick. Sometimes less is more.

And patience. I have a bud that forgets to let it hit bottom.

The great thing about fishing plastics, no matter how they are rigged, is that there are no rules on how to fish them. I wrote an article for Yamamoto years ago on the number of ways I found to rig a Senko. I came up with 78 ways. One of the hardest things to do is deadsticking but it is a valuable technique with a weightless Senko. I used to demonstrate it when I would do demonstrations on the tank at Bass Pro. I would throw out a weightless Senko and highlight the wiggle in the fall but if it didn’t get bit, I would let it hit the bottom and I would just leave it there and the bass would surround it nose down and tails upright. I call it bird dogging. After about 10-15 seconds, I would give the bait a small twitch and one of them would always dart in and take it. It was my way of showing the patience needed to truly deadstick a bait.

This site, YouTube and specializing in bass and a certain type body of water have truly accelerated my skills. About time, considering I'm almost 56. I've caught more bass on the Yum Dinger over the past 5 years than other baits combined, and bigger bass as well.

45 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

After about 10-15 seconds, I would give the bait a small twitch and one of them would always dart in and take it. It was my way of showing the patience needed to truly deadstick a bait.

I need to try this. Thanks!

When I first got back into fishing about 10 years ago I almost exclusively fished a T-rigged Senko and occasionally a wacky rigged Senko and they produced.

Today, I rarely throw those - even when I know I should - because I'm not as patient anymore. I like to power fish or shake a minnow.

I think that what I need to do is go out on my kayak one day with just three rods: Senko, T-rigged creature bait, and a Carolina rig and just fish those. And I would bring just one speed bag of plastics and leave everything else behind.

I watch YT videos about the latest & greatest lures, soft plastics. Some of them I try normally without good results. No boat or kayak so I only fish from the bank in neighborhood lakes (ponds). My go to bait is a Ned’s rig unless the bottom is rocky or has a lot of milfoil or such then I’ll toss a weightless Texas rig. I fish both the same way, toss it lets its sit for a count of 10 or so the twitch it or drag it a turn. For color my most productive color is black or green pumpkin & orange. On the t-rig I normally use a 4" Senko & the Ned’s a Zman TRD. A couple of nights ago I caught my PB on a Ned’s black TRD 18.5" 2 3/4 lbs found him in a small neighborhood pond. Heard rumors there’s a 5 pounder in there but haven’t verified it yet.

After saying the above I just spent $60 at Tackle Warehouse on some suggested colors of Senkos, a popper frog & kicking frog. We’ll see if that stuff ends up in a garage sale next spring.

6 hours ago, gramps50 said:

I watch YT videos about the latest & greatest lures, soft plastics. Some of them I try normally without good results. No boat or kayak so I only fish from the bank in neighborhood lakes (ponds). My go to bait is a Ned’s rig unless the bottom is rocky or has a lot of milfoil or such then I’ll toss a weightless Texas rig. I fish both the same way, toss it lets its sit for a count of 10 or so the twitch it or drag it a turn. For color my most productive color is black or green pumpkin & orange. On the t-rig I normally use a 4" Senko & the Ned’s a Zman TRD. A couple of nights ago I caught my PB on a Ned’s black TRD 18.5" 2 3/4 lbs found him in a small neighborhood pond. Heard rumors there’s a 5 pounder in there but haven’t verified it yet.

After saying the above I just spent $60 at Tackle Warehouse on some suggested colors of Senkos, a popper frog & kicking frog. We’ll see if that stuff ends up in a garage sale next spring.

In Florida I have found the best colors, watermelon red, watermelon black, and green pumpkin! With w/m red my fav. Have caught thousands of bass on these up to 9 pounds. Senkos, stick-os, or Ace it doesn’t matter they all catch fish.