Some baits are fish-catching mainstays despite the lack of fanfare around them. They keep catching bass year after year, but because they aren't the newest or the latest and greatest, they don't get talked about much.

For those in the know, though, the best baits are often those that get the least publicity. One perfect example is the 10 1/2-inch Zoom Ole Monster worm.

Just about every plastic manufacturer ever worth its salt makes a big worm. Names like Berkley, Culprit, Alron, Gene Larew, Producto, and Luck-E-Strike have all had them for years. The worms never win awards at ICAST, and aren't covered heavily in the press, but serious bass anglers know their value.



Zoom's Ole Monster fits this category perfectly. Designed by Ed Chambers of Zoom more than 10 years ago, it's a ribbontail worm. Its unique ribbed characteristics make it very effective in and around brush, but it can also be skipped and pitched. We feel it's one of the finest summertime ledge and point baits made, and note too that it contributed to Scott Suggs' $1 million win at Lake Ouachita.

"I was fishing treetops in 18 to 20 feet of water and felt the large profile of the Ole Monster was the best choice," Suggs said. "It comes through thick stuff much better than the jig and chunk, and gets the big ones excited."

Our Tests

Big baits sometimes intimidate anglers who feel that keeper-size bass may not bite them. Oh how wrong they are. Big bass indeed like this big bait, but smaller specimens will bite it just as well. In our recent tests, the bass we caught ranged from less than a pound to 5 pounds.

Our color choice was plum, which is plum with blue-flake. We fished it on a 6'10" Kistler California Special Senko rod, with an Abu Garcia Revo Premier reel strung with 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon. We also used a 5/16-ounce Tru-Tungsten weight and 6/0 Gamakatsu offset worm hook.

We fished drops, points and brush-tops in water ranging from 8 foot to 27 feet.

A few of our observations:

  • We found it fished well through heavy cover including brush, rock and blowdowns.

  • Most bites occurred on the fall, and the worm worked best for us when hopped.

  • We fished the bait in a summertime pattern on creek-channel ledges from 8 to 26 feet.

  • We didn't have to do anything special when we felt the bite. We just reeled down and cracked 'em.

    Notable

    > Zoom's Eddie Wortham said: "We make a bunch of fish-catching baits, but the Ole Monster has been with us a long time and still catches bass. In the springtime when you first see snakes on the water and they're sunning themselves, you can put down the jig and start throwing the Ole Monster."

    > Overall, the hottest colors for the Ole Monster remain: plum, junebug, green-pumpkin, plum/apple, and watermelon/candy.

    > A package of nine worms retails for $3.29. That's a bargain.