Talk about coming out of the chute hot. The first tournament Kelly Jones Jr. fished with his new bait, he put a 20-pound bag in his boat and a $2,000 check in his pocket. He knew he was onto something big, but he wasn't sure of it until the next week. That's when Jones' friend and now Kicker Fish pro Phillip Walker used the same bait to put a big bag in his boat and earn $70,000 at an Angler's Choice tournament.
That was less than 2 years ago, and to date Kicker Fish Bait Co.'s Weedless Wacky Worm has already won over $350,000. Apparently Jones was onto something.
The Weedless Wacky Worm
BassFans know that wacky-worm fishing has been around for a long time. It works, but until Kicker Fish, no one had taken the time to perfect a bait for the technique.
The biggest problem was too many hang-ups because of the exposed hook. But while experimenting with weedless hooks, Jones had a brainstorm: he added a nose portion to the bait.
"I knew there had to be a better way, and the weedless hooks cut my hit-to- catch ratio way down," he said. "I also noticed that I tended to lose a lot of baits on the cast. But with the Original Texas Weedless Wacky Worm, all of those problems disappeared."
The nose makes the bait virtually snagless, plus gives it better action and castability. Not only that, the wacky rig is now more versatile than ever before: It can be fished effectively in the entire water column.
Fishing It
Everyone knows that wacky worms are effective in the spring, when they're fished weightless up shallow. Usually that's where wacky worm fishing begins and ends -- but not for the Weedless Wacky Worm.
The Weedless Wacky Worm can be flipped to post-spawn bass, and the addition of a weight actually gives the bait more action and vibration on the fall. Then, as fish start to move to summer depths, it can be fished effectively on a Carolina rig. Jones has even had success with splitshot and dropshot rigs.
As the vegetation gets thicker and a dense mat develops, it also can be fished like a rat or spoon. But it's really sweet when holes in the mats are present. Drop one in a hole and you better hold on or you may get your arm broken.
BassFan staffers had the opportunity to fish this bait this summer and fall, and we can say without hesitation that it catches fish. The color selection is great (17 colors and growing), and with two sizes available (magnum and finesse), it will catch them from Illinois to Texas, and from New Jersey to California.
More Coming
That's the good news. The great news is that Kicker Fish isn't finished. Jones will be introducing two new products late in 2003, and we can't wait to see what they are. Lucky for you, you'll be able to read about them here first.
Click here to go to the Kicker Fish site.
