Jonathan LePera
Special To BassFan
While fishing a tournament at Table Rock Lake on the FLW Tour 3 years back, Dudley can remember the moment that the light bulb went on, when he realized the shear awesomeness of the wacky-rigged worm.
“I remember thinking, this is the real deal,” said the three-time FLW Tour Angler of the Year. “I wish I had been throwing this throughout my career.”
Those are pretty strong words for an angler who has won more than $3.8 million fishing bass tournaments.
Conditions
> Any time, any place: Dudley is adamant that he’ll have a wacky worm on his deck every time he’s on the water, confident he can trick largemouth, under any condition, into biting his rig. Dudley keeps a close eye for when the fry start hatching. He pointed out Brent Ehrler’s prior success out west fishing for spotted bass in 40 feet of water fishing a wacky worm as proof of the bait’s versatility.
“It’s a wacky worm day every day, 365 days a year,” Dudley proclaimed. “You hear of people catching wolf packs – well there isn’t any fry out that time of year. Largemouths are just ready to eat. They’ll eat the wacky-rig then.”
Fishing it deep surely takes patience as he knows it will take some time to reach bottom, but he knows they’ll bite it just as good as when he’s fishing shallow, around cover, or through open water.
Sub-Surface Trickery
Surprisingly, Dudley’s only fished the bait for the past 3 years, yet he’s been a quick study. He points out that the degree of “wacky” that the worm is fished is totally in the angler’s hands.
“You're the one causing the folding action,” Dudley said. “Sometimes they want it folding all the way so that the ends almost touch. Other times so that the bait folds in half when worked back and other times just shimmer. You have to vary your cadence while not moving the bait very far.”
Fishing it in the dead of winter will warrant the slowest retrieve of the year and he’ll speed things up as the water warms through the seasons.
While Dudley admits to not paying attention to how he works the bait, he’ll probably start by pumping the bait three times to gauge the mood of the fish. If they are less aggressive, he will not impart as much action in the bait.
Gear Factor
Dudley says soft plastic stickbaits 5 to 8 inches long are ideal for rigging on a 2/0 round-bend, straight-shank hook. While many anglers fish a shorter-shanked finesse hook, like an octopus hook, Dudley grew tired of losing too many fish. He always fishes the rig on a spinning rod and reel spooled with Gamma Torque braided line with an 8-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon leader attached.
While an O-ring definitely lengthens the life of baits, Dudley opts to rig directly through the bait. While some anglers carry baits that touch on every color under the sun, Dudley has the most confidence in green-pumpkin in virtually every scenario. In dirty water, he’ll opt for bubblegum or methylate.
Don’t Overthink It
“You have an exposed hook, throwing a worm,” Dudley says. “It’s going to have action whether an angler adds action or not. You really can’t go wrong. Twitch the pole and stop every once in a while and if they feel weight at the end of it, set the hook.”
To set the hook Dudley will take up slack and sweep set, not a snapping motion.
“Let the rod load and pull back firmly on the fish,” he added.
