Zipper Up Your Worms
Western pros - the "hot sticks" - have been quietly
mopping up bass on zipper worms the last few years - and have
kept their lips zipped tighter than zip-lock bags about them.
They are really only now becoming known, stocked by tackle shops,
and used in the rest of the country and Canada.
Background. The original zipper
worm is manufactured by Roboworms. Robotic machines actually pour
these baits as if hand-poured and they are super, super soft and
tear easily. Also expensive and only able to be manufactured in
limited quantities - not enough supply of them to meet demand. A
sister company was started, related by ownership, called the
Zipper Worm Company, which mass produces machine-injected zipper
worms. They are still so soft, slightly cheaper, more widely
available than the Roboworms, and bass gobble ‘em down as
greedily as they do the Roboworms. Since then, several other
companies, especially Western specialty shops, have introduced
zipper style worms too.
Basic Anatomy. Now a zipper worm
is a flat, wide, bulky worm. It has stubby rib-like protuberances
all along both sides, hence the name Zipper. It is often thicker
around the edges and can have a kind of sucked-in, thin center of
the body, depending on manufacturer. But all have a signature
broad pennant-shaped silhouette, which gives the lure lots of
fish appeal. You can rig it vertically, whereby people say the
pennant shape appears minnow-like, or you can rig it horizontally
whereby people say the pennant shape presents a crayfish
silhouette to the fish.
Suspended and Deep Bass. The
Western pros have been using zipper-style worms effectively as
finesse baits by shaking, doodling, splitshotting, hovering or
using other tactics for fish suspended in mid-water or right over
deep bottom. Often a light weight Carolina or Texas rig with
brass & glass or an open hook darter jig is used on thin line
for suspended and deep fish. The lure is often kept dancing with
rod tip motion, including frequent pauses. The lure's bulk and
ribs create a lot of water displacement. The softness of the lure
generates body flex as the rod is worked. After a few seconds of
rod tip movement, let the lure come to rest for a few more
seconds, and expect the resting lure to get bit. A fish will
often only feel like a slight pressure or movement in the line,
and sometimes you don't even know one is on until you go to shake
the rod tip again.
Flippin' and Zippin'. Zipper style
worms are also being used on Texas rigs for flipping light to
moderate cover, but you will go through lots of them as they get
torn easily by the bass and by the cover. In general, you would
not want to rig zipper-style worms on flipping jig heads like you
can do with other soft plastics such as curly tail and spider
grubs. Although wide-bodied, there is often very little plastic
going down through the flat spine area of a zipper lure where you
would need to thread the entire jig hook. The first nasty bass
you catch would rip the hook right out. Also, most zipper-style
worms have the tiniest "pin heads" up front where you
would need to slip it over a jig collar. For these same reasons,
they do not make the most convenient jig trailers in the world
either.
Rigging Options. I basically use
four rigging options for the Fry:
- They excel when rigged on those specially-designed,
streamlined jig heads that have an offset bend jig hook shank and
no jig collar. This style of offset hook jig is designed
expressly for use with soft plastics. Just use a shot of super
glue to hold the lure head securely in place.
- Texas rig with an offset hook where the weight is kept close
to the hook/bait for fishing right on bottom or in heavy cover
- Carolina or split shot rig with an offset hook for weeds,
rocky or open bottoms where a leader is used to keep the bait up
away from the weight and up off the bottom out of the rocks or
weed beds a bit
- Weightless rig with an offset hook for keeping the bait up on
top like a topwater lure, or for letting the lure glide around
and drift motionless below the surface.
With any of the four rigging options above, you can rig the
hook point Tex-posed in the bait's central body core and you will
be well-protected from snags. Just make sure the lure body lies
naturally straight with a little slack give in the rigged body,
never stretched tightly on the hook.
Relative to other soft plastics like worms and grubs, the lack
of plastic in the head and center of the zipper lure becomes an
advantage when setting the hook. There is very little plastic for
the offset hook to go through when setting the hook with a zipper
style worm!
 If you are a
guy who fishes in tournaments, a club, or with competitive,
experienced bassers, then you may want to try to get a few of the
Roboworm or original Zipper Worm Co. lures before the other guys
do! If you live outside California, it is a safe bet you'll
be the first one to show them to the bass on your lake. My
favorite model is the original 5" bait in either black
w/blue tail, tequila sunrise (black/purple) or watermelon pepper.
Keep in mind, even the mass-produced Zipper Worm Company lures
are expensive, at about $4.50 per 8 pieces. If you are a
beginning angler or on a budget, these may not really be the best
buys for you. A few other manufacturers are now making their own
varieties of generic zipper worms and some of these may be more
economical for you.
Exude Me Please! And as far as a
4" lure goes, Mister Twister's new EXUDE Fry is one of the
best straight-tailed zipper styles made so far. You really owe it
to yourself to try this one. Take a look at the pictures of it at
the top of this page. It's features are designed to trigger
strikes as the bait falls, which is when most bass hit. Observe
the overall fish-shaped profile that bass recognize
instinctively, including the fish-shaped head. The head is wide
and intentionally designed to give anglers the correct amount of
plastic to hold the lure well on an offset hook. The body has a
super-thin central core spine that runs along its length, and
some of the biggest, softest protruding ribs of all zipper-style
lures hang off this spine. The bigger ribs cause it to drop
slowly and erratically with plenty of water displacement. The
ribs generate a vibrant feeling which fish sense in their lateral
lines. The ribs are so wide, you can rig the hook point Tex-posed
so it comes out of the side of the body and the Fry ribs will
help protect the hook from snags. The ribs on many other brands
of zipper-style worms do not enable you to fish a Tex-posed hook
point nearly as well. As for softness, the whole lure is so
soft it is ridiculous. As if that wasn't enough, the plastic
exudes a slippery coat of fish-attracting slime when wet. It is
such a well-designed lure! I am curious to see what kind of
success this new bait achieves during the 1999 season. You
can buy the EXUDE Fry online at MisterTwister.com. Try
the red shad (black/red) color any time and any where. Use the
smoke with blue/silver flakes in clear water, and try the
chartreuse pepper in spring and fall, when the water temperatures
are cool and bass are aggressively feeding.
Shake 'n Bake. Out West, a
technique called shaking was popularized some years ago for
finessing suspended, inactive bass in clear open water. My
partner Eto and I took this technique, combined it with skipping,
and modified it to shake and bake shallow bass out from under
shade trees, bushes, docks and other hard-to-reach, relatively
weedless shallow cover in 1 or 2 feet of water. Years ago, we
pioneered the shake 'n bake with 3" Kalin's grubs on 1/32
oz. exposed hook jigs on the thinnest diameter 8 lb. test line we
could find. We modified the basic technique for various lures
since then - tubes on wireguard jigheads, Texas-rigged ribbon
tail worms, weedless jig spider grubs, etc. Last year, we began
to apply this technique to zipper style worms on Berkley Ultra
Thin 10 pound test using 1/16 oz. offset style jig hooks such as Charlie
Brewer's light wire Snagless Slider Head (item # WSH16) and
the 1/16 oz. "T.R. Lead Head" from Bobby Garland. We
also use 12 lb. test and the 1/8 oz. jigs when the water is 2 to
4 feet deep right against shore, usually alternating between two
rods. By far, the ultimate rod for this is the Lamiglas Certified Pro
Graphite model #664 which comes in both spinning and baitcasting
versions.
We always rig the zippers flat for this. It helps with the
skipping and the erratic action as the lure drops and darts
underwater. With the wide-ribbed zipper style worms, you can
lightly embed the hook point in the plastic spine so it is
nestled amidst the ribs. You get a great hookset that way. We bag
a lot of inactive fish holed up during the heat of the day under
shade trees, bushes and rocks extending out from shore. We skip
the zippers back under the trees, bushes or docks, usually hoping
to reach the shoreline. Blast them back there as far, as hard,
and as fast as you can, and don't worry about all the splashing
the lure makes. Contrary to what you may read elsewhere, bass
like it! If you don't know what an inactive fish is actually
doing under there, it is in an oblivious stupor and only hazily
aware of what's going on around it, including your lure.
Sometimes there are rocks or broken branches under there - bass
key off this, so your zipper has to be placed near it. These bass
are inactive, they nestle into depressions right next to and
under the rocks, and under the branches. This provides them with
a feeling of security during the zoned-out state they are
in. They absolutely will not swim out of their rock or
branch tangle to get your lure. So the zipper must settle on the
bottom in the best possible spot, like right in front of the
fish's mouth. You will get many bites on the initial entry and
settling of the zipper. So, watch the line as it floats on the
surface after the lure settles. Look for the line to jump, or
start shooting out rapidly. If this doesn’t happen, then slowly
wind in a little slack. Don’t move the lure, just “feel” if
the zipper is still where you think it should be. Remember where
it settled into the water? Is it still there, or is it a few feet
away from where you expected it to be? If so, a bass is moving
off with your bait. If not, let the zipper just lie there for 10
seconds and exude the fish attractant you are frequently
splashing on it. There's a good chance a bass has it's nose right
behind your lure's tail. Or a bass is sitting within inches of
your lure, in a stupor of inactivity. This is one situation where
scent and time are on your side. Now, bring in slack without
moving the lure, then raise the rod tip so you pick all the
floating line up off the surface of the water, still without
moving the jig. Now start shaking the rod rapidly with the tip
between 10 and 11 o’clock or so. What you want is a little
belly in your line and you want the line to wave up and down
between the rod tip and the spot where the line enters the water.
The whole effect should have the arc of the line following a
perfect elliptical pattern in the air. This can be described
somewhat like, if kids are jumping rope, where two kids each hold
one end of a long rope, for a third kid to jump in the middle.
Well, picture the ellipse shape of the rope at its highest point
and lowest point - this is the pattern you want your line to
throw at its highest and lowest point in the air as you shake it.
You still haven’t moved the jig forward at all. Shake 5 to 10
seconds, then “bake” - just stop abruptly and let the line
float back down and rest on the surface and watch it again like a
hawk, because you can expect to be bit right NOW. If not, wait 10
seconds, shake again, bake, then shake and bake some more.
What are we trying to accomplish here? Think
of how you are shaking the lure, and think of all the vibrations
being given off from a zipper-style worms ribs as you do that.
Think of your lure as a noisy alarm clock going off in a sleeping
fish's face. What would you do if an alarm clock kept going off
in your face every 10 seconds? You would probably reach over and
silence it in order to have it stop bothering you, right? Get it?
Never crawl it forward. If you do, you will lose the fish's
attention. After you have shaked and baked for a minute or
two, swim the zipper slowly away for a few feet, then zip
it back in and fire off a few more casts. Really saturate a spot
before giving up on it. Trust me, they are under there! |
