The Wacky Potomac

 

Are you a tournament angler or a weekend angler and the fish aren’t just willing to cooperate and chase your favorite crankbait or spinnerbait?  Don’t go home disappointed, all you need to do is change your approach, slow down and try a little finesse fishing.  The “Wacky Rig” offers that change of pace and definitely has a place in your tackle box and fishing bag of tricks.  I find this technique a great alternative on the highly pressured Potomac River.  It gives the fish a different look and can be done year round with surprisingly good results. I find this technique comes into its own once the Potomac grass is established in the summer and fall months.  Effective wacky rigging requires using a well balanced rod and reel combination, experimenting with a combination of baits fished in the right places and you’ll be on your way to putting quality fish in the boat.

 

Tackle Tips

 

For the majority of fishing around weed lines and sparse cover, a medium action 6 to 6½ foot spinning rod and reel will be the best all-around setup of choice for tossing light to medium weight baits. A fast taper rod with good backbone makes for easy casting and good hook-setting power. Senko style baits by most manufactures are heavy enough to be thrown on quality baitcasting setups, such as the Shimano Scorpion 1000, but for surface-skipping into tight cover and under Potomac River docks, spinning gear is a must.  For open water and dock skipping, I prefer the 6’3” Kistler Dock Skipping Special (KDSSS63) for accuracy purposes.  The 6’9” Kistler Wacky Worm Special Spinning (KWWSS69) is my choice for fishing in tight cover and heavier grass due to the extra leverage the rod has.

 My reel of choice is the Shimano Twin Power. This slim body design reel sports an all aluminum frame and spool; in addition to, a titanium coated roller bearing and spool lip. The Twin Power features a moderate 5.0:1 gear ratio, the unique Super Stopper II anti-reverse, which allows for zero back play and instant hook sets.  The reel also offers a front drag system, Super Slow Oscillation, and a redesigned S-Arm cam bail. Other features include a floating spool shaft, 6 Anti-Rust (AR-B) bearings plus 1 roller bearing for silky smooth performance and an interchangeable dual-purpose one-touch handle.  Two features of this reel that standout are the 2 bearing that interact with the spool which gives this reel a silky smooth drag system on par with the Stella and the quick oil injection port for easy maintenance.

 

In relatively open water, a 1/0 to 2/0 wide gap or circle hook will work fine to hold most bait.  Where heavy cover or weeds are present, you are better off to Wacky Rig with the Gamakatsu or Eagle Claw hook which has a spring wire guard to protect the hook point from hang-ups and usually does not interfere when you get bit.  A couple of enhancements I like to do with the rig is use a small barrel swivel 12-14 inches above the hook, which helps against line twists and gives me the flexibility to turn the rig into a finesse split shot rig by adding a small weight above the barrel swivel.  If the water has stain to it, I’ll add 1-2 small glass beads above the barrel swivel to add sound to the rig to help fish zero in on the bait.  I use 10 lb. Izorline Platinum as my primary line and usually go up to 12 lb. from the barrel swivel to the hook.  This line has superior knot strength, little to no memory and minimal stretch.

 

I recently found a new hook on the market that really intrigues me. The traditional wacky rig hook that I described above does have its drawbacks. In some instances, the bait may tend to spin or slip back on the hook, which often results in the hook foul hooking the bait and result in an inefficient cast or a bad hook set. “The W.W. Hook solves all these problems. To use this special hook for a basic wacky rig, first hook the worm, fluke or other plastic through the center, and then stick both mono guards into the body. These guards work perfectly for weedless fishing - plus, they act as stoppers to prevent the worm from spinning or slipping. This way, the hook and worm are always at right angles, and won't tangle. The W.W. Hook has an added bonus…the small loop of monofilament on the hook shank. This lower eye is designed for dropshotting a wacky rig, which is a brand new style that is very effective for dead sticking or suspending a bait in deep water.”  I could not describe the hook any better than Reaction Innovations (www.reactioninnovations.com) did and would like to than them for their contribution to the article. The Eagle Claw and Gamakatsu wire guard hook will work in heavy cover, but the versatility of the W.W. Hook to go from wacky rigging to wacky dropshotting is unmatched.

Rigging Tips

 

Have you been feeling fish miss your spinnerbait or crankbait and are not willing to go after a jig…the fish are telling you its time for a change and a finesse tactic might just be the answer to put fish in the boat.  Zoom Trick worms and Senko’s are my primary go to bait on the Potomac.  The Wacky Rig is my favorite approach for finicky bass in sparse cover, where open water or a channel bend meets a weed line, laydown, or dock system.  In the springtime, when the grass is just starting to grow in small pockets and coves in and around Chicamuxen and Piscataway Creeks are some of my favorite places to fish a Wacky Rig. When the grass matures and forms distinctive weed edges or where pad lines are adjacent to deeper channel bends, I can’t think of a better place to use the rig than in Mattawomen Creek.  Don’t overlook any of the bridge pilings on the river, the structure receives a lot of pressure with many jigs and crankbaits, but a different look at finesse bait may just trigger a bite on those tough days.  If fishing deeper or a pulling tide, you can insert a small finishing nail into the head of the worm to add a little extra weight to get the bait down.  I tend to favor the higher or lower end of the tides when its not pulling hard as the tide itself will provide action to the bait.

 

In most instances, I hook the baits dead in the middle so it hangs evenly on both sides of the hook.  As the bait drops in the water column, it may flutter at both ends like the Senko or it may form an umbrella and when twitched, the bait will breath.  This kind of slow action creates an irresistible action that the bass just want to eat.  The retrieve is slow, letting the bait settle on the bottom and then a couple of light twitches with the rod tip, and repeat the process back to the boat.  When the grass is prevalent and you can see hydrilla holes, let the bait settle in the holes and then pop it free similar to ripping Rattletraps in grass.  I find the bite will occur on the fall or when the bait is popped from the grass. To get the best action from the bait, do not overwork it, let the tide help provide a more realistic action to the bait which it sink through the water column. This means a proper balance of hook style and size, line test and keeping enough slack line to give the bait the freedom of movement. You need to learn to be a line watcher.  I have noticed that most fish usually just swim off with the bait.  A very liberal amount of Smelly Jelly will get the fish to hold on just a little longer which will enable the patient angler a solid hookset.

 

Conclusion

 

Next time your out and the bite is slow, you just might want to try something different and serve it up wacky style, it may just turn a bad day into a great day.  With a little time and patience on the water, some experimentation with baits and rigging, the confidence will come with this technique to put fish in the live well wacky style.

 

Mark Letosky

ProFishing Network Staff

www.profishing.net

 

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Published on Bass Fishing Home Page with permission