Most of my wacky rigging has consisted of pitching weightless senkos in shallow water. How many of you cast a wacky rig and work it back to the boat like a tx rig worm? Does anyone add weight and fish it deep? How do you add weight to it? How many carolina rig it?

to me wacky rig means cast and leave alone, seems like the more you move the less bites, you can buy hooks with weight built in, my experience is if there is not much wind, try to go weightless and up the weight (1/16) etc as wind dictates, the action in wacky rig is in the fall, unihibited by you

to support this, I watched a bass come from over 15+ feet away last weekend on big blue to eat a wacky senko, blew my mind, it may have come from farther but that was when I saw it, watched it eat and still didn't set the hook till line was running off, on calmer days I imagine the light splash might get some attention and then it looks like a good meal vibrating on the way down

Man I need to try and add this to my tool box. I have never really stuck with it. At Alan Henry the trees and bushes are very heavy so I don't see how it would be able to get down in the water column without a weight. We have to start with a 1/2 wt. minimum with our jigs to get down through the trees. I need to try it though.

Amistad I agree that the action in the wacky rig is the fall, but this alone is not all there is to fishing this style. I personally cast it out let it fall and then real in the slack and begin twitching my rod making the senko dance. I will do this for a good period of time and then let the rod tip down and slowly real some line in and then begin twitching the rod tip again. I just keep repeating this until the the senko is on shore with me.

Just my two cents.

have you had good luck with the second and tertiary twitches? I always want them to hit, but haven't had much luck, its always the initial or nothing

I was just introduced to this style of fishing two days ago, that day I caught three 2 pounders and yesterday I caught four two pounders using the method I explained.

I will admit you do have to be very patient when fishing this style.

I have had real good luck fishing the wacky. I have used the ring weights for deeper water.

Works great in deep tree tops w 1/6 or 1/8 sp;it shot crimp
on to weedless hook. Simply cast lock down & let it fall dont
add any movement.. Deadly !!

Ive tried fishing it like a t rigg but havent caught anything. I cast it out into relatively shallow water let it sink to the bottom but watch my line and then once it gets there i leave it for a second or two the twitch and i mean move your rod tip two inches not two feet. Then twitch again and maybe a third time. Then do a tug where your rod tip moves two feet and let t sink then twitch a couple more times and if nothing has happened reel it it. Ive found while sight fishing that the twitch gets them close and then they lose interest so the tug gets the attention again so you can twitch it where a fish will see it. However i have had a fish take it while i was reeling it in steady. If your more of a fisherman that wants to go fast then i would say throw it out let go to the bottom reel it in fairly slowly

In deeper water I throw it on a shakey head hook and I know it still looks good thanks to the trusty old fish tank

90% of the bites come on the initial dead fall. I like to leave slack line and line watch. I will even shake the rod on completely slack line. It seems like your not even moving the worm but it creates a very subtle movement on the free floating ends of the worm. I have caught 2 over 10 lbs. wacky and when you have that it QUICKLY becomes a confidence lure.

I'm a big believer in the technique.

IME, in the hands of a patient (or disinterested, lol) angler, it can be deadly on big, wary river bass.

IME, if you are new to this presentation and want to make it most effective, this is my response when someone asks me "how slow do I work it???"

Make yourself pick up and take a sip of beverage as soon as your offering hits the water. Do not begin your retrieve until you take a sip and set your drink back down. No need to rush ya know.

I vividly recall my first time to whack out a bait. It was a weightless Riverside "Slingshot" on a black 4/0 thin wire non offset snelled circle. I found it to be deadly effective when throwing it around, onto and against partially submerged structure. Keep an eye out for anything with Heron poop on it. These birds are the best fishermen on the river and know where the odds are best for a easy, oversized meal. IME, this sceario also increases the odds of like minded trophy bass being close by.

I can attest to more than on one occaision seeing a Great Blue Heron nab a sizeable baitfish or amphibian only to bobble it back into the river. Watching a giant river bass uncork all hell on one of these happless creatures is something to behold.

I could tell you a Brazos trick or two about whacked out 7" methiolate trick worms as well.

Then again...

Maybe not.

I have no experience being wacky. But it would seem as if this would be a lure to throw where you know there will be bass. For example, you wouldnt want to be trying to search for bass with this technique due to its inability to cover a lot of water, or am I wrong. Because to me, it would be very agonizing trying to search for bass using this techique because the average cast would be 2-5 minutes long?

Am I wrong?

Yes and no.. does that make any sense? Bass will travel to hit this rig and I have used it as a search bait before believe it or not. As far as average cast lasting that long, when I am on the move, I will make my cast, let the initial dead fall last about 20-30 seconds, slight twitches, 15 seconds, smooth pump of the rod, 15 second, twitches, few seconds...back in and repeat. average case last roughly a minute