Hey, guys. "Bassmaster Elite Series" pro, Drew Cook here with BassResource, and I'm gonna talk you through my springtime worm fishing tips, what I use, how I use it, when I use it, why I use it. Pretty much got four baits, worms on the deck during the springtime. And this is, you know, when they're coming up to spawn, staging, pre-spawn, spawning, and then when they're post-spawn but not, you know, far away from the beds, they're still lingering up there, they're chasing brim and stuff like that. And the one that you have to have, everyone's gonna have it, every pro has it, is gonna be the Wacky Rig. This is a 5-inch trick stick from Big Bite. My wacky rig set up, I'll vary the rod a little bit, you know, depending on where we are. But most of the time, it's a Dobyns XTASY. This is a 723. It's just a great overall, you know, length action, you know, medium-heavy rod.
And I'm gonna have... I like 12-pound braid. You could probably do it with 10, you could probably do it with 15, 12 is just my go-to, SX braid from Sunline. And I'm gonna have anywhere from 8 to 14-pound leader. And 14-pound leader, you know, might scare a bunch of people away on a spinning rod because, you know, you're not finessing, but when you're at Santee Cooper or somewhere like that where there's big fish and you can get away with it, you might as well do it. But most of the time, it's 10-pound Sniper. And I normally have a little bit longer leader than most, probably I'd say about 20 foot. That way, it's on the reel. You've got plenty of, you know, cranks to bury that knot just in case something happens, because if you have a 8-pounder next to the boat, and, you know you're trying to land 'em, you don't wanna worry about the knot. So, I go a little bit longer on my leader.
I have a number 1 G-Finesse Weedless Stinger. I feel like that's the best Wacky Rig hook that you could get. And the titanium keepers, you know, it keeps the grass off really well. And the titanium keepers, if you're ever around the mucky grass, so, like, the cheese-type stuff that's mixed in with the hydrilla or whatever it is, it slides off of this really easy, whereas one that has, you know, a floor carbon line or weed guard, it'll stick to it a little bit more. But that's my go-to. This is from, you know, before they're spawning, all the way till after they're spawning. You know, you can actually catch fish off bed on this one. It's one of the first casts I make at a bed fish. You can blind-fish it around docks, you know, leading into the pocket where you're gonna, you know, have the fish bedding. So, that's gonna be always on the deck.
And to combat that, well, I have two, you know, stick baits. I have a regular trick stick on a baitcaster, a 20-pound line, a 5/0 hybrid worm hook, Gamakatsu. And this is more... You know, the water's a little bit dirtier, you're kinda in thicker stuff, maybe, like, way in pads, somewhere where, like, you want some meat just to get 'em out. I'm throwing this on a pretty big rod for a weightless Senko or style bait. You know, it's a 744 Champion HP. This is the same rod that I sight-fish with. So, it's got some meat. Twenty-pound Shooter, and this is gonna be whenever, like, the fish are, you know, behind something, in holes, in pads, or, you know, somewhere whenever you can throw it in there, get the bite and, I mean, lay the hammer to 'em and get 'em coming. Whereas with the spinning rod, you know, you kinda just gotta hook 'em and then go get 'em. This is one that you're gonna bring out. And you're fishing it the same way. You're flipping it around the docks and then throwing it in these pad fields, and on these flats, when fish are just randomly spawning all out on a flat but has some sandy bottom mixed with some grass. You're gonna throw this out there and kind of fish it like a Carolina rig, really. And that's one of my go-tos. Yes, three stick baits.
This is a Texas rig, and this is really more Florida, South Georgia, Florida fishing. This is a black and blue Blue Tip that's just a staple down there, and I'm gonna have this Texas rigged. That's a 5/0 Gamakatsu G-flipping punch hook. My weight's gonna vary a little bit, depending on how thick the pads are. You know, if it's, like, a thick line of pads, I'll probably bump it up to, like, a half ounce. If it's, you know, like, really sparse, isolated, you know, single pads, I'm probably gonna go all the way down to a quarter. But a 3/8 is where I normally stay. I've got this on a 754 Dobyns XTASY. I've got, you know, a high gear ratio reel, 22-pound Sunline Shooter, and I will even do this on braid. But whenever it's, you know, you're fishing the braid, it's gotta be really thick. And I'll either do straight braid or I'll do braid to a leader just because of the sound in the actual pads. But that's gonna be one where you're flipping to isolated targets, you know, flipping to reeds, where the fish are, you know, either spawning or staging on that stuff to spawn.
In Florida, you know, a lot of the bottom is mud, so the fish only can spawn on the actual roots of the pads, and that's where this bait shines. This setup is key. I've done very well in Florida with this. And growing up there, that's something that you had to learn to do. And the last one is also...I'm not gonna call it a Florida thing, but it's really, you know, mostly Florida. It's a swimming worm. This is a Big Bite Tour Swim Worm. I'll throw two of 'em. And I throw one on braid if it's, you know, really thick and gnarly, you know, this is all situational. The other one, I'll throw on, you know, anywhere from 16 to 20-pound floor carbon. But on the one on braid, I'm throwing this on a 723 Dobyns XTASY. You got a high-gear ratio reel. This is 50-pound Sunline FX2 Braid, and I've got a small weight on here, relatively speaking. This is a 3/16. I've got a 5/0 Gamakatsu hybrid worm hook, and this is what you're gonna reel around those same areas that you're pitching that Texas rig stick bait, and, you know, throwing that wacky rig around, throwing one of those big flats. You can reel this thing.
The braid, whenever I use it, it's normally I'm reeling it pretty quick, you know, on the surface, subsurface, you know, going through the pad hole, going across the pads. The one where I throw floor carbon, it's gonna be more of a slower wind, you know, staying, keeping the bait down. But those are the must-have worms for me in the spring, you know, around the spawn all the way until, I would say, you know, around May. Before everything gets really further along and starts moving out, I'm gonna have those rods on my deck during that time of the year.
