Summer Wacky Rig Bass Fishing (Catch MORE Bass!)

Hey guys, Derek Hudnall here, Bassmaster Elite Series Pro and I'm gonna talk to you guys about one of my favorite ways to catch summertime bass. When everybody's up deep, I'm up shallow from South Louisiana, guys. And you're in a fishery that either the fish live shallow all the time or you're in a fishery that you think they live deep all the time, I can promise you there is never a situation or a time of the year where fish don't live shallow. And this is an incredible way to catch shallow fish when A) nobody thinks they're up there and they are. And 2) nobody spends the time to learn how to be really effective at a weightless Wacky Worm especially during the summertime.

So, I'm gonna get to that summertime deal here in just a minute to help you guys to put more fish in your boat, but the setup is so incredibly important when it comes to a weightless Wacky Worm. From the bait, to the line, to the reel, to the rod, the setup has to be perfect In order for you to maximize your efficiency on the water all the way from the cast to landing that fish and putting them into your boat.

So, we're gonna start with the bait here. Guys, this right here is a Missile Baits 48. This bait right here has probably put more money into my boat than anything in my tackle box, bar none, because this thing will flat-out catch them when nothing else will. Why is it called a 48? It's called 48 for a reason. It's 4.8 inches long, so it's a little shorter than your typical 5-inch Senko stick-style bait. It's a little bit fatter on either side as well. And why is that important? Number one, it helps you to skip this bait incredibly well and then also, it's fatter on either side. That way, whenever it starts to sink, that wobble, it kind of enhances that wobble as it goes down, which is super important. It gets that fish's attention and he absolutely just cannot stand it. If you're ever in a situation where you know there's a fish there, it's a high percentage cast, a weightless Wacky Worm is an incredible way to put that fish into your boat.

So let's talk about the setup here. We went through the bait. The hook is incredibly important. You need to make sure...and I always throw a weedless setup and this Gamakatsu G-Finesse Weedless Stinger right here is incredible. It is absolutely the best Wacky Worm hook on the market, bar none. I fished them all, this thing is insane. It's got titanium weed guards and a lot of people mess up. Be careful if you're throwing a weightless, weedless setup on a Wacky because a lot of them are too stiff.

Number one, most important part of any fish catch is hook-point penetration and you want to make sure it's not too stiff to where you're not getting a good hook in your fish or you're gonna lose some. This titanium weed guard is super, super limber. But it's also enough to keep you from getting hung up and it's not gonna impede the hook set. This Gamakatsu Weedless Wacky Stinger is just absolutely incredible. I've caught so many fish on this setup and the landing ratio, hookup ratio is very, very high on this setup. So that's putting the hook in the fish very important in every part of this setup from top to bottom, to weight, to hook, to line is all equally as important to make sure that you're being efficient with your cast and you're landing every fish that you put the hook in.

Let's go to the line, again, very, very important. We're gonna start with that lime green high viz Sunline Xplasma braid that's 15 pound. This is what I use for my backer for two reasons. Number one, it's gonna give you more hook-point penetration instead of just doing straight fluorocarbon. It's gonna give you that backbone. You're gonna be able to really put the hook in the fish and it's gonna be more castable as well.

So, I have an Alberto knot in between my 10-pound Sunline Sniper leader. I'm a 10-pound guy most of the time. I do an Alberto knot. Some of you guys may do an FG knot, a Uni-to-Uni, it's whatever knot that you have the most confidence in. The Alberto knot for me, I can tie it very easily extremely fast on the water if I need to retie it at any point. And it's very, very small, comes through the guides extremely smooth and easy. That's just the setup that I prefer. And I'm typically a, you know, 10 to 12 pound. 

This is a 7'3"-inch rod, so you can see where my knot is here, about where my bait is. So, it's about 12 to 18 inches outside of the spool. That way, when I reel down to make a cast, I'm about one turn of the spool to where that knot's inside of my spool here. Why is that important? Because you don't want too long of a leader because if your knot's buried in there, you're gonna have a pretty high chance of whenever you make a cast, that your line or that braid's gonna catch that knot and you're not gonna make a good cast. And that could be the cast that could be your fish of a lifetime, your tournament winner, the one that makes your day. So making sure that you're efficient and being efficient with every single cast is very important. That's why my leader is 10 to 12 pounds. Some people like a longer one, but I just don't like my knot that far into that spool whenever I reel up to make a cast. Just something that's more of efficiency for me, something you might want to think about next time you tie a leader.

So, we're gonna get down to the reel, again, equally as important. This is a 2500 reel. This is a Seviin GX series spinning reel that just got released this year, insanely smooth, an incredible drag system, guys. So the drag system, this GX series has a ball bearing drag system in it, and that's something you don't see a lot. A lot of drags are metal to metal and they just have some grease in between it, so it catches sometimes whenever that fish is pulling drag. With this ball bearing drag system, you get a smooth drag every time that fish is pulling because you need this drag to be working efficiently and pull smoothly. That way, it's not putting too much or not enough pressure on that fish. Whenever a big fish, you know, in particularly is trying to run and you need to let him run and do his thing, drag system is very important in landing that fish. So that GX series spinning reel, very important in this setup.

So the rod, another incredibly important setup. You don't want too long of a rod. You don't want too short of a rod. You want that perfect setup to where you can be more efficient in your cast. You know, this is a 7'3" St. Croix Legend Tournament MLXF. That's M-L-X-F, that stands for medium light extra fast. Incredible backbone to keep those fish hooked up and get good hook-point penetration when it has a really good tip. And guys, that tip is so important in this setup because if you're not used to really skipping baits and skipping a weightless Wacky Worm, you need a good limber tip in order to get the tip speed and that rubber band effect to get maximum cast distance and be able to skip this thing, you know, way up underneath docks, behind trees, underneath limbs, putting this bait where nobody else can is going to give you that competitive advantage. And that's why weightless Wacky setup is so incredibly important. That way, you can be more efficient.

Setup, front to back. And again, I'm 5'9", guys, so I'm a 7'3" MLXF. This length of rod will probably work for 95% of you. But hey, if you're 6'5" and you have long rods, you might want to go up to a 7'5" or a 7'6" just depending on your leverage point. That's something you guys need to figure out. But this 7'3" MLXF is absolute money for this setup.

So, let's talk about summertime a little bit. You know, you young guys, you tournament anglers out there, look, summer months can be incredibly tough to fish and you're looking for that competitive advantage. Everybody's out there throwing big plugs, football jigs. They're out there scoping and you're up shallow, you know. You're saying, "Hey, I'm gonna target the fish that are shallow." I can promise you guys there's not a time of the year especially the summertime where they're not shallow especially if you're on a lake with docks. If you're on a lake with trees, summertime, you need to concentrate on shade and cover.

Shade is more important than cover. Cover can be more important than shade sometimes. It just depends on where you live. I'm really concentrating on boat docks. I'm concentrating on shade lines on trees, cypress trees during the middle of the day. And even the early parts of summer when the bluegills start spawning, this right here can be one of the most effective tools in your arsenal, in your tackle box, to hook some really big fish during the summer months, the really tough months, to give you guys that competitive advantage, especially in the summertime.

Do not sleep on a weightless Wacky Worm during the summertime. This can put giant fish in your boat. It's going to catch fish when nothing else will. And you can find yourself on the winning side of some of these derbies in the summer months that you never would have expected. So take your time, guys, learn this setup. Learn how to be efficient. And the best way to do it is just to keep doing it, keep throwing it, because your efficiency and your casting and being able to put this thing exactly where you want it is going to equal your success.

And then the next key is just to find the fish, put it to them. And hey, boat docks, anywhere you have shade, summertime those fish are going to be and this weedless Wacky Setup, this Missile Baits 48, I can promise you will put more fish in your boat in the summertime when nothing else will.

But thank you guys for watching Tight Lines, and we'll see y'all next time.