In rivers, smallmouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) frequent eddies and rocky banks, but at times they cruise along flat bottoms or shallow sandy areas. They feed on minnows, sculpins (small fish that live on the bottom and use rocks as shelter from predators), mad toms (small catfish), eels, crayfish, insects (both underwater, in the larval stage, and adults), worms that wash into the river, rodents, such as mice, rats, and small squirrels, and on occasion, they have been known to regurgitate bats. Needless to say, they are voracious and consume what they can. Using plastic worms for smallmouth bass is perhaps the overall most effective method of catching these fish.
The Soft Plastic Worm
A soft plastic worm works wonders on smallmouth bass in the spring, summer, and fall. When fished with a weighted offset worm hook, the lure does not snag easily, and hugs the bottom, bouncing off of it when the angler twitches the rod. The Finesse Worm, by Zoom Bait Company, rigged with a 2/0 or 3/0 offset worm hook works well for smallmouth. Natural colors, like watermelon, pumpkin, smoke, and gray or black are best. These fish can be selective, so it is best to avoid bright colors like chartreuse, bubble gum (pink), or red.
Hook and Weight
Because the fish usually dwell on or close to the bottom, this lure with a weighted hook (like a Slider Slider brand hook gets down to their depth, and can cover a large area of bottom on the retrieve. A 1/8 ounce head should be plenty of weight to sink the worm to the bottom, where the rest is up to the angler's retrieve. When fishing the worm without weight, any offset worm hook, like a Gamakatsu hook is fine.
Retrieving the Worm
The best retrieve when fishing with a plastic worm in the river is to pop or twitch the rod a little after the lure has sunk, and reel the slack, much like when fishing a jig, except the worm is much lighter and may dart up into the middle of the water column with a twitch. Sometimes, in shallower water, beginning the retrieve as soon as the lure hits the water, and reeling faster can yield results, enticing hungry fish as the worm represents a fleeing minnow when reeled like this. Hold the rod with the tip pointing down toward the water, and twitch down on it, keeping the worm close to the surface without pulling it out of the water when bringing the lure back. Fishing this worm in different ways can make it appear to be an actual worm, an eel, a minnow, a hellgrammite (the large larval stage of a dobsonfly), or some other unidentifiable edible morsel that a smallmouth will not pass up.
Another way to fish a plastic worm is to rig it without weight (just with a regular offset worm hook) and let it drift. It will take much longer to sink, and after every five or ten seconds, it can be twitched, pulling it closer to the surface, after which it should be left alone again. This lets the worm flutter in the water, looking like an actual earthworm suspended in the river, where bass will happily take it.
Soft plastic worms are some of the most versatile types of lures, as they may be fished in many ways. They work well for largemouth bass in farm ponds as well, but when fishing a river when smallmouth are feeding, they are at times most productive lures there are.
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