“Another Way To Work A Worm”

 

There’s usually more than one way to do darn near anything associated with bass fishing.

That applies to the fashion in which different lures can be fished as much as anything else. Once we catch fish doing things a certain way, we have a tendency to stick with it. We’re reluctant to change. Sometimes that’s not the best approach.

I’ve had that proven to me more times than I care to contemplate in a lifetime of fishing. One of the most recent such experiences came when I was introduced to a plastic worm called the Vibra Tail.

Though this worm has been around for awhile, you probably aren’t familiar with it. That’s because in recent years the Oregon-made bait has produced only in bulk for wholesale outlets in other parts of the country. I’ve not seen them for sale in the Pacific Northwest. A few of us in the Florence area did manage to get our hands on them. I have no problem at all recalling the first time I was introduced to it.

If you’ve followed tournament bass fishing results at the popular fishing lakes like Siltcoos, Tenmile and Tahkenitch on the Central Oregon Coast you’ve undoubtedly heard of Jim Pearson. Pearson hangs his fishing hat in Florence. For years he has been one of the top contenders among coastal bass anglers. He has a shelf full of trophies to prove it.

I’ve lived in the Florence area for 10 years myself. I ran into Pearson not long after I got here. It wasn’t long before I had a chance to fish with him. One of those trips took place right after Jim and his partner had won a team tournament at Siltcoos Lake.

Jim and his companion won that tournament on a Sunday. He told me how they had done it, then invited me to go back out to Siltcoos with him on Monday to see if the fish were still as active as they had been the day before.

“Here’s what they hammered yesterday,” Pearson said. Then he showed me the big black worm he had attached to his line. The tail of that worm was a bit different than what I was used to seeing. The curled plastic of its tail was longer and flatter. That big tail has lots of action in the water. The unique movement of its flat tail is why its makers call it the Vibra Tail.

Jim eased our boat in tight to a shoreline that contained downed timber and scattered pad cover. I’ve been fishing and writing about it for half a century. In the process I’ve had opportunity to share a boat with some of the country’s best-known bass anglers. If I’ve learned anything over that time it’s this: You darn well better keep an open mind where bass fishing is concerned. About time you think you have all the answers, something’s certain to happen that will knock all of your neat theories clean to hell and gone out of the piscatorial ball park!

As well as I know that and as many times as I’ve had it proven to me, I could have been a second cousin to Doubting Thomas when I saw what Jim was doing with his worm. He had rigged his Vibra Tail in conventional fashion. He’d slid a slip sinker on his monofilament line ahead of a 5/0 hook. Then the hooked the big worm up Texas Style.

But while Jim’s rigging of the worm was conventional, the way he fished it was anything but. I expected him to pitch that worm up next to cover and then simply let it drop straight down to the bottom. I figured he’d then work it slowly and carefully through the first few feet of cover before reeling back in and casting to a new spot.

Once again I got a first class lesson in how wrong you are if you figure there’s only one way to operate when you’re dealing with largemouth bass. Pearson cast to cover all right, but instead of letting that worm simply fall to the bottom, he let it settle only a couple of feet then immediately began cranking it back. He fished the darn thing the same way you’d fish a crankbait.

I ‘m sitting there thinking all those tales I’d heard about Pearson’s bass fishing skills were so much malarkey. I should have known better. Before he made a dozen casts a bristling 3-pounder came boiling out from under a downed tree and smashed that fast moving worm. “See what I mean,” Jim said as he unhooked that nice fish and eased it back into the water. “That’s the way we won the tournament yesterday. We fished this worm just like a crankbait. I’ve done well before fishing it that way. I’m not sure why they want it fished this way sometimes, but by golly they do!”

We didn’t catch a boatload of fish that afternoon. Jim and his partner had worked them over pretty hard the day before. We did get several and we missed others. The fish we caught and the hits we had were all on the Vibra Tail.

One of the reasons I’m writing about these worms is that they are now readily available. As I mentioned before, that hasn’t been the situation in recent years. The worm is one of those manufactured by Outlaw Baits right here in Florence. For years these lures were sold only in bulk to wholesale outlets around the country. Only a few anglers were able to get them. I doubt many of those who did tried fishing them with a fast, crankbait-style retrieve

Late last year Outlaw Baits decided to make its products available to retail outlets. These worms don’t enjoy wide distribution, but they are available. The way I see it distribution is a cinch to expand once anglers in other parts of the country discover how effective these worms are when condition are right. If your favorite tackle dealer doesn’t have them in stock, they can order them from Outlaw Baits by calling (541) 997-7338. Don’t try to order them directly from the company yourself because that won’t work. Outlaw Bait products are sold only through retail outlets.

Finally, let me make something abundantly clear where the Outlaw Baits Vibra Tail is concerned. It’s this: It’s not always going to put a bunch of bass in your boat. Neither will anything else. Nor is a fast retrieve the only way to fish it. I’ve boated some dandy bass using it in the same slow method usually associated with worm fishing.

You’ll be wise to pick up some Vibra Tail worms for you own fishing. Next time you find those big-mouthed boogers in your favorite bass pond hard to come by---remember what I’ve just shared with you.

I won’t guarantee you’ll have good results. I’m not about to do that for anything associated with bass fishing. Be that as it may, do give these Florence-made worms a try. You might wind up as surprised as I was that afternoon on Siltcoos Lake.

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