BY Chris Erwin
The BB Worm, I’m sure some of you don’t know what that is. However. It’s been around a long time. The last time I wrote about it was eleven years ago when I was writing for Midwest Outdoors Magazine.
This bait was developed for fishing during the hottest period of the summer. It has been effective in lakes, rivers, and streams fishing both in the day time and at night. When fishing after dark, I like to use Fluorescent Green monofilament line. I also use a blacklight at night that is mounted on the top edge of my boat and shines down in the water. Some anglers have the lights installed all the way around their boat they all shine down in the water illuminating around the boat.
If you use the fluorescent fishing line, it shows up like a lighted rope making it very easy to see even the lightest strike.
The BB Worm is a four to six-inch plastic worm with a 2/0 hook, Texas rigged, in the head of the bait. I use the regular worm hook while some of my friends like to use the Octopus style hook. Three brass beads are slid up the line before you tie to the hook. The size of the beads is up to you, the whole idea is to make it go down slowly while giving it some weight for more effortless casting. I also tie a bobber stop or a piece of rubberband about three inches up the line. This just keeps the beads down on the end of the line.
The next big tip, is where to fish this bait? If you are fishing in the day-time in creeks or streams, I like to wade and cast it to edges of the shoreline. Fishing it at night is a whole different approach. You want to fish in places where the fish will be moving up into an area after the water settles down from the daily activity. Good candidates for this is the edges of weed beds, around boat ramps or docking slips. I also like to fish points and the heads of coves. This bait hits the water making minimal sound, it sinks very slow, making it easy to add a little wacky worm movement as it makes its way to the bottom. Move the bait with the rod tip once it’s on the bottom don’t move the bait with the reel, lift the rod tip and watch your line, moving it slowly you can feel the bait drag the bottom the slightest strike will jump the line. Using the blacklight and the fluorescent line strikes are easy to see and feel. When you get a strike, drop the rod tip, and watch your line. When it strikes again set the hook.
They are a lot of places to use this rig during the dog days of summer. One of my favorite places is Greenbo Lake in Greenup, Kentucky. This little lake is known for good night fishing, and a former state record largemouth bass came from the lake.
On Cave Run Lake, where I fish the most, I love this style of fishing. The water is a little more stained there, so I usually dip my worms in a little chartreuse or red dye on the last few inches of the worm. I think it gives the bait a little more flash.
One more tip, If you are going to be fishing at night, bring some bug spray, something with Deet. Have a headlight or some other light to tie on baits. If you have a headlight with a red light setting, it works well in the environment. It keeps some of the bug and nats out of your face while still giving you enough light to see what you are doing. Don’t let the hot summer keep you off the water get out there and do a little BBworm fishing.
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