Date: Nov-27-2000

Name: Davy Hite B.A.S.S. Pro

About:


STRATEGIES FOR FLOATING WORMS

Reigning BASS Masters Classic champion Davy Hite has worked hard over the years to develop a game plan to squeeze every ounce of potential out of those buoyant lures known as floating worms.

It begins with gearing up properly. For Hite, that means a 6 1/2-foot medium-action Daiwa baitcasting rod and Daiwa TDX103Hi reel — a combination that gives him maximum casting distance, which is vital when fishing points or grass beds in shallow, clear water. Although some pros prefer to fish a floating worm on spinning tackle, Hite contends that he gets more distance and better accuracy from the baitcasting gear.

For this type of fishing, Hite utilizes a wide range of line sizes (from 8- to 20-pound test), depending on the cover situation. That is somewhat of a departure from most anglers, who most often tie the brightly colored worms to 8- to 12-pound test monofilament.

“There was a B.A.S.S. tournament on Santee-Cooper a few years ago where I caught a 25-pound bag one day and a 20-pound bag another day, both on a floating worm,” Hite recalls. “I was throwing it on 15-pound test, which is kind of heavy for a floating worm. But those fish were coming right up out of hydrilla like rockets, getting the bait and going straight down with it. So I needed stronger line than usual. But with those fish, there were no negatives in using 15-pound test line. They were coming out after that bright worm and taking it right back down. You would have broken those fish off with 10.”

Those bright colors are unlike anything else in bass fishing. Pink crankbaits have never caught on (with either bass or bass fishermen). You can’t find a bright-orange spinnerbait on the tackle store shelves. No tournament has ever been won on a banana-colored topwater plug.



Still, the experts enjoy their greatest success on floating worms with such unsubtle colors as pink, white, chartreuse, orange, yellow and sherbet (a combination of a pink and yellow). Those are the hues that seem to be most visible in clear-water bass habitats.

Like most anglers, Hite relies on two sizes for most situations: 6 and 8 inches. He recently designed a floating worm for Gambler Worms of Pompano Beach, Fla., that tapers down from the head to a needle-shaped tail section. “I rig a floating worm a lot of different ways,” Hite says. “That’s the neat thing about fishing a floating worm. There’s no one way to do it.

“There are a lot of different things you can do with this worm. I rig it either with an exposed hook or Texas style, depending on the cover. But I almost never rig the worm straight, because it doesn’t have any action at all. I use a 3/0 Owner Rigging Hook, and almost always kink the worm up a little bit on the hook. That gives the worm some twist as it comes through the water. I like that particular action.”

Hite estimates that he rigs a floating worm with a No. 3 barrel swivel about 75 percent of the time. The swivel limits the amount of line twist that occurs as the bait darts from side to side during the retrieve (which can fatigue monofilament).

“The actual retrieve depends on the time of year,” Hite adds. “When I throw it in the spring during or right after the spawn, I want to give the bait a lot of action, but not move it very far away from the specific targets, like bushes or isolated patches of grass, that bass spawn around. So my retrieve consists of two or three twitches and a pause. The pause is especially important during this time of year, because they won’t bite it if the worm is constantly moving. I’m moving the bait just 12 to 18 inches at the most before pausing it.

“In the fall of the year, I’m more concerned with covering water, so a couple of twitches and a pause will move it several feet towards me. I want to move the bait a lot in the fall, but keep it right there in the area the fish are trying to protect in the spring.” .

By Tim Tucker