November 14, 2017 by Jody White
Fishing a plastic worm is one of the most time-honored ways to catch bass because it flat-out works. This fall Justin Atkins earned his first T-H Marine Bass Fishing League (BFL) win with a worm on Ross Barnett, and big worms account for countless bass throughout the season at all levels of competition. Already established as an essential bait, we figured it’d be good to know exactly how the reigning Forrest Wood Cup fishes a worm.
One of the great things about a worm is how dead-simple it is to fish – you mostly just sling it out and drag it back.
“When I’m targeting brush piles I try to get a good line up, throw it out there and let it go to the bottom,” says Atkins. “Then I just start dragging it until I find the brush and once I find it I really slow it down and maybe shake the rod a bit and give it a little action. I try to bring it over each limb until I get it out of the pile and then I’ll drag it a little bit and reel it in. You can feel when your bait is getting close to an object in the water, and that’s when I really slow it down.”
