Early Spring Is When Small Comes Up Big!!

Early Spring Is When Small Comes Up Big!!

Spring is right around the corner … hopefully! Depending on where you live, either the ice is thinning, has been gone for a while, or if it was never there, the water temperature is beginning to warm up nicely.

No matter the geography, as you prepare to venture out in February or March, odds are you have a select few lures that you've come to associate with early springtime. 

As anglers, we've been conditioned over the years to throw certain lures at certain times of the year. For many of us, it's automatic that you've got at least one - or all of these - tied on in colder water … suspending jerkbaits, jigs, and lipless crankbaits.

Over the last few years, there's been a new bait that has crept into the cold-weather lineup: three-inch, four-inch, and four-and-a-half-inch plastic worms.

These soft, smaller versions of their warmer-water cousins (senko-style worms, stickbaits, and of course Magnum Baits’ RegSticks, MagSticks, and Wormsers) are extremely versatile in the spring, and even fish well throughout the summer and fall. In fact, one of their greatest strengths is their ability to coax a passive bass into a strike when the bite is tough.

Shorter worms are different in look and action … you'll find these mini baits entice bites in spotted, smallmouth, and largemouth bass - in a variety of situations and through a variety of presentations. 

You can fish the tiny plastic worm on a round-ball jighead, on a Ned rig head, or (what I find most effective) Texas-rigged.

But, what makes the smaller worm effective is its presence in the water. Whether you are tossing the Ned-rigged version around a dock, or slowly bumping a jig head along rocks, with baits like Magnum Baits’ Finesse Carrot and the Finesse Wormser, anglers now have more options to add to their tackle rotation. 

The Finesse Carrot is a sleek, tapered, soft plastic bait that works perfectly with a Ned rig or ball head jig. It comes in two sizes - 2.5 inches and 3 inches, and one color - breaking shad (a very cool silver/opalescent color with subtle blue flecks). 

Magnum Baits’ 4.5 inch Finesse Wormser, also a tapered soft plastic worm-style bait, but with a unique, recessed trough cut from one side, and a tail that flattens out as it draws toward its end, offers a slightly larger finesse presence than most traditional Finesse worms. Although it can be fished on a jigheag, or a larger Ned rig head, it's versatile enough to be used as a chatterbait or spinnerbait trailer. My favorite Finesse Wormser presentation, however, is to Texas-Rig it, with a ⅛-ounce Tungsten weight. It works easily through laydowns, brush piles, along grasslines, and under or around docks. 

So, next time you're on the water in early Spring, try a smaller, finesse soft plastic. When a fish is shrugging off the cold, tiny worms offer the perfect snack for a sluggish bass.

 

-Chip Romanovich, Magnum Staffer