Catch More Bass In South Africa With The Wacky Rig Technique

Largemouth Bass caught on the Wacky Rig dropshot methodBass fishing is one of the most popular freshwater angling facets in South Africa and many fishermen compete in Bass fishing tournaments and fish recreationally for Smallmouth Bass, Largemouth Bass and Spotted Bass. One of the best techniques to catch these fish that I have found is known as "The Wacky Rig" which is fished very heavily in the United States and many big Bass fall prey to this naturally presented lure. Read more about the Largemouth Bass...

The Wacky Rig or trace is a dropshot style of fishing used to catch Bass that are feeding or stuck on the bottom and is a very effective method all year round, in cold or warm water. Below you can find a how to/tutorial on the Wacky Rig for South African waters, enjoy!

What Do You Need For The Wacky Rig?

Another Largemouth Bass caught on the Wacky RigWhen fishing the Wacky Rig, your tackle is very simple... A Bass fishing setup, a small split shot, a plastic worm and a short shank wide gape hook... The size of the hook will depend on the size of the worm... I normally fish a large worm with a 1/0 Diachii hook.

What Bass Tackle Do You Need?

I prefer to fish very light when I use the wacky rig, so anything between 6 pound to 10 pound line is ideal. No leader is required but you can tie on leader if you want to. A small spinning reel or bait caster and a rod no bigger than 6 foot 6.

How To Tie Or Put On The Wacky Rig?

As seen in the tutorial pictures below, you simply tie your hook onto your main line, add a removable split shot, one that is not too heavy - about 10 to 15 centimeters up your line from the eye of the hook and take your plastic worm and thread the tip of the hook directly through the middle of the worm. It will look very unusual after this and you will wonder how you will ever strike a Bass and hook it with this setup... I guarantee you, this works! The worm is very naturally presented and the Bass hit this Wacky Rig very hard!

Wacky Rig Bass Fishing South Africa Step 1 Wacky Rig For South African Bass Fishing Step 2
Wacky Rig For Bass Fish South Africa Step 3 South African Wacky Rig Trace Step 4 - Completed

How To Fish The Wacky Rig In South African Waters?

The Wacky Rig requires a drop shot style of angling and for the best results should be:

  1. Cast close to structure
  2. Wait for it to sink
  3. Twitch your rod tip 2-3 times
  4. Reel in the slack
  5. Repeat the whole way, a slow twitch is normally better

That way the worm stays on the bottom and every time you twitch it it moves up and moves naturally in the water, the Bass find it irresistible!

What Plastic Lures Are The Best For The Wacky Rig?

ABass caught on Wacky Riglmost any plastic worm will do the job for Bass in South Africa but if I had to choose a few I would always have the larger Zoom Watermelon colour worms in my tackle box... One packet of Watermelon Gold Glitter and one pack of Zoom Watermelon Red Glitter. The smaller McCarthy red worms are also very good for Bass.

The Results Of The Wacky Rig: Targeting South African Bass?

When fishing with the Wacky Bass Rig you can catch Bass of all sizes from 100 grams to 4 kilograms, you just have to be lucky on the day in terms of how big the Bass you catch are... Here are two Largemouth Bass caught on the Wacky Rig at the time of writing this article:

Largemouth Bass On Wacky Rig Largemouth Bass Caught On Wacky Rig

See more pictures of Largemouth Bass here...

Like this article? Learn how to Fly Fish for Bass here...