08-06-2004, 06:37 PM
By [url "http://www.bassdozer.com/about_us.shtml"]Russ Bassdozer[/url]
Weightless worms or Senkos are not good karma in a wind...at least not for me! I usually won't try worms weightless in a wind, you see, since I have something better, a weighted Roller Rig for worming in the wind. However, some guys will insist on throwing worms weightless in gusts, rifling casts either directly upwind or directly downwind (usually upwind is better). Then let the wind force impart all the action to the line (NOT to the lure) while the angler, with rod pointed directly up or downwind, maintains barely any tension for some "feel" on the line to detect a bite (which may include inching in slack to barely keep tension for the "feel"). That's called "fishing the line" - an advanced procedure with any form of light lure in the wind, and one that requires a lot of concentration and the skill of an expert angler.
Rather than worms, my first choice for fishing in wind would be a double-bladed willow spinnerbait. A small white front blade, big hot chartreuse back blade (both with "diamond dust" clear coats) and a chartreuse/white or fire tiger skirt! I just love to launch such big brightly-colored, gaudy spinnerbaits in the wind. They're like cop cars speeding down the highway with the sirens and cherries turned up high. But even still, you "fish the line" in the wind when using a big spinnerbait, you don't fish the lure!
Now, about that weighted Roller Rig? Ah, yes. I've caught bass after bass on it some windy days when spinnerbaits went hitless! Sometimes I don't try to figure out why...it just works!
![[Image: senko-wt-tx-twitch.jpg]](http://www.bassdozer.com/images/senko-wt-tx-twitch.jpg)
The Roller Rig starts out as a Texas Twist rig, and I've written an entire chapter about this technique in my online book, [url "http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/senko-fishing.shtml"]Keys to Your Senko Fishing Success[/url], but it deserves a separate discussion here now as well. This method of rigging gives worms a rolling, lively twisting motion reminiscent of what's known to a few old-timers as a "swimming worm" rig. It's a beauty to throw Senkos any time on light 1/8 or 3/16 oz. bullet sinkers, under any general wind and water conditions or depth. Texas Twist Senkos roll and kick, as you can read all about it in that book. But when it gets windy, find yourself some wind-blown points. Increase the sinker weight of a Texas Twist rig up to 1/4 or 3/8 (as much as required to mitigate line belly) and swim some brightly-colored Senkos (169, 229, etc.) high up across wind-swept points at the same speed as a spinnerbait. My, how you'll slam them!
What really makes a worm "roll" like a corkscrew and what defines a Roller Rig is to put a bend in the worm. Sometimes, just a pronounced lumpy "hump" where you tuck the hook point back under the skin is enough to make a Senko roll, and I tend to do that trick with an ordinary Texas Twist rig. However, the photo below shows two better and oh-so-simple ways to effect a full-blown Roller Rig: [ol] [li]Either put the hook bend back through the worm a little "too far" back, [li]And/or roll the worm head about 90 degrees between your fingertips before you re-insert the hook back into it. [/li][/ol]
![[Image: swimming-worm.jpg]](http://www.bassdozer.com/images/swimming-worm.jpg)
As you see, I fancy a bead, believing it serves some as a ball bearing. The powerful swivels I choose are by SPRO, tied in about 12 inches above the worm. Use an 1/8 or 3/16 oz. bullet sinker depending on depth, wind and current. I fancy smaller tungsten sinkers with slick Teflon line tubes helps the whole rolling motion. In increasingly stronger cross-winds, amp up the sinker size to 1/4 (or as much as required to mitigate line belly). Keep your rod tip low to the water, start reeling before the bait even hits the water, and burn some brightly-colored Senkos (169, 229, etc.) at the same speed as a spinnerbait. Work them high up in the water column across wind-swept points - or swim them in the waves slapping against shoreline boulders and shoals. Bass will rocket up from underwater lairs to blast the Roller Rig riding below the surface. Sometimes suddenly killing the bait so often triggers bass that may be swimming unseen stalking below and behind it. Other times, stopping the bait causes trailing bass to turn away. If you see bass break off the chase when you stop it, try this instead - a sharp twitch and long jerk with increased reeling speed to trigger the bite! Each day is different, and constant close observation plus diligent retrieval trial-and-error pays off!
When else to use it? I may regret telling you this but here goes. The Roller Rig is a good one to try in perfectly flat, dead calm water on dark cloudy days just before a rain hits!
The wind is our friend
The Roller Rig allows an aggressive use of the Senko or worm -- for when wind or pre-frontal calm makes bass suddenly active.
Many days, I have gone from rather reluctant, disinterested fish - only to have a sudden wind rise up, and have their aggressive feeding fervor light up! In some places and seasons, these winds are predictable. For example, a seasonal "brunch" wind that always seems to gust daily about 11 in the morning. In other locales, there may be a stiff late afternoon wind, depending on season.
So understand when your winds come by day and by season. When they do, it pays to be positioned on some shoreline spot that will be downwind of the prevailing direction of the wind. In some cases, these spots will be funnels, shoals, or points that channel the wind-blown water currents -- or catch-basins that bear the full force and brunt of the wind pounding their shores. In other cases, the spots will be "wind lanes" that develop along lateral sides of islands or shoals that "lay" the same way as the prevailing winds. So with a wind from the southwest, an island or shoal that generates a wind lane would lay canted from southwest to northeast. Hard to describe these areas in writing, but I've given it a shot in my article, [url "http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/wind-spots.shtml"]Fetch Me a Breeze Please[/url]. When you do find these spots of your own, and then look how they're positioned on a map, you will KNOW why bass come up into these spots on a wind! Trust me, all the resident bass KNOW to rise up in these areas with the wind too!
I'd like to say my discovery of the Roller Rig was something wise. Truth is it was more serendipity than smartness. It was a fortunate discovery made by accident one stifling hot, windless day when fishing results could be best described as tepid. But torpid bass became fired torpedos as suddenly a strong wind wall hit! If we didn't stick them, they'd ball Senkos down the hook on every cast. All balled up in a bunch, we'd wind in rapidly to re-straighten them. Twirling like corkscrews, there was just no way to keep the bass off them. The Roller Rig was born. Since that first day, it has matured into a reliable technique I've been glad to share with you today.
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Weightless worms or Senkos are not good karma in a wind...at least not for me! I usually won't try worms weightless in a wind, you see, since I have something better, a weighted Roller Rig for worming in the wind. However, some guys will insist on throwing worms weightless in gusts, rifling casts either directly upwind or directly downwind (usually upwind is better). Then let the wind force impart all the action to the line (NOT to the lure) while the angler, with rod pointed directly up or downwind, maintains barely any tension for some "feel" on the line to detect a bite (which may include inching in slack to barely keep tension for the "feel"). That's called "fishing the line" - an advanced procedure with any form of light lure in the wind, and one that requires a lot of concentration and the skill of an expert angler.
Rather than worms, my first choice for fishing in wind would be a double-bladed willow spinnerbait. A small white front blade, big hot chartreuse back blade (both with "diamond dust" clear coats) and a chartreuse/white or fire tiger skirt! I just love to launch such big brightly-colored, gaudy spinnerbaits in the wind. They're like cop cars speeding down the highway with the sirens and cherries turned up high. But even still, you "fish the line" in the wind when using a big spinnerbait, you don't fish the lure!
Now, about that weighted Roller Rig? Ah, yes. I've caught bass after bass on it some windy days when spinnerbaits went hitless! Sometimes I don't try to figure out why...it just works!
The Roller Rig starts out as a Texas Twist rig, and I've written an entire chapter about this technique in my online book, [url "http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/senko-fishing.shtml"]Keys to Your Senko Fishing Success[/url], but it deserves a separate discussion here now as well. This method of rigging gives worms a rolling, lively twisting motion reminiscent of what's known to a few old-timers as a "swimming worm" rig. It's a beauty to throw Senkos any time on light 1/8 or 3/16 oz. bullet sinkers, under any general wind and water conditions or depth. Texas Twist Senkos roll and kick, as you can read all about it in that book. But when it gets windy, find yourself some wind-blown points. Increase the sinker weight of a Texas Twist rig up to 1/4 or 3/8 (as much as required to mitigate line belly) and swim some brightly-colored Senkos (169, 229, etc.) high up across wind-swept points at the same speed as a spinnerbait. My, how you'll slam them! What really makes a worm "roll" like a corkscrew and what defines a Roller Rig is to put a bend in the worm. Sometimes, just a pronounced lumpy "hump" where you tuck the hook point back under the skin is enough to make a Senko roll, and I tend to do that trick with an ordinary Texas Twist rig. However, the photo below shows two better and oh-so-simple ways to effect a full-blown Roller Rig: [ol] [li]Either put the hook bend back through the worm a little "too far" back, [li]And/or roll the worm head about 90 degrees between your fingertips before you re-insert the hook back into it. [/li][/ol]
As you see, I fancy a bead, believing it serves some as a ball bearing. The powerful swivels I choose are by SPRO, tied in about 12 inches above the worm. Use an 1/8 or 3/16 oz. bullet sinker depending on depth, wind and current. I fancy smaller tungsten sinkers with slick Teflon line tubes helps the whole rolling motion. In increasingly stronger cross-winds, amp up the sinker size to 1/4 (or as much as required to mitigate line belly). Keep your rod tip low to the water, start reeling before the bait even hits the water, and burn some brightly-colored Senkos (169, 229, etc.) at the same speed as a spinnerbait. Work them high up in the water column across wind-swept points - or swim them in the waves slapping against shoreline boulders and shoals. Bass will rocket up from underwater lairs to blast the Roller Rig riding below the surface. Sometimes suddenly killing the bait so often triggers bass that may be swimming unseen stalking below and behind it. Other times, stopping the bait causes trailing bass to turn away. If you see bass break off the chase when you stop it, try this instead - a sharp twitch and long jerk with increased reeling speed to trigger the bite! Each day is different, and constant close observation plus diligent retrieval trial-and-error pays off! When else to use it? I may regret telling you this but here goes. The Roller Rig is a good one to try in perfectly flat, dead calm water on dark cloudy days just before a rain hits!
The wind is our friend
The Roller Rig allows an aggressive use of the Senko or worm -- for when wind or pre-frontal calm makes bass suddenly active.
Many days, I have gone from rather reluctant, disinterested fish - only to have a sudden wind rise up, and have their aggressive feeding fervor light up! In some places and seasons, these winds are predictable. For example, a seasonal "brunch" wind that always seems to gust daily about 11 in the morning. In other locales, there may be a stiff late afternoon wind, depending on season.
So understand when your winds come by day and by season. When they do, it pays to be positioned on some shoreline spot that will be downwind of the prevailing direction of the wind. In some cases, these spots will be funnels, shoals, or points that channel the wind-blown water currents -- or catch-basins that bear the full force and brunt of the wind pounding their shores. In other cases, the spots will be "wind lanes" that develop along lateral sides of islands or shoals that "lay" the same way as the prevailing winds. So with a wind from the southwest, an island or shoal that generates a wind lane would lay canted from southwest to northeast. Hard to describe these areas in writing, but I've given it a shot in my article, [url "http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/wind-spots.shtml"]Fetch Me a Breeze Please[/url]. When you do find these spots of your own, and then look how they're positioned on a map, you will KNOW why bass come up into these spots on a wind! Trust me, all the resident bass KNOW to rise up in these areas with the wind too!
I'd like to say my discovery of the Roller Rig was something wise. Truth is it was more serendipity than smartness. It was a fortunate discovery made by accident one stifling hot, windless day when fishing results could be best described as tepid. But torpid bass became fired torpedos as suddenly a strong wind wall hit! If we didn't stick them, they'd ball Senkos down the hook on every cast. All balled up in a bunch, we'd wind in rapidly to re-straighten them. Twirling like corkscrews, there was just no way to keep the bass off them. The Roller Rig was born. Since that first day, it has matured into a reliable technique I've been glad to share with you today.
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