Using big plastics for big bass

Like any tournament pro’s tackle boxes, Davy Hite’s contain an amazing assortment of lures, but with one possible exception: He has far more big plastic worms and grubs than most of his contemporaries on the Bassmaster Elite circuit.

The reason is simple. Hite believes these larger lures, which he fishes both shallow and deep on Texas and Carolina rigs throughout the year and all over the country, give him the best chances to catch larger bass.

“We all know the eight-inch and 10-inch worms are great big bass lures, and I’ve caught big bass on them, but I feel these big plastics are more versatile than most anglers realize,” said Hite, winner of the1998 FLW Championship and the 1999 Bassmaster Classic “When you’re fishing one of these larger lures, you’ll also catch small bass, but when you’re fishing a small lure, your chances of catching a big bass drop considerably.”

As an example, Hite can look back at tournaments on Lake Eufaula in Alabama and Lake Murray in South Carolina where, although he was catching nice fish with a six-inch plastic worm, he changed to a larger 11-inch worm and promptly caught nine- and 10-pound fish in both events. At the 2008 Bassmaster Elite tournament at Falcon Reservoir, Hite weighed in 82 pounds, 11 ounces, including two fish over eight pounds, and nearly all were caught on a big Yamamoto 10-inch single-tail grub.

“I’ve always enjoyed fishing a jig, which is considered a big bass lure, but I believe there are times when a larger, different profile makes all the difference in your success,” Hite continued. “I honestly think we catch a lot of bass on jigs because a jig’s profile with a trailer looks more like a bluegill or maybe a crawfish.

“But there are times when bass don’t want a jig, but those same bass will still hit a large worm, maybe because with its swimming tail it more closely imitates a shad. Big worms and grubs are usually thicker than smaller worms, so they do have their own distinct swimming actions.”

Because of their larger profile and better visibility in deeper water, Hite often Carolina rigs his big plastics 15 to 25 feet deep. Fishing this way, he prefers a one-ounce or slightly heavier sinker.

“The sinker, not the lure, is your contact point with the bottom with a Carolina rig, and nine times out of 10 I just hold my rod tip down and drag the worm or grub along the bottom. Mainly, I’m just exploring the bottom and covering water, but when I feel deep brush, rocks, or structure, I feel confident I’m going to catch a big bass when I have a big worm or grub tied on.

“When you pull or jerk a Carolina rig, the lure jumps up, then swims back down. This type of action is really important in making your lure choice, because swimming is the most life-like action you can give it. Probably 90 percent of my strikes come as my worms are swimming like this.

“You can work a Carolina rig many different ways, but you have to use your sinker to tell you about the bottom. I may move the sinker fairly quickly along the bottom until I feel it hit rocks or logs, then slow down so the bait just crawls through that cover. I just try different retrieves until I catch a bass.”

Hite doesn’t limit himself to deep water with a Carolina rig. He’ll throw his big plastics into a foot of water, but when he knows he’ll be fishing shallow, he does rig and retrieve differently.

“I’ll use a ¼-ounce sinker if I’m fishing rocks or grass or a slightly heavier sinker up to ½-ounce if the bottom is smooth. My retrieve in shallow water is usually very fast too, as I try to cover as much water as possible. In deep water, you often have a chance to find a group of larger bass, but that doesn’t happen in really shallow water.”

At other times in shallow water, Hite changes from the Carolina rig to Texas rigging his big worms, usually pegging a 3/8-ounce sinker.

“With a Texas rig and a lighter sinker, you don’t have the same solid contact with the bottom that you have with a Carolina rig, but a Texas rig is much better when you’re bringing your lure through brush. Shallow water bass are generally more aggressive than deep water fish, so I usually try to give my worm a little more action by twitching my rod or raising and lowering the rod to create multiple falls.”

To bass, the lure may appear to be a small snake, eel, or baitfish; regardless, fish can literally be pulled away from the brush and tempted to strike by that swimming action. Hite also uses his 10- and 12-inch worms to explore points this way when searching for bass. Keeping his boat deep and casting shallow, he can use a weighted lure to stay near the bottom but still easily employ enough rod tip action to continue that same rise-and-fall retrieve.

Hite will even flip 10-inch worms into shallow cover because he believes the overall profile of the larger lure can be more tempting, and again, because its swimming action differs from that of a jig or smaller worm.

“I especially like to flip the big baits along the deeper outside edges of grass lines where I can really take advantage of a swimming tail. That tail is swimming and vibrating whether the lure is falling or climbing, and sometimes it’s hard for a bass to resist.”

Although larger worms and grubs were not designed to be fished as topwater lures, Hite has been known to swim a weightless grub through shallow vegetation like a floating worm or buzz bait. Rigging Texas-style gives the advantage of being weedless while the lure’s large profile simply looks like something natural in the water.

“You can fish big worms and grubs around practically any type of shallow cover, including not only vegetation and weeds but also laydowns, stumps, rocks, and even boat docks. They’re really more versatile than most fishermen realize, and remember, they always give you a better chance for a big bass.”