Why Wacky Rig?

[Scott F]

Why do those of you who fish senko type baits by (weightless) wacky rigging choose that over T rigging?

[suprteck]

I like to wacky rig because I get to use my worms over and over without them getting too ripped up. Also you can just fish them dead stick with good results. If you are really lazy just use a floater and a worm wacky rigged. With the hook exposed the fish will get hooked more likely too.

[BucketHunter]

no reason to Trig in open water where there is no chance of snagging, better action on the fall, increased hookup rate.
And it just seems to work when things are slow and nothing else does.

[Dale Meddock]

Wacky Riggin, is absolutely the technique to catch inactive fish that just don`t want to bite anything else.
Is is a favorite of many of the top pros.
Plenty of ways to get your bait down faster, but slow fall in shallow water is killer.

Better bone up on this technique, you will be using it in all types of clear waters.

[zodiak311]

Stick a nail weight in that Senko, coupled with the wacky rig, and you have a deadly technique.

[Snyder Rods]

In open water or sandy bottom where there are no snags, I don't wacky rig, but I do nose-hook with an open hook. You can get a better hook up ratio with the hook point exposed.

Only when there are things to snag do I go with the T-rig.

[Scott F]

Wacky Riggin, is absolutely the technique to catch inactive fish that just don`t want to bite anything else.
Is is a favorite of many of the top pros.
Plenty of ways to get your bait down faster, but slow fall in shallow water is killer.

Better bone up on this technique, you will be using it in all types of clear waters.

How is this different or better than a weightless texas rig with the same bait? It still falls slowly. But you don't get the jerkbait action when you twitch it. The few times I've wacky rigged a senko my hooking percentage went way down and due to the fact that the bait was only hooked in one spot instead of 2, I lost a lot more baits when the bass shook them off.
I do very well with weightless the T-rig and I'm trying to figure out why so many guys wacky rig and looking for solid reasons I should try it again.

[JayInGrapevine]

Alright, let's fix you.
1. If you're losing baits you're doing it wrong. Take about a 2" piece of eletrical tape, cut it in half length wise and make a band around the bait where you hook it. That fixes that.
2. You can fish a wacky rig in one place a lot longer than a texas rigged senko. A pop or twitch will make the bait rise more than dart. Also, the bait has a lot more drawing power on a wacky rig because it creates the perfect flutter on every fall, with a Texas Rig you have a put a lot of slack in your line to make it shimmy as it falls, otherwise it will just fall dead and pendulum towards you.
3. If your hook up ratio is bad it's the hook or the hook set. I use a Gamakatsu 1/0 Split shot/drop shot hook. When you feel a bite just pull AWAY from the fish. Don't throw slack in it and pop it like a Texas Rig. Different animals.

[Nytron]

More natural action, mimics how a worm/insect hits the water and sinks down helplessly. Every fish at some point in its life has probably had an opportunity like that (mayflies, angle worms, etc).

A T-rigged worm is more of a reaction bait. You kill some of the action of the worm by having a large hook span nearly half it's length, so typically you have to make up for this by moving the bait and adding action. Where with wacky worming, the most effective state the bait can be in is falling through the water column on slack line. I suppose you could deadstick a Texas rigged worm, but Wacky deadstick is even better.

Never been in a situation where a Texas rigged worm outfishes a properly fished wacky worm.

[robchik04]

my biggest reason for wacky rigging... it pushes more water when the bait is working on the bottom. It's that simple. from subtle shaking to hops and pops... the senko has great action as a wacky riggged bait.

[ipoppa33]

More natural action, mimics how a worm/insect hits the water and sinks down helplessly. Every fish at some point in its life has probably had an opportunity like that (mayflies, angle worms, etc).

A T-rigged worm is more of a reaction bait. You kill some of the action of the worm by having a large hook span nearly half it's length, so typically you have to make up for this by moving the bait and adding action. Where with wacky worming, the most effective state the bait can be in is falling through the water column on slack line. I suppose you could deadstick a Texas rigged worm, but Wacky deadstick is even better.

Never been in a situation where a Texas rigged worm outfishes a properly fished wacky worm.

Great information. There are situations where each techinque shines, try them and see what works best for you.

Good luck.

[branover]

I'm new to using a wacky rig this year and I'm having, by far, my best summer catching smallies in the river. I've T-rigged in the past and had moderate success. It's a rocky bottomed river but getting a little snagged from time to time is outweighed by the about of fish I've been catching.

[somedude]

Since we are already discussing the wacky rig. Do you guys prefer the weighted wacky hook or just the bare hook? I guess every fishing situation is different.

[zodiak311]

Since we are already discussing the wacky rig. Do you guys prefer the weighted wacky hook or just the bare hook? I guess every fishing situation is different.

Just the bare hook, I use the 7" senkos so they are heavy enough for me.

[branover]

Since we are already discussing the wacky rig. Do you guys prefer the weighted wacky hook or just the bare hook? I guess every fishing situation is different.

I'm using a weighted wacky hook in the river, I need the extra weight to keep it down in the current.