Larry Nixon - Techniques For Deep Water Worm Fishing (1986)

this master sportsman's video guide is funded in part by redman chewing [Music] [Applause] tobacco [Music] larry nixon from hemphill texas is one of bass fishing's top drink professionals in 1983 nixon won the bassmasters classic the world series of bass fishing in 1968 nixon was the third ranked qualifier for the event his 10th straight year to qualify for the classic nixon's fishing skills earned him the title of bass angler of the year in 1980 and again in 1982. in 74 pro fishing tournaments nixon has finished in the money sixty times earning more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars his favorite lure is the plastic worm and fishing deep water structure is one of his most successful methods that's a nice little bass you know all professional bass fishermen have a specialty something that they are 100 percent comfortable with mine is a plastic worm from two feet to 40 feet i'm comfortable with it any time of the year it consistently produces fish for me in this video i'm going to make you a better worm fisherman one of the first things to consider is your rod and reel a six foot worm rod medium heavy action you got a good soft tip you can feel the fish bite better and you get better casting accuracy a high speed bait casting reel this enables you to keep up with fish when they're coming straight at you what we're going to talk about today is deep water structure underwater drop-offs any kind of bottom structure that'll hold bass now i'm going to get into hunting and locating the type of water that you're looking for to find bottom feeding bass now we're down here in florida and even in florida fish get on structure such as this right here you've got a little 10 foot ridge with scattered grass right up on top of it and then it drops right back off into about 25 foot of water any lake that you go to in the summertime or even in wintertime you want to look for the kind of water that has a real sharp drop coming up into the shallower water here i'm coming out of 30 feet right up on look at there there's a fish right there coming right up to 10 feet a little bit of cover on top of that ridge either scattered grass or stumps there she just dropped back off what you look for here is you want to find specific little points underwater uh islands you might say that run out off the edge of these these ridges and they create a specific holding spot and this is places where these bass will congregate locate them on your graph recorder then mark them with a marker buoy you know i've had a lot of people ask me over the years and and through my experiences in bass fishing about motor noise scaring the bass when you're looking at a piece of structure on the on your graph recorder or your flash or either one and many times i've run across an area that on a strange lake that i've never fished before and all of a sudden i run across this ridge so i turn around i go back and i make another pass at it and i throw a buoy out turn around and make a cast out there with a worm right in my big motor bubbles many times catch a bass now when there's there's times i agree when when uh the fish are real spooky and you're idling around out here that you may spook some of the fish so in areas that i really know if i know it's a fish holding spot you know i'll go in there quietly and use the trolling motor a lot of times to get on top of an area but if i'm on an unfamiliar lake i always use the big motor right here on top of this ridge in the summertime now when you got low oxygen levels a lot of times these fish will bunch up in shallower positions 8 10 foot of water right where she drops off into 30 right there then later on as the water cools off many times the bodies of water start to turn over and your oxygen level will get better down in the deeper areas of a lake and that will cause the fish to move on out into the 15 17 even 20 foot spots and bunch up it all depends on the body of water you're fishing and the clarity of the water as to how deep these fish will concentrate you have to spend time with your flasher use your marker buoys and mark out these ridges and when i say time i don't mean spend three or four hours fishing this one ridge i'll pull in there and mark two or three key specific points like right here where it comes up to 10 feet even though you're not seeing many fish on the graf recorder in shallower water like 8 10 12 foot of water your cone angle is real narrow you don't pick up a whole lot of fish because your your diameter your cone is small and you've got to stop and make a few casts on these areas to really determine whether or not the fish are actually there now this is the type of place i expect to catch several fish not just one or two but a school of bass i like to put a marker buoy right on the top right there when it peaks out drop that marker buoy over the side see how much narrower it is here than it is over here i'm getting right out on the very end of that ridge now let's stop and make a few casts now we'll see if there's any bass there you know one of the most important things in worm fishing i feel like is when you first make a presentation or throw your lure out there always watch that line when that worm's sinking let that let that worm free fall all the way to the bottom just peel off a little bit of line even if you're in 25 or 30 feet of water always let it go straight down because i feel like mainly by letting that worm go straight down you're making a presentation such as you'd make flipping if you can get that worm to sink straight down by a bass you'll get that impulse strike once it hits the bottom then go ahead and start just working it back to the boat i like to just pick him up from a 10 o'clock position till 11 o'clock pick him up let him fall back to the bottom pick him up let him fall once you get up close to the boat and you see your you're right on the edge of your drop then i'll then i'll go ahead and lower my rod on down here to about a nine o'clock position and a lot of times i'll just jig a worm straight up and down just pick him up let him fall i always let that worm free fall watch for strikes watch for any kind of line movement of jump maybe it just quits sinking all of a sudden and you know that you're in 10 or 12 foot of water and that worm all of a sudden uh quits sinking before it gets down to that certain depth pick it up and be sure nothing's got a hold of it make your initial cast let that worm free fall to the bottom pick him up let him fall pick him up let him fall when you feel like you've got a fish on there you get that little bump bump or that heavy feeling pick it up and check him if one's there now a lot of times you don't want to let them have that worm very long pick it up let them fall pump you feel the strike drop your rod just a little bit use both hands and pop that fish now don't be bashful about setting that hook again oh that's a good fish come here big boy nice two-pound bass once you catch a fish in an area like that rig up as quickly as you can and make you another cast back in there because many times once you catch one fish it'll activate the whole school and you can just continue to throw right back in that same spot and catch fish one of the most important things in worm fishing to me is the type of hook you use in the size hook you use i prefer a three ought straight hook eagle claw must had either one they have a blued worm hook that is also very good i prefer the nickel plated hook because it slides through the plastic worm so much easier it has a couple little barbs back here on the back that helps hold your plastic worm up to me you just don't take the big hook set with the large number four number five alt worm hooks that a lot of people try to use nowadays i feel like that's one of the reasons why they lose so many fish when you're rigging a plastic worm and i prefer the gator tail of course most of you know that but when you're rigging a plastic worm always remember not to get too much plastic worm at the very top when you insert that hook insert it at an angle so that when you get to the bend of the hook the point is actually coming out of the plastic worm that way you don't get too much of it up here at the head and restrict your hook set then go ahead and slide the hook all the way down inside the plastic worm turn it around and the little barb there on the hook will help hold the worm up then simply pick up on the plastic worm look at it to one side see where the hook goes in pick up on it and insert the hook all the way through slightly off to one side or the other this will enable you to get the hook into the fish better insert it push it all the way through then slide it back inside the worm when you get the worm rigged up like this it will cause the worm to hang straight on your hook and it will decrease line twist when you're fishing with the worm there's nothing that irritates me more than trying to fish a plastic worm with a line that's real twisted because you don't feel strikes and you lose contact with the bottom more often once you rig a worm up in this manner you're ready to go fishing texas style i use a slip sinker probably 90 percent of the time fish it on the bottom when i'm fishing structure you're looking for little detailed areas little drops anywhere from uh three feet to fifty that's what i call structure fishing some kind of a bottom change let that worm go to the bottom and always just work it down the ledge i prefer to fish a worm down the drop when you encounter that brush on the bottom give that worm a little shake and many times that's when your strike will come now stay down there i don't like them jumping that's when they get off on you that's a nice bass one eye that's a nice bass going back home that's plastic worm fishing at its best when you know where to throw how to work it and then make that strike make that fish strike your worm one of the things that confuses a lot of bass fishermen is which weight to use in different fishing situations what pound test line to use when i'm using real light line on many of our lakes nowadays i choose to go with the spinning gear because i can fish eight ten pound test line a whole lot more effective than i can on a bait casting rod and reel i have a tendency to jerk my line in half when i use a casting rod and reel if i'm using the light line so to offset this i go back to spinning gear use a small diameter worms a little small one odd hook this will enable you to get the hook into the fish easier in the light weight one eighth or even one sixteenth ounce just depending on the situation that you're fishing real shallow water spawning fish many times this is the only type of worm rig that you can make them take there's other times when you're fishing in lakes that have small mouth or spotted bass and you're fishing deep water structure rocks uh ledges or some kind of brush on the bottom and you have to get out in it and fish real slow up and down this worm is very effective for making these little smaller fish hit now the rig that i use most of the time of course is the bait casting rod and reel and the big plastic worm with a 3 16 or one quarter ounce weight in 14 or 15 pound test line i usually use it with a 2 or a 3 odd hook depending on which worm i'm using if i'm using a small diameter worm fishing for the smaller bass then i'll use a 3 16 ounce weight in the two odd hook if i'm using this style of plastic worm i'll use the one-quarter ounce weight with a three-odd hook another rig that is very effective for me and i use it a lot when fishing in heavy vegetation willows any kind of real heavy cover that you have to make very accurate pinpoint cast to get into or if i'm fishing in extremely deep water 35 or 40 feet and i'm using a standard plastic worm and i want the lure to get down there faster then i'll go with a little heavier weight either a 3 8 ounce weight or a one half ounce weight heavier line 17 20 25 pound test line because you're fishing in real heavy cover and i'll also usually go to the larger worms a little bit bigger hook because like i say you're fishing for bigger bass thick cover and you're putting your lure right in it the larger hook will help you hold these bigger bass the small hooks just will not penetrate these big large plastic worms and leave enough hook exposed to hook that fish very well the larger sinker is also great for fishing and vegetation i do a lot of pitching and deep water hydrilla and just any kind of vegetation you've got growing in these lakes and you're following along the edges you hunt these little bitty pockets to put that worm in and it takes a larger weight to get it down through there and that's the conditions where i choose the larger weight most of the time when you're structure fishing you're hunting for something that's on the bottom down there some kind of underwater cover a bush a rock pile just anything that'll hold bass once you locate a target like that one of the key things that you need to do is pinpoint your cast right in that cover i feel like this will trigger strikes on the same basis as flipping once you get inside that cover and the worm hits the bottom always immediately engage that reel put it in gear and pick up on it and be sure there's not a fish there because many of your strikes when you're fishing on the bottom in deep water occur as the bait's going down if you pick up on it and the fish is not there then go ahead and start working the worm back as you normally would now when you encounter that cover down there like right now i can i know that that bait's hanging over a limb right there i can feel it because it don't want to come to me when i pick up on the lure it's just hanging there so i'll raise it up and down a few times right there trying to entice a strike pick it up let it bump the limb and let it fall back as soon as that line goes slack pick it back up again now if i do that two or three times and i don't encounter a fish especially in lakes it's got a lot of brush many times i'll just take and start reeling that lure up until i come in contact with that limb or the top of that obstruction right there it is i can feel it right there that's the top of it then i'll just take shake that worm across the top of it and immediately disengage the reel and let that worm free fall back down this gives that fish another look at that bait and as soon as it hits the bottom pick it up again pick it up and let it fall many times when i get it in that cover i'll just take and shake that worm just crawl him through that cover give him little short twitches and then once i'm clear of it i'll go ahead and fish my lure on back to the boat nearly all of your strikes occur on the fall so that's when you want to really pay attention to what's happening to that line watch that line as it goes back to the bottom every time and when you get it back under the boat go ahead and make your retrieve on backup and throw it back in there work that cover two or three casts to be sure there's not a bass in there that's just not in a feeding mood many times if you'll just if you'll throw in there three or four or five times you'll entice that fish to take that lure when it hits the bottom be sure he's not there pick it up and let it fall back always maintain bottom contact with that plastic worm once you got that worm in that brush and you come over that tree limb you pick it up and you let it fall back down and you get that strike put a good wrist snap on him come on baby that's the fun of it when you do it you throw it in there you work it out correctly you get that tap and you sock that hook home and the fish is there that's what makes bass fishing many times when you find a ledge that runs out there and you mark it off with your marker buoy and you fish that specific little spot and you don't get a bite then you want to continue on and read that locator and to fish that water properly and continue to move your boat right you want to find the precise break right where that thing drops from like right there it broke from 10 to 15 foot then you want to make just a short cast and you know you're right on top of that ledge that way you're keeping your lure in the strike zone i consider the strike zone to be that last 10 to 15 feet from that drop off put it on the bottom you're more or less vertical fishing just pick it up follow him right down until he gets to that ledge and when he drops off let him fall off the edge of it just a little bit if nothing takes it then go ahead and reel him on up then move up just a little bit and make another little pitch and stay on that ledge that way continue to watch that locator that's the most important thing in your bass boat is that flasher because it tells you where the brake is and by knowing where the brake is you know exactly where to place your cast you make that little pitch let that worm sink all the way to the bottom and then hopefully one gets it fish key on that ledge that let drop off there that's where these bass are going to be holding that's their feeding area [Applause] that's a good bass i wasn't expecting to catch him here but anytime you're fishing structure deep water ledges you're gonna find good fish big fish have a tendency to stay on that deep water cover feed on them ledges so what i'm trying to tell you here is take your time watch your locator keep your lure on the bottom and keep it in the strike zone i'd like to have him in a tournament another very effective way to cover a lot of water and to catch fish on structure in a lot of these lakes that have current is what they call a carolina rig it's rigged up with a standard worm hook you've got a ball bearing swivel on one end of it and this is your lead line to properly fish this rig what you do is you go ahead and put your slip sinker up here on your main line now i've got a big weight on here as you'll notice a one ounce weight this will keep you in contact with the bottom and it enables you to cover structure quickly now where the carolina rig works best is in lakes that have current by either water generation at the dam or in river systems where you've got a natural current flow now always use a good knot no matter what worm rig you're using tie your line direct to your main swivel now tie a tri-lane knot twice through the eye four twists around your main line and then simply go back through both loops always moisten that line that'll eliminate a lot of phrase monofilament burns easy and that's your weak point never trim it off too close to the to the where you tie your knot leave about a quarter to an eighth of an inch there is your basic carolina rig simply throw it out let it go all the way to the bottom retrieve it in slowly this thing will this big weight will stay in contact with the bottom and as it comes in it just bangs along the bottom and it kicks up mud and it attracts a lot of fish and they in turn see the little worms swimming along behind it one thing you do need is a long rod if you don't have a long fishing rod when you're trying to cast this thing it's kind of hard to cast and you're liable to hit your buddy in the back of the boat at different times of the year bass relate to different types of cover in a very different manner anytime you've got visible cover you want to look at that cover and get an idea just say to yourself well if they're going to be there they are on that point or they're on that point or they're on that point that way you can eliminate fishing that entire grass bed if you're looking for a school of fish in the early spring once that water temperature gets up to around 65 20 60 and 65 degrees fish move out of that deep water and they start coming in shallow getting ready to spawn and they'll actually school up on little points of grass or little underwater ridges and where places where you'll catch several fish out of one spot and learn to key on these areas most of the time i'll fish them with a standard bottom texas rig and the fish will bunch up right on them little drops 8 10 12 foot of water dropping into 15 or 20 and you know you can sit there in one spot and catch several bass throwing in one particular place there's one right there oh look at the size of that fish that's a nice bass i ain't believing that fish was there you know in tournament competition i'd be having a fit every time that fish jumped but when i'm out here fishing for fun like i am right now oh i love that that's part of fishing settle down there big boy boy he got me soaked oh look at that fish that's the best fish i've caught since i've been here that's a beautiful bass now you know there might just be a whole school of them right there on that point that's one of the things about fishing structure you never know how many fish are in a particular spot even caught him on my favorite worm old black blue tail the best springtime color you can put on your rod look at that made me nervous boy i wish there'd be a whole school of them right there it's been a long time since i've got into a school of big fish all in one spot come on baby let that worm go all the way to the bottom feel for that old familiar thump you know a lot of times people expect to really feel a vicious strike so many times you just pick up on that worm and it's heavy and your line just be easing off to one side or the other remember all year long you're fishing shallow cover scattered grass when them fish are in a very aggressive active mood you're a whole lot better off casting to the cover and working your worm back away from it because when they're feeding they're not up in that thick stuff what puts them in that thick stuff is a bright skies real hot weather inactive conditions when they're not feeding there's another one uh-oh wrong school [Applause] be gentle with them fish turn them loose to fight again you know one of the hard things is how many times do i sit there and see uh casting in that same spot and make the decision as whether there's more big fish there or whether that was the only one in my personal opinion i'll sit there and throw at a spot like that for maybe 10 15 minutes at the maximum if i don't get any more strikes i'm going to move i'm going to shift my position going around there to another point or completely circle this point and throw back to it a few more casts from a different angle maybe with a different colored plastic worm but i'm not going to sit here for two or three hours waiting for another big fish to swim up there because my theory in bass fishing is the active fish are going to bite those that aren't going to bite i mean they might not bite for four or five hours i'm going to go over here and try another spot give it 15 or 20 minutes move on to another one over there and try it a while and then three or four hours later i'm gonna come back and hit this one again because big fish use it i just showed you that therefore another big fish may move in there later in the day and take up residence in the same position always going down watch that line and feel for that little tick usually it'll be just a little bump bump as soon as you feel that bump bump in my opinion a bass always takes that worm head first and when he goes thump thump and that line goes slack i know he's got it and that's when i'm gonna set the hook all lakes are different if you have a problem of missing a lot of fish on your home lake and you've been jerking fast next time try letting them have it you've got to experiment because i know after fishing bass tournaments all over the united states that a lot of lakes are different in the way the fish take that worm some lakes they'll thump it and run 10-15 feet before you can even think about jerking others they'll just peck it and just sit there and hold it a little grass there or a fish grass shake it free of that grass and let it fall again that's when most of your strikes will occur there's one come on baby come on in here nice tournament bass one thing that'll make you a better bass fisherman and when i will enable you to find a lot of underwater spots such as these i've showed you today and fished is a contour map all you have to do is buy you a good contour map of nearly any reservoir that you fish and if you'll go out there and find you one worm hole that you can catch bass out of you can take that map and find you several spots on that lake that are identical to it just by reading these contour maps they're very useful to you in your fishing and will also help you learn your lake oh i missed that one that guy can't believe that y'all ain't supposed to be filming misses we all miss fish a lot of times you can go right back and get that fish to bite again though there he is again oh that's a nice bass too nothing like fishing a plastic worm around around grass beds boy these are some strong fish why that fish is still taking line nice bass that's a good fish in anybody's box beautiful bass you know there's a lot of different baits a man can fish top water fishing is extremely effective and it's fun to do but there's nothing like a plastic worm you're in complete control all the time you pick the target you pick the structure and you make the presentation you feel that thump thump thump and you're the one that sets the hook and does it all it all depends on you this is the place where the work gets done work that's the measure of a man this is the home of america's best this is the home [Music] warning this product may cause gum disease and tooth loss [Music] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: Old School Bass Fishing Vids

Views: 21,275

Rating: 4.9022222 out of 5

Keywords: Bassmaster, FLW, Major League Fishing, Rick Clunn, Kevin VanDam, Denny Brauer, Roland Martin, Bill Dance, Spinerbait, Jig, Topwater, Plastic Worm, Carolina Rig, Bobby Ditto, Gator Tail Worm, Allen Lures, Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass, Big Bass, Texas Rig, Team Daiwa, Daiwa, Skeeter Boats, Bass Boat

Id: xcnECQ7nsdo

Length: 33min 55sec (2035 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 15 2021