Wacky rigging soft plastics is an amazing technique. Here is everything you need to know about it to catch more bass. The wacky rig is known to give your soft plastic baits more action and can be employed in many ways. This post will help you understand the basics of using this popular technique, and all the possible variations to wacky rigging. The mission here is to help you know the ins and outs of the wacky rig to get you “Kraken” bass!

Wacky Rigging

These wacky rigging tricks have helped me catch a ton of bass. The wacky rig is my favorite way to fish soft plastic worms. It’s also the perfect rig for your friends who don’t have a clue about bass fishing but want to learn how. Make sure to share this post with them, and hopefully you can put a few of these tricks to use yourself.

Wacky rigging, or the wacky rig, often refers to how you hook your soft plastic when fishing for bass. The wacky rig is mainly used when fishing with soft plastic worms. When you hear the words “wacky rigged”, this generally means the hook is sitting right in the middle of the worm. This set-up allows your soft plastic to have incredible action as you move it through the water.

On the wacky rig, your bait will subtly twitch as you pull it. The wacky rig also enables your bait to wobble as it falls. If you watch bait fish in the water when they swim, both their head and their tails move side-to-side. The wacky rig enables your bait to closely mimic those movements. This is what entices bass to bite when rigging your baits this way.

Here is a simple diagram of what a basic wacky rig looks like to help you understand what people are talking about when they say, “I rigged it wacky style.”

Best Ways to Fish a Wacky Rig

There are a variety of ways to fish a wacky rig worm. Here are 5 of my favorites that help get bites when nothing else seems to get the job done.

Wacky Rigging Weightless

When wacky rigging weightless, the best bait–hands down–is a Yamamoto 4 or 5 inch senko. I’m sure you could try it with other smaller worms, but typically your larger stick style baits work best. They are heavy enough get some distance out of your casts. Plus, their slow, wobbling fall on the wacky rig gets bites. One cool trick is to use a wacky rigging tool, slipping some rubber o-rings over the middle of your bait. Place your hook through the rubber ring and you are going to save yourself some cash from losing those stick baits when they get thrashed by the bass. Just a simple small size 1 gamakatsu finesse wide gap hook can’t be beat for fishing a weightless wacky rig.

Wacky Rigging a Drop Shot

Wacky rigging a worm on a drop shot rig is lethal…for the bass. I’ve experimented between both nose hooking and wacky rigging on a drop shot. The wacky rig outperforms a nose hook hands down with the finesse worms. Wacky rigging gives the bait a wobbling action which can’t be duplicated with a nose hook. Two awesome worms for wacky rigging on the drop shot are the classic roboworm, which comes in a million colors, and the jackall flick shake worm. The drop shot wacky worm performs best when the bass are deep and you need to get down to them. This method also works when bass are being tight lipped and you need some bites. I’ve caught more fish on a drop shot wacky rigged worm than any other set up in my arsenal.

Wacky Rigging with Weight

Another popular method for wacky rigging is to use a weighted hook on your wacky rig. Going this route enables you to get your bait down a little faster. Plus, the faster sinking with the extra weight makes your worm wobble quicker side to side as it is falling. Sometimes, this increased action can grab the bass’ attention better and get them to chomp. Using a weighted wacky rig also enables you to hit the mid-depth zone which is hard to target with a wacky rigged drop shot or the weightless wacky rig. My personal favorite weighted wacky rig set up is a 1/8 oz Jackall wacky jig head, with a 5.8 Jackall flick shake worm. Just put the hook right through the middle fat sack of the bait and you are ready to cast!

Wacky Rigging with a Nail Weight

Wacky rigging with a nail weight is a very popular way to catch bass. Sometimes this is referred to as a “Neko Rig.” Basically all you do is put together a weightless wacky rig but then you slide a small nail style weight in the head of the worm. This set up creates some amazing action for your worm. It’s like a shaky head rig on steroids. The wacky rig keeps both the head and tail wobbling but the weight in the head of the worm drops the nose of the worm to the bottom. On a tight line, your worm will stand up and wobble across the bottom as you inch it along. It’s super subtle, making it the perfect imitation of something feeding along the bottom. The only downside to this rig is, sometimes, it is hard to fish down super deep. Typically it works best in water less than 15-feet deep. Give it a try, you will be impressed. My favorite worms to fish with a nail weight are a Yamamoto 4 or 5 inch senko or a fat straight tail roboworm. They both catch bass.

Wacky Rigging on a Carolina Rig (The Mowack!)

Try wacky rigging your worm for a fun little twist to your Carolina rig. This is so different that the norm that it can trigger some strikes. I first heard about this on–some of the first–old school bass edge DVDs my brother bought for me. We both laughed at what they named  this setup: “The Mowack”. Despite the name, the dude on the show was crushing bass on it. If all else fails, give them the “Mowack”! It gets your bait right down to the bottom while both ends of your worm wobble enticingly as you pull the Carolina rig along. The tricky part about this set up is, with an open exposed hook in the middle of the worm right down on the bottom, you can oftentimes pick up a lot of grass or vegetation. You can fix this two different ways. This first, you can purchase a weedless wacky hook to use at the end of your Carolina rig. The second, Texas rig your small hook in the middle of the bait. Texas rigging in the middle seems a little crazy, but it pulls the bait from the middle to give the wacky presentation and it keeps you from hanging up. Check out the diagram below of how it’s done.

Wacky Rigging Video

This wacky rigging video shows all the previously-mentioned ways to fish a wacky rig in action. I tied up all 5 of these styles of wacky rigs and used them in an evening of fishing. Everyone of these wacky rigs caught bass. Hopefully, you can get an idea of how each of these work so you can use the wacky rig to help you catch more fish. Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel while you watch. Thanks for the support!

I Hope you found these tips beneficial, and most importantly they help you “Krak” some bass! Let me know your thoughts on wacky rigging, and which of these techniques you’ve found success with in the comments below. I get super stoked to hear your thoughts. I recognize I’m not the end-all be-all to bass fishing. I’m a sponge, wanting to learn more and better ways to catch bass, so your comments mean a lot! There is a lot of good stuff out there and I just hope to contribute by sharing with you what I’ve done that’s worked.

As Always,

Stay Stoked!

Gear Mentioned

The links above and below in this post are affiliate links where you can pick up baits, rods, reels, lines, and anything else I use to “Krak” some bass wacky rigging. Kraken Bass receives a small percentage of the sales through these links. I only use links to baits and gear I personally trust and know work. I put these links to make them helpful for you–not for the small amount I make on the sale of the products. My goal is for these products to help you “Krak” some big bass! Thank you for your support.