Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

It all started with the plastic worm and has now mutated into a huge array of specialized offerings. Whose is the best and which one is your favorite? Come share your thoughts and opinions here.
EJP1234
Elite Angler
Elite Angler
Posts: 278
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:00 pm
Location: MD

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by EJP1234 » Tue Mar 13, 2012 5:33 am

fred - If your inquiring for the river and ub.... I wouldn't even worry about shakey heads until October or more so November...

Get out the big baits right now and power fish, their shallow and hungary.

Their catching those 25lb bags out of Havre De Grace on big jigs right now, and the river fish are crushing traps and chatterbaits like usual.

User avatar
BlaineFred
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1144
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:52 am
Location: Annapolis, MD

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by BlaineFred » Tue Mar 13, 2012 7:10 am

Eric...

Thanks for the info.

My inquiry about shaky head worms was for future reference.

I also do a lot of fishing in a small reservoir, and in several ponds. Would use the shaky head worms in some of those situations.

Fred

User avatar
BlaineFred
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1144
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:52 am
Location: Annapolis, MD

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by BlaineFred » Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:42 pm

I saw a video on dropshotting by Stacy King where he said that hand-poured worms float whereas the machine-made use injection and they don't float.

So I got a bucket of water and tested a few worms.

I have some hand-poured by Web's baits and they all float.

I bought some hand=poured at a flea market and they all float.

The Bass Pro Shops 6-inch Floating Worm floats. In fact they seem much more bouyant than the others.

Go2Bait Co. hand-poured shakie worm does not float.

Berkley Powerbait Poured Finesse Worm does not float.

Strike King Super Finesse worm floats

Roboworm FX 4 1/2 inch does not float

Roboworm Tournament Soft Floating Worm does NOT float

Zoom Shakey Head worm does not float.

User avatar
facelessnewsouth
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 1540
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:02 pm
Location: Savannah, GA

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by facelessnewsouth » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:00 am

"floating", as in if you push it down, will it come back up, isn't as important as being neutrally boyant, i.e., unless you pull it or push it down, it will not sink. The 4.5 in roboworms strait tail worms I have do not rise back up from the bottom, but if you throw them in the water with nothing attached, they do not sink. On a shakey head, with the weight being at the front, the worm stands tail up, the way it falls, and stays tail up. This is more important than actually "floating", at least to me.

User avatar
BlaineFred
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1144
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:52 am
Location: Annapolis, MD

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by BlaineFred » Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:46 pm

facelessnewsouth wrote:"floating", as in if you push it down, will it come back up, isn't as important as being neutrally boyant, i.e., unless you pull it or push it down, it will not sink. The 4.5 in roboworms strait tail worms I have do not rise back up from the bottom, but if you throw them in the water with nothing attached, they do not sink. On a shakey head, with the weight being at the front, the worm stands tail up, the way it falls, and stays tail up. This is more important than actually "floating", at least to me.
My test was not scientifically rigorous. I had a large bucket of water, and I simply dropped the worms into it, one by one. When I say "didn't float," I mean they sank to the bottom. There's nothing neutral about their boyouncy if they sink. The Roboworms sank to the bottom, although the package says "floating." I didn't pull the worms up or down. I didn't touch them at all.

User avatar
facelessnewsouth
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 1540
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:02 pm
Location: Savannah, GA

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by facelessnewsouth » Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:38 am

I think I may have an explanation for this:

Roboworm's salt release system. If you notice the bottom of the roboworm is heavily salted. I checked two worms yesterday after reading this to make sure I wasn't crazy, one that was used a couple of times, and one fresh out of the package. Turns out neither of us is crazy. The one that had been in the water before, with the salt dissolved from it, did indeed float on the top of the water, but when pushed down would stay where I pushed it to. The roboworm with salt intact, did indeed do a slow sink on it's own.

I'm sure all kinds of factors would affect this too, however, like dissolved mineral content of the water, temp of the water, etc.

User avatar
BlaineFred
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1144
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:52 am
Location: Annapolis, MD

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by BlaineFred » Tue Mar 20, 2012 10:40 am

Major points from this discussion...

Roboworms say on the package that they are floating, but they do not float, except under certain conditions.

Bass Pro "Floatin' Worms" float as promised.

Other worms such as Strike King and a sample of hand-poured also float, although not advertised as such.

Heronimo
Senior Angler
Senior Angler
Posts: 151
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:49 am

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by Heronimo » Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:31 am

I don't know if this was mentioned, but there are videos on Youtube of floating worms and if they actually float. In fact, there is one of a pack of zoom finesse worm were some of the worm's tails float and some don't- from the same pack.

User avatar
facelessnewsouth
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 1540
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 2:02 pm
Location: Savannah, GA

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by facelessnewsouth » Wed Mar 21, 2012 8:13 am

Heronimo wrote:I don't know if this was mentioned, but there are videos on Youtube of floating worms and if they actually float. In fact, there is one of a pack of zoom finesse worm were some of the worm's tails float and some don't- from the same pack.
Good info. I may be alone in this, but I kind of expect this from any small scale product mass produced this way, that has so many variables, both chemical and mechanical. If the plastic is mixed slightly different, if it is cooled in a different way, if the mold is slightly deformed, if a slightly less amount of plastic is injected, etc.
BlaineFred wrote:Major points from this discussion...

Roboworms say on the package that they are floating, but they do not float, except under certain conditions.

Bass Pro "Floatin' Worms" float as promised.

Other worms such as Strike King and a sample of hand-poured also float, although not advertised as such.
Fair enough. I'll still use roboworms before bass pro floatin' worms any day of the week, if only for the variety of colors offered, and the better feel of the plastisol of the roboworms, regardless if they only float under "certain conditions," those certain conditions being that they get wet and the salt dissolves.

Ratshot
Angler
Angler
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 3:39 pm

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by Ratshot » Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:20 am

Try some V&M finesse worms if you want a finesse floater, knock off of the original Zoom finesse xcept better imo; much softer, durable, consistent, economical, good colors, and just a better looking, smelling and performing worm...

big_gee
Elite Angler
Elite Angler
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:18 pm

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by big_gee » Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:00 pm

I'm with crankmaniac on the Elaztech worms. I prefer worms that float and I have yet to find a bait that floats better and is more durable. I mainly fish ZMan finesse worms and just about any other bait the make on a shakey head. They even make there own shakey head that I use over others that I have used.

Robo makes a great worm but they rarely float. I used to use a lot of Zoom trick worms but they do not float either so I started using ZMan finesse worms and never looked back. I catch a bunch of fish on just one worm and the others fall apart too easy.

User avatar
BlaineFred
Platinum Angler
Platinum Angler
Posts: 1144
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:52 am
Location: Annapolis, MD

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by BlaineFred » Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:01 pm

I sent a message to Roboworm pointing out that their floatign worms don't float...

Have not heard back...so will call them on Monday.

smalljaw
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 2023
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:51 am
Location: East Centrl Pennsylvania

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by smalljaw » Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:17 pm

BlaineFred wrote:I sent a message to Roboworm pointing out that their floatign worms don't float...

Have not heard back...so will call them on Monday.
Let them know, because it does make a difference at times especially the way you work the bait. I know just from my comparisons that the worms that don't float need to be lifted and dropped were the floating worms I just shake the rod tip with a little slack in the line so if the worm isn't floating you really aren't getting any action when working it that way. And believe it or not BF, I took some heat for telling some that the Basstrix Locamotion worms float better than the Roboworm, a lot of anglers like Roboworm and I think they make a good worm but they are far from the best. In fact I wouldn't call any worm the best now after I've been fishing different worms from different companies side by side with friends and the results are a mixed bag, sometimes little changes such as 2 degrees in temp difference makes a worm that was getting bit into one that doesn't while the worm that couldn't buy a strike suddenly becomes the only worm the fish hit. After those tests I've come to the conclusion that I do need at least 3 different styles from at least 3 different brands in order to cover a wide range of conditions.
Barlow's Tackle

drmanhattan445
Newbie Angler
Newbie Angler
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:41 pm
Location: Iowa

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by drmanhattan445 » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:58 pm

SmallJaw let me see if I'm following you right on this;

You use a TriggerX Spade Tail when the bite is slow
You use a Basstrix Locomotion when there is at least 2' of visibility

So what is your third worm that you would use it you dont mind telling me. I'm just starting to get into shaky head fishing and trying to learn as much about it as possible. Thanks for your insight!

smalljaw
Pro Angler
Pro Angler
Posts: 2023
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 12:51 am
Location: East Centrl Pennsylvania

Re: Preferred Shaky Head Worm? Is Floating Necessary?

Post by smalljaw » Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:17 am

drmanhattan445 wrote:SmallJaw let me see if I'm following you right on this;

You use a TriggerX Spade Tail when the bite is slow
You use a Basstrix Locomotion when there is at least 2' of visibility

So what is your third worm that you would use it you dont mind telling me. I'm just starting to get into shaky head fishing and trying to learn as much about it as possible. Thanks for your insight!
The 3rd worm I use is either a Big Bite Baits Squirrel tail worm of the Powerbait shaky worm, and I don't mean the Gulp, they look the same as the powerbait but they aren't. These are worms that the tail portion floats, not the whole worm. Those worms are good options when fishing is slow also but it does require the fish to be a little active. If you ever saw these worms fall and sit on the bottom they almost resemble a floater on they begin to fall and almost always to one side or anotherand when they fall it is slow but the tail is off the bottom, not straight up in the air but more like 30 to 45 degrees, when you shake the rod tip with slack the tail vibrates but thats it and I believe it helps finicky fish bite. Take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with water, tie some line to a piece of dowel and then tie on your favorite shaky head and worm and drop it it and don't control the fall, make sure you have enough line so the worm is on the bottom with no resistance when you hold the dowel. Play with it for a little bit and it will help you as it will give you an idea of what your bait is doing on the bottom of the lake you're fishing.
Barlow's Tackle

Post Reply