Top Five Tournament Baits of 2013, #5 Wobblehead Lures' 3" Plastic Worm

Wobblehead Lure's 3" Worm in Purple

I have been kicking around the idea of doing  a "Top 5 Tournament Baits" blog post for some time now. At first I was going to do a top five list and give a sentance or two to each lure, but the more I started to think about it, the more I realized that I had individual posts for each of these baits. . Well, here it is the first of five, my top five tournament bass baits of 2013. At number five I have Wobblehead Lures' 3" worm. This lure was really under utilized this year, but when I needed it the most it pulled through for me, thus making its way into my top five.








Before I start that story, I do want to say that in 2012 we re discovered the wobblehead worms from our childhood. I had found a pack laying in an old tacklebox and took it out to a local lake in early May with an ultra light spinning combo spooled with 8lb test. I was out to have fun, I wasn't worried about breaking any personal bests or setting any records.
  I paired the 3" purple plastic worm with a 1/32oz jig head and started working weedlines, lily pad edges, etc. I used the bait like soft jerkbait more so than I did like a plastic worm. I'd cast it out and give it a twitch...twitch...pause, twitch...twich...pause, etc. never letting it hit the bottom. On my first trip I landed a 18" bass and a 13" crappie on top of the dozens of smaller bass and crappie. I caught more decent bass that day than I did when I threw my normal bass gear. I took the worms to another small lake about an hour down the road and had another amazing trip. I didn't land any giants but I caught over 50 bass and one 14" crappie. This trip took its tole on my wobblehead collection, so I decided to order a few packs and restock.

I quickly took them out to the first lake I had hit the week previously and started working the banks once again. The trip was nothing short of amazing, I landed another bass over 18" and dozens of smaller ones. I spent the rest of the summer taking that bait to local lakes that I had struggled to catch fish, and I rarely came home disappointed. The largest bass I caught that summer on the 3" wobblehead was a nearly 20" pig that weighed 3lbs. 15oz. I knew this bait had potential and as many laughs as I got when people saw me throwing it, I always kept a few with me at all times just in case I needed them.


A year and some odd months later I'm fishing Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trails Fall Finale on Nettle Lake and I run into a little trouble. It was 5 hours into an 8 hour tournament and I had only caught one 13" fish. At this point the wind had picked up to 15 plus miles per hour with gusts up to 24mph. I knew that other guys had gotten their limit early in the morning before the wind had started to pick up. I knew that I needed two more fish if I wanted to do well. I had thrown a hollow body frog, jig and pig, chigger craw, etc. and nothing seemed to be what they wanted. I started rummaging through my tackle boxes when I found the pack of 3" wobblehead worms tucked away in a corner. I told myself that even if I got two 10" bass, that was better than heading back to the dock with 1 fish. I tied one on and went to work. The wind was blowing hard onto one bank in particular and I just happened to be 100 yards away from it. I slowly worked my way over to the wind blown bank and noticed that the water temperature was 2 degrees warmer than anywhere else in the lake. It was late fall and fish were starting to relate to warmer water, at least that's what I was telling myself at the time. So with wobblehead in hand,  I started to work my purple worm down the bank. I quickly land a 13" bass, a 11" crappie, and then a 8" bluegill. I had two hours left and I needed a third bass pretty bad. I went back and worked that same bank again and this time I picked up three more bass all in the 10 to 12" range. Now they weren't giants but I had three fish, and in a kayak tournament facing 15-20mph winds that was doing pretty good. At this point I had to make a decision stick with the wobblehead worms or go to a bigger bait and look for my kicker? Well past experience had shown me that the big bass ate the wobbleheads too, so I stuck to my guns.......and it payed off. On my third pass I landed an 18.5" bass less than an hour to go.

I paddled back to the boat ramp and awaited my results. I had took second place with a 3" purple worm, not bad......and that is why Wobblehead Lures 3" worm takes my fifth spot.

Check out my #1 Tournament Bait Here
Check out my #2 Tournament Bait Here
Check out my #3 Tournament Bait Here
Check out my #4 Tournament Bait Here