Lunkerhunt's Core Strength Limit Worm

Lunkerhunt of Toronto, Ontario, has added a finesse worm to its Core Strength line of soft-plastic lures. It is called the Limit Worm. They manufacture a four-inch one and a six-incher.

During the design phase of the Limit Worm, Matt Arey of Shelby, North Carolina, played a significant role in the research-and-development segment. He was also involved in field-testing it.

Arey is an accomplished professional bass angler, who competes on the Walmart FLW Tour, as well as on the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, Rayovac FLW Series, and Walmart Bass Fishing League. His first FLW event occurred when he was 22 years old at Lake Wylie, South Carolina, on Sept 19-20, 2003, on the Walmart Bass Fishing League. Since 2008, he has been a joint proprietor of Rack and Reel Outfitters, which is a fishing-guide service at Lake Wylie and Lake Norman, North Carolina, as well as at some other waterways in the Piedmont region of North Carolina.

In a telephone conversation on July 9, Arey said that he and the Lunkerhunt staff began working on creating the Limit Worm in November of 2014. Arey noted that much of his contributions came from his experiences of fishing with untold numbers of soft-plastic worms on drop-shot rigs across the decade that he has worked as a tournament angler. He suspects that he has affixed nearly every finesse worm ever made to his drop-shot rigs. From that experience, he and the Lunkerhunt staff worked on incorporating the best attributes of the scores of finesse worms that he used, and at the same time, they worked to avoid the imperfections that blemished those worms.

Durability was one of the elements that Arey wanted to incorporate into the new worm. That was achieved by employing Linkerhunt's Core Strength system. This is accomplished by forming the Limit Worm around a mylar-fabric core. Arey and the folks at Lunkerhunt say it is similar to the way reinforcing bars work to increase the tensile strength of concrete walls or floors. The mylar helps to prevent the worm from becoming tattered and torn. Arey estimated that it has the wherewithal to withstand at least 10 hefty donnybrooks with a feisty largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass, which means anglers will have more fishing time and spend less time re-rigging their worms.

In the Limit Worm, the mylar core is an inch long, and it extends from the tip of its head and ends near the beginning of the clitellum. The mylar reinforces what Arey calls the Limit Worm's pivot points, such as were a hook is affixed to it. It does not inhibit the provocative gyrations and undulations of the Limit Worm when it is being presented to a largemouth bass, smallmouth bass or spotted bass, and, in fact, Arey says the end point of the mylar is similar to a joint, and it seems to enhance the tail action of the Limit Worm. The designers thought that if the mylar core was as long as the worm's entire body that it would inhibit its action. Another reason why the mylar core doesn't extend past the clitellum is that it adversely affects the characteristics of some of the translucent colors of the Limit worm.

Buoyancy was another attribute that Avery wanted to improve. And that was achieved by not impregnating it with salt. The no-salt formula also improved its durability. The four-inch Limit Worm is neutrally buoyant, and when it is affixed to a drop-shot rig, it floats at a perfect 90-degree angle from the leader. The six-incher is more buoyant than its four-inch sibling, and when it is affixed to a drop-shot rig, the tip of the tail is at about a 45-degree angle from the leader.

The tip of its nose or head exhibits a slight cone-shape. The belly of its torso is flat and smooth. Except for its clitellum, the back and sides of its torso is adorned with a series of pronounced ribs or segments. Its tail is flat and encompassed with the same series of ribs or segments that are on its torso.

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The high-quality plastic that Lunkerhunt uses to manufacture the Limit Worm is protein-infused, which attracts largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass.

It is available in the following colors: Black, Green Pumpkin, Meatlocker, Morningbite, Obsession, Ruby, and Watermelon.

A package of 12 four-inch Limit Worms sells for $5.99. A package of 10 six-inchers sells for $5.99.

During telephone conversations with Arey we asked him the following questions about how he employs the Limit Worm. His answers are condensed and edited.

Q. Did you use it when you won the Walmart FLW Tour tournament at Beaver Lake, Arkansas, on April 23, 2015?

A. No, we didn't have any prototypes available at that time.

Q. When do you use the four-incher and when do you use the six-incher?

A. I primarily use the six-incher. I opt for the four-incher when the bass are foraging on small prey or when they are feeding tentatively or reluctantly.

Q. Do you rig it on a shaky-head jig? If so, what kind and sizes? What kind of rod, reel, and line do you use? What kind of retrieves do you employ? Where and when do you use it?

A. I use it on either a 1/8- or 1/4-ounce shaky-head jig. It is affixed to the shaky-head jig Texas style, and the hook is affixed to the mylar section of the worm. I work with it on a seven-foot medium-heavy power Kissel Kraft shaky head spinning rod; it is a custom-built rod. My spinning reel is spooled with 15-pound-test P-Line XTCP Braid. I use either a six- or eight-pound P-Line Fluorocarbon leader, which I attach to the braid with an Albright knot. Nearly 99 percent of the time, I retrieve it on the bottom by employing a drag-and-shake retrieve. I drag it by pulling it with my rod, and I shake it while I am reeling up the slack line. There will be spells when I hop it rather than drag it, and I occasionally will deadstick it. I fish it in water as shallow as two feet and as deep as 28 feet. At the Walmart FLW Tour event at Lake Chickamauga, Tennessee, on June 9 and 10, I used it in 28 feet of water.

Q. Do you rig it on a drop-shot rig? If so, what size and kind of hooks and sinkers do you use? What size and length leader do you use? What kind of presentations do you use? What kind of rod, reel, and line do you use? Where and when do you use it?

A. Yes, I do, and I think it is the best drop-shot worm on the market. I use it for extremely deep-water applications on the Great Lakes. I pitch it around docks. I cast it into brushpiles. And on occasions I have worked with around spawning beds. I use a 1/0 Gamakatsu Drop-Shot Hook when I work with the six-inch Limit Worm, and if I use the four-incher, I affix it to a No. 1 Gamakatsu Drop-Shot Hook. I always nose hook it, and there is a spot near the nose of the Limit Worm that indicates where the hook should be inserted. I use 15-pound-test P-Line XTCP Braid with a 12- to 14-inch six- or eight-pound P-Line Fluorocarbon leader. When I use it around spawning sites, the leader is about four inches long. Normally my drop-shot sinkers range in size from a 1/4-ounce to a 3/8-ounce, but I have worked with a 1/2-ounce sinker when I am focusing on deep-water smallmouth bass in the Great Lakes. When I am casting and pitching it, I use a six-foot, 10-inch medium-power Kissel Kraft custom-made spinning rod, and when I employ a vertical presentation, I use a seven-foot, one-inch Kissel Kraft custom-made spinning rod.

Q. Do you use it on a basic Texas-style slip-sinker rig? If so, what kind and sizes of hooks and slip sinkers do you use? Do you use a swivel? What kind of rod, reel, and line do you use? What kind of retrieves do you employ? Where and when do you use it?

A. I have not used it with a slip sinker. But some of the staff at Lunkerhunt have used it, and they had glowing reports about its effectiveness.

Q. Do you wacky rig it?

A. I have not tried it on a wacky or neko rig.

Q. Do you use it on a Carolina rig? If so, what kind and sizes of hooks, swivel, and sinkers do you use? What kind of rod, reel, and line do you use? What kind of retrieves do you employ? Where do you use it? Where and when do you use it?

A. I have not used it on a Carolina rig.

Q. Do you use it on a Mojo or split-shot rig? If so, what kind and sizes of hooks, swivel, and split shots or Mojo sinkers do you use? What kind of rod, reel, and line do you use? What kind of retrieves do you employ? Where and when do you use it?

A. I have used it a few times on a split-shot rig. And I used it on the same spinning outfit that I use with a shaky head jig. I affix the split shot 12 inches above the Limit Worm. I use a 2/0 Gamakatsu Round Bend Offset Shank hook with the four-inch worm and a 3/0 hook with the six-incher. When I retrieve it, I primarily drag it.

In the months to come, Arey will work with the Limit Worm in a variety of ways and scenarios. And Lunkerhunt is likely to manufacture it in several new colors. About this time next year, we hope to get together with Arey and the folks at Lunkerhunt and write an update to this gear-guide, focusing on the new colors and some new insights about how, when, and where Arey uses it.

Endnotes

Midwest finesse anglers will primarily use the four-inch Limit Worm.  They will rig it with the hook exposed on a mushroom-style jig, such as a Gopher Tackle's Mushroom Head Jig or Z-Man's Fishing Products' Finesse ShroomZ jig or Prescription Plastics' Ozark Finesse Heads.  When they retrieve it, they can employ it with six different Midwest finesse retrieves. For more information about the six retrieves that Midwest finesse anglers use, please go to this link: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves/.