Biwaa Fishing Products' four-inch Venum Tail Worm

A jigworm has played a prominent role in Midwest finesse tactics since the 1950s.

In fact, the late Harold Ensley of Overland Park, Kansas, used one to win the first World Series of Sport Fishing in 1960. In that tournament, Ensley used the Skworm-N-Jig, which was manufactured by the late Ted Green and his Mar-Lynn Lure Company of Blue Springs, Missouri. This tournament was created by Hy Peskin of Sports Illustrated magazine fame and Ted Williams of baseball fame, and it was staged at Union Lake, Michigan, on Oct. 15-24, 1960.

And eleven years later, Drew Reese of Rantoul, Kansas, used a jigworm and two other Midwest finesse rigs at the first Bassmaster Classic at Lake Mead, Nevada, in 1971, and he garnered seventh-place honors.

The jigworm is no longer the day-in-and-day-out piscatorial jewel that it once was, but there are spells throughout the calendar year when a jigworm becomes Midwest finesse anglers' dominant rig, and some of those spells can endure for weeks (and perhaps months) on end.

Consequently, new soft-plastic finesse worms inevitably catch the attentions of Midwest finesse anglers, and Biwaa Fishing Performance's four-inch Venum Tail Worm has been catching some of those eyes since Biwaa created an office in California in 2014 and began distributing their baits in the United States. It is located in Santa Rosa, California, and Zac Guerinoni of Santa Rosa is in charge of this office with the title of vice president of Biwaa USA, LLC.

Here is short description of The Venum Tail's anatomy:

Rather than possessing the pencil-pointed prostomium and mouth of a real earthworm, the four-inch Venum Tail has a cylinder-shaped head with a smooth skin or surface. The tip or end of this head is flat.  The entire head is solid.

The length of the head is eleven-sixteenths of an inch, and its circumference is a quarter of an inch.

Between its head and clitellum or egg shack, the dorsal and ventral portions of its torso are encircled with a multitude of relatively thin and distinct filaments or minute ribs.  The portion of the torso that lies between its head and clitellum is endowed with a hook slot.  Except for the hook slot and minute ribs, the core component of this section is solid. The largest circumference of this section is thirteen-sixteenths of an inch.

Its clitellum is cylinder-shaped with a smooth skin, and it is solid. It is three-eighths of an inch long with a circumference of a quarter of an inch.

From its clitellum to the junction of its tail, the dorsal and ventral portions of its torso are also encircled with a multitude of relatively thin but distinct ribs. It is solid and devoid of a hook slot. The circumference of this section becomes smaller and smaller as it approaches its tail; at the clitellum, its circumference is a quarter of an inch, and at the junction of the tail, its circumference is one-sixteenth of an inch.

Unlike a real earthworm, the Venum Tail does not have a pencil-pointed anus. Instead, it is endowed with a wide and sickle-shaped tail, which the folks at Biwaa describe as possessing a specially tapered design that creates "a delicate action with the slightest movement" of an angler's rod.

Biwaa recommends that anglers employ it on a drop-shot rig, split-shot rig, and wacky rig. But, of course, Midwest finesse anglers will affix it to a small jig -- such as a 1/32- or 1/16-ounce mushroom-shaped jig, and the hook will be exposed.  And as they have done since the 1950s, they will use it with all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves or slight variations of those retrieves. (For more information about the six Midwest finesse retrieves, please see endnote No. 4.)

It is impregnated with salt and a scent that is called B2Ascent, which is a shrimp-base scent.  What's more, they are free of phthalates and bisphenol-A. And Guerinoni says they are more durable than most of the soft-plastic finesse worms.

It is available in the following colors: Black and Blue, Cola, Green Pumpkin, Okeechobee Orange, and Smoke.

The price for a package of 10 ranges from $5.49 to $5.99.

Endnotes

(1) Biwaa is a French tackle manufacturer, which was established by Vincent Alexandre in 2008.  Guerinoni  says that part of  his duties revolves around working with several sales representatives. He also works with a team of professional anglers who help with trade shows, other expositions, and social media endeavors.  His business partner Vincent Alexandre, is the other half of the business. And even though Alexandre is an ocean away, he is involved with many of the day-to-day functions of the tackle business, such as product design and manufacturing. According to Guerinoni, Biwaa exists in the U.S. because of the collective efforts of many hands and minds.

(2) Until now, we have not published a word about their finesse baits. Here is a link to Biwaa's website: https://www.biwaa.com/product/biwaa-venum-tail-4/.

(3) In the near future, we hope to publish gear guides about Biwaa's Patate and its Prism.

(4) Here is the link to the Midwest Finesse column that describes the six basic Midwest finesse retrieves: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves/.

---