August 27, 2025
By Doug Stange, Editor in Chief
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I continue to use Eco Pro Tungsten Pro Wacky Weights to fish wacky-rigged stickworms and other softbaits deeper than they could otherwise be fished. The weights range from 1/16- to 3/16-ounce and have a hole for a center wire loop and outer-edge grooves for two wire legs, all of which gets pushed through the softbait. Your hook goes through the loop as it protrudes from the other side. The body of a thick bait rests tight against the loop to hold the hook in place, but I make sure by using one of the smallest Bait Buttons plastic discs over the hook point and barb to ensure that I don’t lose the tungsten weight while I’m fishing.
It’s hard to beat a wacky-rigged stickworm in some instances when fish like largemouths and smallmouths become conditioned to other common presentations. And, at times, it’s even more effective to add weight to a worm to get it to fall to where the fish are, giving the worm more action as it falls.
An exception to this typical effectiveness often enters the scene during August (September or October in the South). At times, fish reject the worm profile in favor of something bulkier. The reason likely is connected to crayfish, which often are on the move to deeper habitat during this period, making them a key food. I even find this at play on the Great Lakes , where gobies now overwhelmingly control the feeding habits of bass and other species. But then many crayfish imitations also are effective goby imitators. And, yes, other species, including walleyes and pike, also often go on a crustacean feeding binge during this time, although this, too, isn’t much publicized.
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It’s obvious to most anglers that when fish are feeding on crayfish to use a lure that imitates a crayfish. One highly realistic option is a Berkley Champ Craw rigged in Neko fashion. Add a nail weight in the base of the tail of the craw, after you’ve slid an O-ring over the body of the craw. Slip a hook through the O-ring and, given that the claws on the Champ Craw float, it looks super realistic as you dance it along the bottom, claws up in a defensive posture—or pop it aggressively up off the bottom.
I have mentioned before, though, that a tube may be a better imitation of a crayfish than one of the many crayfish-shaped softbaits on the market. Like other top predators, largemouths and smallmouths are primarily visual feeders, but they don’t discriminate fine details well. That is, vision initiates the first movements of the fish to check out a lure, but as the fish draws close it usually isn’t focusing on fine visual details to make a final judgement about whether to sample it.
Dr. Keith Jones, the former research leader at the Berkley Lab in Spirit Lake, Iowa, is the focus of Field Editor Steve Quinn’s article in this magazine. He and others at the Berkley Lab at one point tested which of six crayfish shapes was most appealing to bass. The choice of shapes included an anatomically correct crayfish, but the fish preferred modified shapes, with the shape chosen most often one without claws or any other appendages. This probably suggests why a tube fills in well in situations where fish have a hankering for a meal of crabby patty.
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Tubes can be rigged many ways to trigger bass and other fish, including walleyes and pike. Jigheads work well, with one favorite the Eagle Claw Trokar ProV, which is available in weights up to 5/16 ounce. I prefer to rig tube bodies with the jighead outside the body, and this jighead has a plastic keeper barb on the hook shank to keep the softbait in place. I like the way tubes flutter, flow, and fall rigged like this. In this case it also helps to add a drop of super glue to the head of the tube to stick it to the jighead. Loctite is a solid glue choice.
Texas rigging also works well at times, especially around cover. And another top rigging in cover is with a weighted swimbait hook. Screw the keeper cylinder into the head of the tube and insert the hook point through the tube so it lies flat on the top of the tube.
I also rig tubes wacky style with an Eco Pro Tungsten weight to help it sink into the fish zone. Move the weight up about two-thirds of the way toward the nose of the tube, so there’s a small lip remaining between the weight and the nose of the tube. The lip catches water when the rod tip is pumped, giving the tube life as it darts forward. Halting the retrieve allows the tube to glide, circle, and fall. Let it rest momentarily and pop it up again.
During August and September, the Berkley PowerBait 3.5-inch tube works best for smallmouths while the 4.5-incher works well for largemouths. Other standard industry tubes measuring 4 inches work well at times for walleyes and especially pike. The advantage of the PowerBait Tube, because of the special flavor infused into it, is that fish hold onto it many times longer. You usually have an extended time to feel the fish if you don’t know if what you thought was a bite actually was.
The wacky tube works best pitched to specific spots. Work it along sweet-spot portions of rock, weed, or timber edges. Pitch it into the head-end of a current eddy on a river. Use it as a throwback option when your search presentation like a crankbait or spinnerbait gets rejected at the last second. It’s not likely to be something the fish have seen before. And, as we suggest here, during this season sometimes it’s just what the fish are looking for.
