Lake Fork Trophy Lures' four-inch Hyper Worm

Since 2011, we have possessed a never-ending quest to publish a gear guide about all of the soft-plastic finesse baits that are available in the marketplace. But for some unknown reason, I regret to say that we have failed to publish gear guides that focus on the four-inch Hyper Worm, 4 ½-inch Hyper Finesse Worm, 3 ½-inch Ring-Fry, and four-inch Zig Zag that Lake Fork Trophy Lures of Emory, Texas, manufactures.

To remedy this failure, a veteran Midwest finesse angler recommended that we should begin by publishing a gear guide about Lake Fork Trophy Lures’ four-inch Hyper Worm. We agreed, and here is what we discovered about this unusual and ultramodern soft-plastic finesse bait.

In our eyes, the Hyper Worm’s anatomy replicates more of the features of a stick-style bait than a worm. Therefore, we are calling the Hyper Worm a state-of-the-art stick-style bait. And in the world of Midwest finesse fishing, a stick-style bait has played a significant role in the repertoire of Midwest finesse anglers since the late and great Chuck Woods of Kansas City created the first stick-style bait in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

According to our measurements, the Hyper Worm is 4 1/8 inches long.

Its anterior section is 2 1/16 inches long, and the first 1 13/16 inches of this section exhibits the characteristics of a traditional stick-style bait. The tip or head of this section is flat, and it possesses a slight indentation, which is where Midwest finesse anglers will insert the hook and bait keeper of a small mushroom-style jig. This indentation has a diameter of slightly less than three-sixteenths of an inch. The head has a diameter of a quarter of an inch with a circumference of fifteen-sixteenths of an inch. At an inch from the tip of the head, the torso has a width of five-sixteenths of an inch and a circumference of 1 1/8 inches. The epidermis of this part of the Hyper Worm’s torso is encircled with scores of minor rings or ribs.

At the junction of the anterior section to the posterior section, the traditional stick-bait motif ends. These two sections are connected by a thin and flat segment that is about three-sixteenths of an inch long and five-sixteenths of an inch wide and slightly less than one-sixteenth of an inch thick. The epidermis of this flat and thin connecting segment is smooth.

The posterior section consists of four elements.

The first one is a quarter of an inch long. It possesses the same features as the first 1 13/16 inches of the anterior section. In other words, it looks like an amputated portion of a sticky-style bait. And it has the same width of circumference that the anterior’s torso possesses. Its epidermis is encircled with seven tiny rings or ribs.

The second segment is a smaller replica of the thin and flat segment that connects the anterior and posterior sections. It is slightly less than three-sixteenths of an inch long and ranges from slightly less than a quarter of an inch to about three-sixteenths of an inch wide and slightly less than one-sixteenth of an inch thick.

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The third element possesses somewhat of a cone shape. It is about five sixteenths of an inch long. It has a width of a quarter of an inch at its widest area and less than three-sixteenths of an inch wide at the area where it joins the Hyper Worm’s paddle-style tail. Part of this element’s epidermis is encircled with three minute rings or ribs, and the epidermis near the junction with the tail is smooth.

The paddle-style tail is 1 ½ inches long. It is nine-sixteenths of an inch wide at its widest spot. It is about one-sixteenth of an inch thick. Except for the word Lake Fork and Lake Fork Trophy Lures’ logo, the tail’s epidermis is smooth and almost glassy.

It is available in the following hues: Blue Fleck, Blue Fleck Red, Green Pumpkin, Hot Motor Oil, Junebug, Magic Shad, Okeechobee Craw, Pearl, Watermelon Blue Flake, Watermelon Candy/Red Flake, Watermelon Red Pearl, Watermelon Seed/Chartreuse Pepper, and Watermelon Seed/Red Flake.

They are buoyant and impregnated with garlic and salt.

A package of 12 costs $5.69.

Endnotes

1. Here is a link to Lake Fork Trophy Lures’ website: http://www.lftlures.com/catalog/lft-hyper-worm. This link also has a video that features the insights of Tom Redington of Royse City, Texas, about how he uses the Hyper Worm.
2. Midwest finesse anglers will rig and employ the Hyper Worm differently than Tom Redington explained in his video. We will affix it to a small mushroom-style jig with an exposed hook, and the hook will range in size from a number two to a number four. We will present it to our black bass quarries by employing all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves or slight variations of those retrieves. And it needs to be noted that a no-feel retrieve is an important feature of all six of these retrieves. The Hyper Worm’s large and flat paddle-style tail should enhance the gliding factor when Midwest finesse anglers employ the swim-glide-and-shake retrieve. Here is a link to a Midwest Finesse column that explains how to implement those six no-feel retrieves: https://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/six-midwest-finesse-retrieves/153946.
3. In the weeks to come, we are hoping to publish gear guides about Lake Fork Trophy Lures’ 4 ½-inch Hyper Finesse Worm, 3 ½-inch Ring-Fry, and four-inch Zig Zag.