August 28, 2017
By Ned Kehde
During the first decade of the 21st century, Midwest finesse anglers in northeastern Kansas made innumerable casts and retrieves with some YUM Baits' small soft-plastic baits, such as their three-inch Dinger, two-inch Wooly Beavertail, three-inch Wooly Beavertail, 3 1/2-inch Wooly Bug, four-inch Muy Grub, and four-inch Houdini Worm. And we inveigled incredible numbers of black bass on those soft-plastic baits, which we rigged on 1/32-, 1/16-, and 3/32-ounce Gopher Tackle's Mushroom Head jigs. In fact, we anointed the three-inch Dinger as northeastern Kansas' lure of the year in 2004, and throughout those years, the Wooly Beavertail was often a runner-up in our lure-of-the-year contests.
But as Midwest finesse fishing began to garner increasing numbers of anglers in northeastern Kansas, northwestern Missouri and a few other spots around the Midwest, YUM stopped manufacturing the three-inch Dinger, two-inch and three-inch Wooly Beavertail, four-inch Muy Grub, and four-inch Houdini Worm. Many of us, of course, were discombobulated by YUM's decision to stop manufacturing five of our key Midwest finesse baits, and we spent a considerable amount of time searching for other kinds of soft-plastic baits to affix to our Gopher jigs.
Recently, however, YUM began to manufacture some soft-plastic baits that are catching the eyes of Midwest finesse anglers. For instance, many of them were heartened to see YUM remanufacturing the three-inch Dinger in 2015. And this year, they began manufacturing a replacement for their Houdini Worm, which is called the Finesse Worm.
It is 4 7/8 inches long. The folks at YUM advertise it as being five-inches long. And many Midwest finesse anglers will trim a 1/2 of an inch or more from its head before they affix it to a mushroom-style jig.
A slightly shortened YUM's Ghillie Suit Finesse Worm affixed to a red 1/16-ounce Gopher Tackle's Mushroom Head jig is at the top of this photograph. The uncut version is at the bottom. Much of its sides and back are embellished with a series of V-shaped ribs, and the apex of the V-shaped rib occurs along the top of its back.
It has a flat belly, and much of it is smooth-skinned. But imprints from each of the ribs form a series of dots on each side of its belly.
Its egg sack is situated 1 1/4 inches from the tip of its head. The egg sack is 3/8 of an inch long. It is adorned with a series of minor V-shaped ribs.
As the torso of the Finesse Worm forms the junction to its tail, the size of the V-shaped ribs become smaller and farther apart. The diameter of the junction section is smaller than the diameters of the torso and tail.
Its tail is somewhat bulbous, and it is 1 1/8 inches long. Part of the top of the tail is endowed with six large V-shaped ribs and one small rib. The last 1/2 inch of the tail is smooth-skinned. The bottom portion of the tail is similar to the belly of its torso: flat, smooth-skinned, and accented with a series of dots on each of its sides.
It is available in the following colors: Black, Bourbon Berry, Cranberry, Ghillie Suit, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin/Purple Flake, Junebug, Old School Purple, Onyx, Plum, Watermelon Green Pumpkin Laminate, Watermelon Red, and Watermelon Seed.
It is impregnated with an attractant that is created from a blend of enzymes and what YUM describes as natural attractants.
Anglers can purchase a package of 12 for $2.99.
Endnotes
(1) Here is a link to our 2015 gear guide about the rebirth of the three-inch Dinger: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/yums-three-inch-dinger-is-back/#ixzz4pSvR61Ka .
(2) Here is a link to a 2005 newspaper column that features YUM's Dinger: http://cjonline.com/stories/050805/out_kehde.shtml#.WY4Bn1GQwdU .
