I am wondering how much weight and were exactly on the set-up do I put the weight?

Do I put the weight above the swivel or on the leader below the swivel?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

I rig mine up exactly like I would a normal drift setup. I tie a swivel to the end of my mainline, attach my weight, either pencil lead or a slinky, then run a 3 foot leader to my PW. The amount of weight you use will be determined by the water speed and depth.

Our own Toff Ripley wrote an article on fishing worms...

I guess it all depends on where you fish. I don't typicly have success with worms until late December, early January, side drifted .

I like a bouyant worm or spin/glow in combination to keep this just off the bottom.

Enough weight to get the worm down and fishing ASAP. Not enough weight that you are not drifting or are snagging up.

You put your weight on your swivel. Either in the form of a big/fat slinky, or a piece of solid lead shoved in some surgical tubing. User preference as to the type of lead/weight being used. I'll use both, depending on the river being fished and who I'm fishing with.




On the swivel. Run about a 30" leader, at max. 15lb UG leader to 15UG main.

When the worm get's caught, it either busts off completely, or get's moshed so expect to go through a few worms during the day. Also, no guts no glory, as the big mean fish are under the beaver piles in the heavy (and rocky) water. 20 or so worms per float per is not uncommon.

I will be mainly fishing the Sky/Wallace....I assume that I can use a pink worm under a float as well.......or is it better to use a sliding weight above the swivel?

If you fish it under a float, the easiest way to fish it is with a sliding weight (colored preferably) that rests agains the "head" of the worm. It basically becomes a jig.

Or, buy some of the RVRFSHR jig heads with the paddle worms!

Under a float, go with a white head jighead, 3/16 or 1/4oz, and a 4 inch worm. Money!
After last year, I'm set on white/pink being the most effective color combo for all worm uses.

Steelhead inhala justo mis gusanos rosa con sabor, el deriva que pesca o en una giga.


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Steelhead Big nativas amor a los gusanos rosados, que casi se rasgar la vara de las manos

I use a bit heavier weight than normal and fish the worm on the swing like a spoon. I use a worm threader and thread the worm on a leader above a corkie and a hook. Sometimes I plunk it into pockets and get slammed. I do real well in late season on nates with the worm. Got my biggest steelhead on a worm. Love the take on the worm.

Thanks Avid Angler, that is good advice on fishing the pink worm.

I also love the takedown when fishing the PW. Many times a big native will almost jerk the rod out of your hands hitting the pink worm

+1 I used to only drift fish the pw but after last year I'm convinced the float set up is up to par, plus you don't burn through a ton of leaders. I typically run a 3 ft. leader to a cut down 6 inch worm with a 1/4 ounce weight on the head.

Thank you everyone for the tips, it's greatly appreciated, now to see if I can catch a steelhead!

WWTD??????

Pink worms suck,don't use them.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

But if ya wanna learn do what Stam said,hire Bob.

If ya fish worms with Bob-----bring flowers

For a change up, try rigging the worm wacky style. Traditionally rigging the wacky style worm, you let the worm hang off the end of the hook at the middle balance point of the worm. This works, but I rig mine a little differently. For drifting, thread the leader through the worm at the just off center, middle balance point. The drift rigged wacky worm ends up resting on the leader above a 3 or 4 mm bead and the hook. I will then usually slide on my favorite drift bobber: Corky, Winner, Cheater or even a Rag foam bobber above the worm, peg the drift bobber with a piece of rubber band, pulled into the hole with a piece of folded mono. I have two ways I'll rig it wacky style for float fishing. Rig it just as you would for drift fishing, but instead of a drift bobber, slide on a 1/16 oz. or 1/8 oz. Cheater, Dedfish bait weight, pegged the same way as the drift bobber. The other way for float fishing is to rig wacky style onto a barbed collared jig head.

I'll drift and float fish length wise threaded worms also. To keep your worm from scrounching down the leader. Tie a four wrap uni knot with 1/16" tags on your leader after sliding on the bead, at the 3/4 point of the threaded worm. The uni knot threads 3/4 of the way into the worm, keeping the worm from scrounching down the leader. Peg the drift bobber and bait weight also, to help from pushing on the head of the worm.

What are the advantages of the wacky style rigging? Is it more effective,or does it work under certain conditions?

i was wondering, because i'm lazy, if you could just put the worm centered through an egg loop. Todd told me he thought it might really twist up your leader, but in the spirit of laziness, i'm still gonna give it a try this winter.

Use the wacky rig under a float, with a swivel...don't drift fish it, it won't fish very well. Under a float it will have very erratic and squiggly action, helpful in cold water.

Fish on...

Todd

Just as Todd stated, it's a more erratic rigging of the worm. For wacky worm drifting, if you rig it as stated above, it drifts fine, just with a little bit more movement. I'll normally use floating worms for drifting and sinking worms for float fishing.

Another wacky option is to use an o-ring set-up. Instead of running the hook through the worm, run it through the o-ring.
Depending on what type of worms you like to fish, this can increase the length of time you can fish a worm before it tears.

May have to file that under the"ive tried everything else,what the hell" category

Driftin' with my erotic pink worm sounds like trouble

I think the pink worm really shines while drift fishing. Load it with a little more weight than usual and get it under some structure, logs, rocks, and undercut banks.
That's why I really like fishing the worm, it gets a big bright lure down into a low light situation where big fish are likely to be sitting.

+1 for D.J. worm!

Sounds like a good enough idea to me!

Fish on...

Todd

On an off topic - how many fish has one caught on the SAME rigged worm?

6 is my record.

Stam was there and it made him cry.

That does make you the chosen lucky one, Parker. PWs aren't designed for that much luck.

Sg

Any worm that caught a fish is immeadiately retired into my Finsport side compartment labeled, "retirement home"

Normally, that's what I do Sky-Guy, but I just kept fishing it.....

It became a joke after the 4th fish or so to see how long it would hold out.

Didn't break it off on a fish, but the line was so frayed after the last fish that I finally decided to tie on a new one.

Three, and it was pretty ragged by the third one.

Fish on...

Todd

All this talk about worms made me hungry, so I just ordered some from RVRFSHR. Look forward to trying them out real soon. How effective have you guys found them to be on hatchery fish as oppossed to the native fish?

They work for hatchery fish, though I have much better luck for wild fish with them... but wild fish just bite better, period.

Fish on...

Todd

Stam wins.

Again.

Taimen trumps all else.

I didn't know they had Caimen up there.

i float PWs alot. fixed float with 3ft from float to weight then another 1ft to the worm. so the worm floats around natural as can be. i do use 4" worms on jigs, and those cheater weights up against the worm at times. but have found them to not be as effective for me.

FYI, start w/ a longer than normal worm. There will be srinkage.


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