Any tips on using Ringworms???

Everything I hear about the ring worms is to use light jig heads…the lightest jig heads possible and still be able to stay on the bottom. I used several different color ringworms on a variety of 1/8 and 1/16 oz jigs casting to rip rap and shallow sand shoals and working areas adjacent to the current and never had so much as a tap.
I did see people using big jigs probably 3/8) actually catch some nice fish on ringworms….what am I doing wrong?
One boat tripled right in front of me Sat using the same color worm I was so I knew I was on the right track with the color.
Any tips on using a ringworm would be really appreciated.

This last weekend i was using some ringworms and light jighead bucktails, the current was moving pretty good in some spots. It seemed like the slower i could get it to move, the more hits i got. I always use to use 1/4 jigheads until this last weekend i got 2 times the amount of strikes by using the 1/8 for both hair and ringworms. The big thing was just make sure you are hitting the bottom, and you keep it in that strike range for as long as possible, this seemed to produce the best for me. Most of my fish nailed the urine out of it, but there were some that just hung on when i went to jig it off the bottom. hope this helps some

Buckshot,

In my book there are times and places for lighter and heavier jig sizes to adapt to. Alot of factors come into play when selecting an appropriate size, depth, current, casting vs vertical, mood ofthe fish, etc… Not to make it sound difficult because it does not have to be whatsoever. When I am casting to shallow water fish, I want this bait in the strike zone as long as possible this time of year. Therefore I go as light as I can and stay with in 6 inches of bottom at all times. There are some days when I am casting to shallow fish in 2-6 foot of water that I have to go so light that I seldom feel the jig hit the bottom other than watching my line slowly go slack. One thing that alot of people forget is that when working these light weight baits is that this should not be used for a search tool to find active fish. This presentation should be used when you have located some active fish and you want to optimize every possible biter out of the school of fish. Basic rule of thumb that I like to do is go heavy enough that you can feel the bottom but yet present the ringworm slow enough to the fish this time of year.

The heavier jig sizes have a place as well. Sometimes vertical jigging 1/4-3/8 oz is needed to maintain bottom contact and stay vertical. I personally like to use a 1/4 or even a 3/8 oz jig size for probing the deeper sides of wingdams. This enables me to stay in the zone without letting the current sweep my jig up and over the wingdam by the current.
Hope this helps a little.

Also, do a search on all the topics discussed here in the last 6 months to a year that pertain to ringworms. Just about every post has a personal preference for selecting the “right” size for the condition you are faced with.

Buckshot,
I am a beginner with Ringworms this year and here is what I did. I rigged up a Dabuque(I know it’s mis-spelled)Rig with a 3/8 jig with a Ringworm on the bottom and a hook and minnow on the upper hook. I did this because I wanted to convince myself the Ringies were as good as live bait. They are not—they are a heck of alot better. The minnow produced a few dink sauger and everything bigger smacked the Ringworm. After 3 18″ sauger in a row(all on the Ringie) I lost the rig and when I re-tied it was just a lighter jig and a Ringworm. It convinced me and the more I fish Ringworms the better they get. Color sure makes a difference at times and I have alot to learn but they are now my go-to bait. I won’t lie, I still take a scoop of minnows with me but they get used very little in the course of a day. Hope this helps.

though I seem to have been nicknamed SuperDood because of my steadfast use of Super Doos… I have used ringworms quite a bit too… and what Ive found is there is practically no bad way to fish them!.. Ive had a lot of luck using them combined with Fin-Tech nuckleball jigs, and particularly the zonar, I fish a lot of deeper water 20-30′ and prefer heavier jigs as a result… Im trying to change becaues its been shown to me that there are times when its lights out for light heads… but there are also times when a heavy head can be productive!…. Im attaching a picture of a nuckleball zonar with a properly rigged ringworm on it… Mike Huppert showed me this himself and it works really great…. Mike mostly fished this same rig (1/4 oz) with a slow lift and drop…. so of course just to be contrary I was snapping the same rig, rippin it a foot or more and letting it plumet to the bottom, they were wacking it both ways… I love the ringworm on the bottom of a dubuque rig also…. and castin it as well… dont get stuck thinking you can only jig these things one way or use only light heads…. everyday the fish are telling you what they want… its not hard to vary your jig size a bit and your jigging style.. they fish are quick to point out what they like… sometimes they vote soooo fast you cant beleave it and what was hard becomes easy!….
and with both the doos and the ringworms you gotta love how hard they hit them!…. the otherday I even caught a 6″ sauger on a fullsized ring worm!… he must have backed up just to get enough mommentum to jam it into his mouth because he WAS hooked in the mouth!! and the bigger fish do the same…. just a lot harder!! trailer hooks? NOT ME!!… I almost need needle nose just to get in far enough to get regular hooks out of a 19″+ fish…..

based on my trip today, use the purple with a white tail!

Btw, kudos to the H20 Precsion jigs. 3/32 and a ringie. good stuff

I am also relatively new to using ringworms, but have had some very good success with them. One thing that has not been mentioned yet is line diameter, and mono vs. superline. If you use 10# mono, you will need a heavier jig than on 2# diameter fireline.

Hey rooster,what`s going on in 14. Looking to mabey scoot over with the wife.

Have not been out for a while John. I believe we are in early post spawn mode. Have not seen many boats on the water in the last week. I have talked to a couple guys who were doing pretty well at Bellvue though. Send me a p.m. if you decide to come down, I’ll dig for some better reports!
Rooster

Buckshot,
Not sure this will help, but when I use any plastic for just about any species, bottom contact and slow is key.

So try thinking bass fishing. IF you have ever fished plastics for bass, I don’t see too much of a difference.

Having spent many years fishng streams and small rivers for smallmouth, using plastics, really helped in speeding up the learning curve for fishng ringworms and other plstics on the great Mississippi!

Have fun!!

Jim W

Buckshot, give these suggestions a try…
If the wind or current makes it difficult to vertical jig (With jigs just light/heavy enough to reach bottom) try dragging them along current or shoreline breaks. Dont just go up and down river, vary your angle. This is very important! Try to keep the line at a 45 deg. angle, and slow troll into the current. You may not feel bottom at all, actually, you don’t want to. But if you change your boat angle, and “Slip” a little, you will feel your jig hit bottom. Then you know you have the speed and weight of the jig correct. Also, line diameter has a lot to do with it. I use 6 pound, and have had great success. Casting shorelines requires lighter jigs than dragging. If you have ever fished for steelhead or trout, you want to use the same “Feel” for the jig as you would fishing for them. You want to “Steer” your jig along current breaks or wing dams. Once you get a few gut wrenching hits, your confidence level will build, and you will become much more comfortable with these baits. If you are seeing people getting hits around you, you know you are in the right area for fish. Doing the little things right will increase your hooking percentage dramatically! With the rising water now, look for the chartruese and yellow and white colors to really start producing. I have been having great luck with the k-grubs and ringies dragging and pitching, and we boated 14.45 pounds of sauger on Super Doos during a recent tournament when the only motor I could run was my 9.9. They work.
Good luck!
Tuck

Is that rigging that “Rivereyes” showed the correct way to rig a ringworm on a round head jig also?

The same!

I don’t rig them that way on a regular jighead. The “straight down the center and out the top” w/o kinking the worm is what I suggest. Here’s a photo:

the special design of the nuckleball jig is what allows them to be hooked that way… I left a bit larger gap than I should have between worm and head… if you get it perfect it fits right in that gap… you can see the way the head sits level… the hook comes back through the worm and sits up with a wide gap for superior hooking…. and if you want dont push the hook all the way through and then its weedless…….

i use the way that james showed, seems you would save move ringworms that way as well.