How to Fish a Stick Worm: 5 Rigs Ranked for Ontario Bass
, 4 min reading time
Five ways to rig a stick worm for Ontario bass, ranked by versatility - hook sizes, weights, and exactly when each rig outfishes the rest.
A stick worm is the most versatile soft plastic ever made, but the rig you put it on decides what it can actually do. The same 5-inch worm can punch through milfoil, skip under docks, or sit weightless in front of a sulking smallmouth, and each job needs different hardware. Here are the five rigs that matter for Ontario bass, ranked by how many situations each one covers.
How the ranking works
Versatility here means range: how many depths, how many cover types, and how many conditions one setup can handle without retying. A rig that only shines in one narrow window scores low, no matter how deadly it is in that window. All weights below assume a standard 5-inch stick worm; size down to 4 inches when the water drops below 50 degrees F.
5 ways to fish a stick worm, ranked by versatility
1. Texas rig
The undisputed workhorse. A 3/0 or 4/0 offset worm hook with a 1/8 to 3/8 oz bullet weight handles everything from 2-foot shoreline pockets to 15-foot weed edges, and it stays weedless through all of it. In Ontario, this is the rig for milfoil and coontail beds on the Kawarthas and for pitching flooded bushes on the Rideau. Keep the weight pegged in thick cover and unpegged when you want a slower, gliding fall in sparse weeds.
2. Wacky rig
Weightless, hooked through the middle, and fished on slack line. The worm shimmies on both ends as it sinks, which triggers bites from bass that ignore everything else. It is the best rig for skipping under docks, fishing around spawning beds, and working the shady side of laydowns. Use a 1/0 or 2/0 wacky hook, add an O-ring to keep the bait on longer, and let it sink on a tight-watching line because most hits come on the fall. For Ontario's clear smallmouth water, a Black Blue Flake stick worm wacky rigged is hard to beat in spring and fall.
3. Neko rig
A nail weight in the head end of the worm, hooked about an inch below the head with a 1/0 finesse hook. It falls with the tail standing up, then sits nose-down on bottom, which makes it a killer for deep smallmouth that want something stationary. This is the rig for 12 to 25 feet on Lake Simcoe and the St. Lawrence River, especially on calm days when the fish are hugging rock. Drag it slowly and let the stand-up posture do the work.
4. Drop shot
Thread the worm nose-hooked on a 1/0 drop shot hook above a 1/4 to 3/8 oz cylinder weight, and fish it vertically over deep structure. It keeps the bait in the strike zone indefinitely, which is exactly what you want for suspended smallmouth over 20 feet of water or for picking apart a single boulder on a windy St. Lawrence flat. The downside is the range: it is a vertical or near-vertical presentation, so covering water is slow.
5. Ned rig
A 1/16 to 1/8 oz mushroom head with half a stick worm (or a purpose-built ned worm) is the ultimate cold-water and high-pressure finesse tool. It excels when bass are tight to bottom and refuse bigger presentations, which in Ontario means late fall and early spring. Its weakness is range: the light head struggles past 12 feet and gets bullied by wind. Rig the worm on a 4-inch float ned worm and fish it on 8 lb fluorocarbon for maximum sensitivity.
A simple stick-worm game plan for Ontario waters
If you only carry one setup, carry the Texas rig: it covers the most water and the most cover. Add a wacky rig on a spinning rod for clear water and docks, and a Neko rig for deep smallmouth. The drop shot and Ned rig are specialists for tough, cold, or pressured conditions, and they earn their place when nothing else gets bit.
One more thing: colour matters more than brand loyalty. In stained water, reach for pumpkin seed like the Anchor; in clear water, go natural with green pumpkin or watermelon. When you are not sure, start dark on cloudy days and go natural when the sun is up. ERHAI ships from Ontario, so your restock arrives without the customs wait that comes with ordering from US tackle shops.