When I first wrote about this technique some 15 years ago, I called it "jig worming." Though the story was for a major bass magazine, the name didn't stick. Anglers were calling the tactic "Do-Nothing," "Shaky head," "Slider," and "Doodle Worming," and collectively those are the names that stuck.

I still like jig worming. You put a plastic worm on the back of a jig, either a ball, cupped, football, or a slider-shaped jig, and you fish it confidently. Jig worming.

What I didn't realize when I first wrote the story was how versatile this tactic could be. I was shown the technique on a hot summer day, and after I caught some summer bass with it, I wrote about it as a summer technique.

But when I traveled to places and it was a lot cooler, jig worming still worked beautifully. It became obvious this simple jig-and-worm rig had more seasonal applications. Indeed, its use right now in early spring, when the water temperature is just making it through the 50s in most of Pennsylvania, is a hot ticket.

Prior to the rising popularity of the jig worm, cool-water bass were attacked with either a lipless crankbait or a jig-and-pig. The crankbait was ripped through emerging grass and the jig-and-pig was worked around isolated cover. Both are still seriously effective tactics for early to mid-spring. But at this time of year, the jig worm gives you another option, and it is has some special applications.

To create a jig worm use a small jighead, either round, flat, or pointed. Generally a 1/8-ounce head is right, but if you need to get the bait down faster in deeper water, a 1/4-ounce head is useful. The 4-inch worm is either Texas-rigged or the hook left exposed. Using a ball jig, I like to Tex-pose the worm along its side skin.

Charlie Brewer, who seems responsible for this tactic more than anyone, calls one of the jigs he uses a "Slider head." It's a pointed thing with lateral grooves, has a great falling motion, and is very effective teamed with a finesse worm.

However, in recent years, I've broadened my use of head styles and worms. A newer but very solid entry is the jig head created by Pennsylvania angler Perry Haas, now made by Uncle Josh. Haas put a dimple in the bottom of his jig head and called it a "Bass Stalker." The dimple gives any jig a very enticing fall and helps it angle up and out when on the bottom. Uncle Josh put the dimple on a plain jig head, then added a dubious wire weed guard. You can clip off the guard with wire cutters if you wish.

One of my favorite round jigs is the Booyah "Big Show" Shaky Head with two collar barbs to hold the worm. The eye of the Big Show angles forward 60 degrees, rather than straight up, and I like those details.

Other than finesse worms, I've also added heavier or denser worms to the jig heads, baits such as the Yum Dinger. Dingers drop a jig worm like a rock, but a gently swaying rock. For clear water deeper than 15 feet, I like the Dinger on the back of a 3/16-ounce Big Show.

But there is something else at work here other than the fall. Even a 4-inch worm extends several inches behind the hook point. If a bass sucks in a jig worm from behind, it's a long way to the point. He might not like the worm's taste, feel, or strange weight so he drops it. But with the salt-laden Dinger, I find finicky bass hold on longer to get the hook point.

Working a jig worm is about as easy a bass technique as there is. I recommend the use of spinning tackle, a medium-light rod with a good stiff butt. You need to feel the rod tip flexing to the bite, but it also requires backbone to set the hook, particularly a deep-water set.

Line can get important as well. Braided line can be a real plus when jig worming in depths over 20 feet. As we all know, mono stretches, and you don't feel those subtle deep bites as you do with braid. While braid can be a pain in the neck on a casting reel, it's not much of a hassle on a spinning reel. But braid should not be used to tie the jig on. Instead I prefer a 4-foot leader of fluorocarbon, 8- or 10-pound test, which I connect with a Uni-to-Uni knot.

If you don't want to use braid (and I can't blame you) than use all fluorocarbon, or if that's too expensive, mono with a 4-foot fluorocarbon leader. Certainly if you are fishing less than 15 feet deep, the mono-fluoro set up is a good one.

Working a jig worm doesn't require a special retrieve technique. In deep water, this is mostly a vertical or short, horizontal presentation. Generally, I'm not casting a jig worm more than a boat's length away, often a lot less.

The bail is clicked over by hand to prevent coiling loops and then the bait is hopped, bounced or slowly swam along the bottom. Personally, I like to raise the rod tip from nearly the 10 o'clock position to just after 11 o'clock. As I do, I jiggle the tip lightly to give it a short hopping motion.

The raising of the rod creates slack when you go to lower the rod tip, so I reel down quickly gathering up the inert line before resuming the retrieve. This hopping is also good because it helps you feel those subtle cold-water takes. If you were to just slide the bait along the bottom, you might not feel the weight of the fish and miss the strike. But in giving the jig a lifting and falling action, you should feel the fish more solidly. The basic hopping action is good for cold water, but when the water warms up over 60 degrees, your retrieve can be more aggressive with loftier motion.

Understand this is not a bait you want to cast a long distance in heavy weeds or cover. An exposed hook, when driven horizontally, is sure to pick up grass or such. However, Charlie Brewer Texas-rigged many of his worms and reeled the slider head as a crankbait.

As summer takes hold and bass move under cover, particularly elevated docks, I can hop, bounce, and swim the bait with greater action and speed. But a jig kept in place and danced only with the rod tip can also be hot in hot weather.

It doesn't really matter what you call the worm or the technique, the jig worm is very effective. It would have been nice, however, if the angling world chose my label.

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