There are some very effective fishing lures that seem to go under the radar or get overlooked because they don’t look like everything else on the market. But oftentimes, that is why they are so secretly effective. I stumbled onto one of those this year with the Southern Pro Tiny Worm. I’m a big fan of Southern Pro plastics and have used their Stinger Shads, Hot Grubs and Hustler Tubes for years to catch thousands of crappie and bluegills. But I’ve taken up trout fishing again this year after about a decade hiatus. And this is one of those rare fish catchers that just catches everything. I was fairly impressed with how many bluegills, crappie and trout I was able to catch on these worms this season. I’ll dive into why now.
UNIQUE BODY DESIGN
The Southern Pro Tiny Worm features a 2 inch long worm body with a stair-stepped tail and ribbed body with micro appendages. All of these elements culminate into a plastic that shimmies subtly on the bottom as it’s dragged over pebbels or swam slowly through the water. The appendages and ribs give the bait the slightest vibration and that cause the tail to wiggle and shimmy as the tail rolls to flutter kick behind. I can tell you the bait mystifies various species of fish with these movements. It’s been fairly incredible how well it worked for me this year.
It’s interesting because when I first got the baits I was less than impressed. I don’t know why but the bait just looked like it wasn’t going to do much. Almost like it was a crude design that hadn’t been perfected. But that’s not what the fish thought.
PROOF IN THE PUDDING…OR PADDLE
The tail is unique. It’s got a stair step shape to it and it’s somewhat squared off. But it flutter kicks behind the worm subtly and looks very natural in the water. How do I know this looks natural. Well the fish showed me.
I was exploring a new creek I had never been on a few weeks back. I was told the creek had trout in it so I was wading up the stream looking into gin clears trying to spot trout. I was finally able to find a few deeper holes and was getting trout to start following baits out of the shadows. I had several slash at and nip at other baits. I tried very realistic hard minnow baits. I tried spoons. I tried spinners. I tried a couple natural jigs. And finally I cycled through until I got to the Tiny Worm. I put it on a 1/32-ounce head and started out just straight reeling. Got some follows but not a lot of attempts on the bait.
So I changed tactics and cast up and across and let the bait go to the bottom and then I started slowing scraping it along the bottom. First cast like this and I was hooked up. Then again on the next cast. Then again. Next thing I know I’m slaying trout up and down the creek with it. I was floored because I had cycled through so many of the “known” catchers and was not getting fish to react and then suddenly I was throwing something that they seemed addicted to. That switch being flipped really opened my eyes up to the fact that what we think about how a bait really doesn’t matter much. Everything is worth a shot to see what the fish think of it.
COLORS OFFER GOOD VARIETY
The nice thing about these worms comes in the fact that they only come in 8 colors but those 8 colors are highly effective on crappie, bluegill and trout alike. I have no doubt I will catch Google eye, red ear, other sunfish and other types of fish on these worms because the colors, actions and profile are right to the fish. I really had a lot of success so far with the white, lime, chartreuse and pink colors. I think with those four colors you could probably catch everything that swims in a body of water at some point of some size.
CATCHES EVERYTHING THAT SWIMS
This is now a staple in my micro plastics box. I keep it in my go kit for trout, panfish and other light tackle adventures. It bailed me out on my most recent trout trip and I expect their will be other scenarios where its the proven winner. So I will definitely be heavily stocked with them from now on and included them in our Best Trout Lures article. You can find them at FISHUSA.com.
