Wacky-rigging soft stick baits is an extremely popular modern-day Bass fishing technique for both Smallmouth and Largemouth.
Placing the hook in the middle of the bait allows for a very unique and lifelike drop as the stick bait descends towards the bottom.
There are two thoughts on rigging wacky style. The first is to simply push your drop shot hook through roughly the center of the bait. The upside to this approach is you don’t need any extra pieces or tackle and the drop is as close to perfect as it can get. The downside is once a fish hits this rig, the soft plastic (especially the dense texture of a Yamamoto Senko) will inevitably break and the bait will be unusable.
The second rigging method for wacky is with an O-Ring. Applying the O-Ring can be done either by hand or with a special dedicated O-Ring tool as demonstrated in the “Tools of the Trade” video above.
Wacky rigging soft stick baits is a deadly fishing method!