All bass fishermen are soft plastics guys. Because in the end we will always run into a situation somewhere in bass fishing where it just has to look alive when the bass comes in for a super close inspection. Most hard lures on the market can never mimic what a soft plastic can. So I’m always experimenting with new plastics shapes to see if there is a new cricket the bass like more in various situations. I’ve been playing with a lot of new plastics this year and had some success recently with the Missile Baits The 48. Here’s a little more about this unique worm.
The Missile Baits The 48 worm was designed to be fished 48 different ways in bass fishing. They actually have been running a pretty fun series on the different rigs over on their Instagram page. I’ve fished it on 6 different rigs thus far and have definitely seen its versatility. Thus far my favorite rigs have been a wacky rig, a neko rig, a shaky head and something called the reverse rig.
The neko rig has been one of the most popular rigs in the last few years for soft plastic stick baits. The Missile Baits The 48 seems tailor made for the rig. I’ve had success with nail weighting on VMC Neko hook. But The 48 really skips well, holds the weight well and has a lot of action on both the lift and drop. The flat underside and ribbed edges seem to enhance its shimy on a quick pull up and a slow drop. When the nail stands the worm on end, The 48 really shakes well in the water. It looks very lifelike in that rig.
The Missile Baits The 48 opened my eyes to the reverse rig. Basically it’s a neko rig with a Texas-rigged worm hook instead of wacky rigged hook. The Reverse rig fishes really well. The weight of The 48 makes it very castable on a baitcaster and it throws like a dart, skips really well since the weight is in the tail going away from you and the Texas rigged hook makes the throw point a little more streamlined than with a wacky rig. So I I’ve been fishing it around cover quite a bit because of how it fishes. I’ve found it to be very effective when pulled over brush. As you release the tension on the line when clearing a branch The 48 actually falls back into the cover. So you can in essence keep it in the cover longer and something about how it falls around the piles really gets bites.
I’ve had some really good days fishing The 48 this summer and fall. I’ve caught some of the bigger bass I’ve caught in the last few months on the worm and figured it was worth sharing with others finally. The worm holds up well. I’ve had one worm catch a bunch of bass. And I’ve also had a few worms tear up after one fish, usually with a nail weight in the tail. But considering the quality I’ve caught on it and numbers, I’m pretty happy with how well a pack fishes. Well worth the money for a unique design.
One day recently on a small lake when the fishing was pretty tough, our two biggest bass of the day came on a reverse-rigged Missile Baits The 48 worm in the brown purple flash color. My favorite color in the Missile Baits line is super bug. And I’ve also caught some nice bass on the fishalicious color around brush.
You can find the Missile Baits The 48 on TackleWarehouse.com in 10 colors.
