Zoom Trick Worm Review

The Zoom Trick Worm for bass fishing has been around for ages now. It has been the gold standard for generations of anglers who were looking for a simple, but extremely versatile bass fishing bait that would catch fish in almost any and every situation imaginable. Today, we’re going to give a fresh review of this old classic and make sure you’re not sleeping on what many consider to be one of the most effective baits of all time at getting bit. A trendsetter for sure, with lots of ways to rig it.

zoom trick worm

Elegantly simple

What now seems to be one of the simplest and most replicated baits of all time, the Trick Worm was truly revolutionary when first introduced by the Zoom Bait Company over four decades ago. A straight tail, flat bottom worm with varying widths as you work your way up and down the bait, there was quite a bit of thought that went into designing this lure.

What’s been interesting to see over the years is how the use of this seemingly simple worm has evolved time and time again with new techniques. By moving the hook around and positioning weight in different places, the action of the worm and the overall presentation of the bait changes dramatically. And that’s all made possible by the original design of the lure.

wacky-rigged zoom trick worm for bass fishing

Wacky rig

Looking at one of the more popular ways to rig this worm, you can see what I mean by the bait’s design allowing for a unique action to come out of the lure. Starting at the nose of the bait, you’ll find a relatively thicker body through the first half of the bait. Then the lure begins to taper down towards the tail, only to widen out once again for the darter-style tail that looks somewhat like a stretched diamond.

When you wacky rig a Trick Worm by placing the hook near the middle of the bait, you get some really subtle but evident wobbling action from the worm on the fall as the bait undulates. This is all due to the varying thicknesses of the lure from head to tail and is just one way that anglers have found to make this worm do some pretty cool things.

weedless texas rig for bass fishing a trick worm

Weedless

There are several ways to fish a Trick Worm weedless as well. If you Texas rig the bait with no weight, you can twitch it along the surface like a floating worm. This is one of the most effective ways to fish this lure in the the spring, as bass are shallow and looking to spawn. Add a bullet weight and now you have a more traditional Texas rig that can be fished on the bottom around and through cover.

Then we have to mention one of the most revolutionary ways that ever came along to rig a Trick Worm… the good ol’ shaky head. For many anglers under 30 years of age, you probably can’t remember or even imagine a time in fishing where a shaky head wasn’t just a given fish catcher. But there was a time before the shaky head and one of the baits that fit it best and helped skyrocket the shaky head to a mainstay in every angler’s tackle box was none other than the Zoom Trick Worm.

neko-rigged zoom trick worm for bass fishing

Adding weight

Taking a Trick Worm, you can add weight to it in a handful of different ways to again tap into this bait’s versatility. We already mentioned the Texas rig and shaky head approach. But a Trick Worm also works extremely well on a Carolina rig and a drop shot as well, again adding weight to the bait in different ways with these rigs.

Another of the more popular ways to rig the Zoom Trick Worm now comes by way of the Neko rig. Using a small weight or even a nail, you can weight one end of the worm down and help the bait sink a little faster, while still keeping a super-finesse approach. You’re essentially fishing a weighted wacky rig at this point, but being able to get this finesse presentation deeper means more bites from pressured fish than you’d likely be able to get on a Texas rig or jig for instance.

bass eats wacky-rigged bass fishing trick worm

Salt content and color options

The salt content of the Zoom Trick Worm makes it such a versatile bait because it helps the bait almost suspend in the water. Rigged weightless, the worm will sink slowly (in part due to the weight of the hook). But still being able to twitch the bait and keep it close to the surface and pause it to let it sink slowly makes for an extremely natural look when compared to an actual worm slowly sinking to the bottom.
As far as colors go, I’m not sure you’ll find another bait with more color options out there. Zoom Bait Company has always been good about offering lots of color options in their bait lineups, but there’s likely not a color you could come up with that they don’t offer in the Trick Worm.

Coming in at $5.49 for a pack of 20, this 6 1/2-inch soft-plastic worm is about as affordable as it is versatile. It’s a long-time staple for most bass fishermen and one you should definitely try if you haven’t already.

The Zoom Trick Worm is available at the following online retailers:

I love testing fishing rods, and I love it even more in the prespawn. I was excited to finally get my hands on some SixGill rods this winter. I’ve been wanting to test their rods for a while as I know a bunch of anglers have been buzzing about them and switched over to them in the last year. So their reputation for good prices, solid feature, tons of options and great customer service proceeded me even getting the first rod.

I started with a do-it all line, the SixGill Cypress Series, and then chose a do-it-all rod power and action with the 7-foot, medium-heavy power, fast-action rod. It has not disappointed. Here’s a quick run down on this rod and what you can expect with it along with a closer look at the components you care about.

sixgill cypress bass fishing rod handle

Clean design

These are very clean rods. From the 24-ton Japanese Toray blended carbon blanks to the very fine 10 1/4-inch split cork grips. The rods are light, sensitive and really strong. I they are very comfortable to palm all day even with baits you wind constantly. The Fuji reel seat holds the reel tight to the blank and the thru-touch construction lets you feel every thump of a spinnerbait blade. I paired it with a Daiwa Tatula reel and 17-pound Seaguar InvizX line and it target cast and bomb cast a 1/2-ounce spinnerbait equally well.

sixgill cypress casting rod guides

Solid Fuji guides

The Cypress Series rods incorporate solid double footed guides as well as single foot guides as it steps down rings in size. This particular rod had 8 guides plus the tip and still only weighed 4 1/2 ounces. Which is saying something because these rods feel like they can swing some weight. I swung four pounders in the boat on it last week spinnerbait fishing with ease. So I am very impressed with the build, lightweight and components on this rod already.

Sixgill cypress casting rod tip

Good performance

The Cypress Series 7-foot MH rod casts really well. The guides are well placed and step down nicely to make a very smooth casting rod. I was impressed with how good the rod transmitted what my spinnerbait was doing. I stay on “sick ‘em” most of the time on a spinnerbait because a lot of bass just take the water off the blade this time of year when you’re slow rolling a little slower and deeper off the bank. I swung on a couple “changes I felt” last week and missed a fish and caught a fish that I feel like I might have never known bit on a lesser rod.

sixgill cypress casting rod keeper

Nice details

I’ve fished a bunch with the Cypress Series rods now and I really love everything about them. Every detail looks nice, without making the rod too clunky. It’s strong, looks good, fishes good, and has everything you need for fishing down to keepers and unobtrusive foregrips. The rods are very comfortable to fish with and I think you get a lot of bang for your buck with this line.

sixgill fishing cypress series rod

A complete bass fishing rod

They did a great job in the design of the SixGill Cypress Series. They are durable, strong, sensitive, light and come in a ton of options. There are 13 models from 6-foot, 6-inch ML to a 7-foot, 6-inch H rod. I’ve been very impressed with the amount of options SixGill Fishing offers anglers. I’ve tried several in the Cypress Series and look forward to testing some of the other lines shortly.

SixGill Cypress Rods can be found on sixgillfishing.com.

jason sealock sixgill cypress bass rod nice bass

Great bass fishing rods

I was fortunate to get into a few fish last week and enjoyed landing a couple nice largemouth on Cypress Series 7-foot MH rod. I swung both fish so I was very pleased with how it fished and how it handled some decent bass. It’s a workhorse of a rod that I think can handle a lot of techniques and abuse. Looking forward to more prespawn fishing with this stick.