Been working on this for a few years now.
Here’s the ‘problem’ that needs to be overcome before this will ‘work’.
What makes the ‘Whacky Rig’ so effective is the hydrodynamics involved. It’s not just the ‘shape’ of the worm, nor is it the weight of the worm, or even where the hook is placed in the worm.
What makes it so effective is the combination of all three.
The worm itself has a lot of ‘mass’ to it. The soft plastic used for these baits is pretty heavy, and most of the more successfull worms for this style of fishing also contain quite a bit of salt, making them even heavier.
The ‘round’ cross section of the worm causes it to wobble or ‘shimmy’ as it settles in the water. Yet it still retains some stiffness so that it does not just ‘fold up’.
A properly rigged ‘whacky worm’ is hooked at a place on the body of the worm to balance it so that it falls with the bait ‘horizontal’ in the water. Where exactly this point of balance is varies from bait to bait, as not all of the ‘worms’ used for this are the same. The combination of this ‘balance’ and the mass of the worm falling against the resistance of the water will also cause the bait to ‘slide’ from side to side (towards the ‘ends’ of the worm) at times if it is falling on a ‘slack’ line.
Can you do this with a ‘fly’ that’s castable? Maybe…maybe not.
Chenille will just ‘fold up’. I tried using something to stiffen it. I tried wire, silicone, and glues, but it takes away all the movement of the chenille. I thought the silicone was ‘promising’, but it just doesn’t work like the ‘worm’ does.
Also, with all of the ‘chenille’ options, you have to weight the hook so that the bait will fall fast enough. On the ‘real thing’ the hook is not the heaviest part of the rig…
Feathers are too light. They either fold up, or are too stiff. None seem to be able to hold enough water to cause any ‘action’ on their own. I spun a couple of hackles together with some wire, even tried ‘coated’ feathers. Wouldn’t sink fast enough without way too much weight on the hook (caught too much water).
Bucktail was ‘close’. Tying it on was fun, but doable. Kind of like posting wings…I had acouple of fish hit these. But the real problem was repeatability. ‘Balance’ was an issue…not all bucktail is created equal…still can work, but you have to spend some time playing with the weight on the hook (has to be BEHIND the bucktail), and getting the bait not to twist on the cast (it’s like casting a propellar).
The real ‘it may work well’ option is the one I haven’t got to use at the lake yet. What I’ve done is take a rabbit strip and run a bead of silicone sealant down the ‘skin side’ of the strip.
I cut some different sizes, and if you hook (hook still need some weight on it) them in the middle and pitch them into the water, they fall okay. No ‘side to side’ sway, but the hair gives it some built in action and I think it will catch fish.
Still worried about casting it, though. I can’t figure out how to get the proper fall without having the hook in the middle of the fly. I can’t figure out how to ‘cast’ such a thing without it spinning, and spinnning wildy.
We have the ‘perfect’ whacky rig bait out there now. Unfortunitly, it’s made by Yamamoto and weighs too much to ‘cast’ with a fly rod.
I can, and do sometimes, swing a Senko on my 6 wt…can’t ‘cast’ it, but I can flip it out far enough to catch some fish with it. These things catch BIG fish…
Buddy