Before I get to my comments specific to a Z-Man SMH WormZ, let me provide a bit of backstory.

When it comes to catching deep-weedline summertime bass in my home state of Minnesota, the No. 1 technique is a jigworm — or what the cool kids now call a Ned Rig. Regardless of the name, the lure is simply a jighead paired with a soft-plastic worm.

Of course, there’s an unlimited number of jig-plus-worm combinations. That said, the vast majority of bass anglers choose a jighead that weighs 1/8 or 1/4 ounce, and a worm measuring 2.75 to 8 inches. Note: Anglers using a shorter worm, say 2.75 to 4 inches, often call their offering a Ned Rig, while anglers choosing a longer worm call it a jigworm — tomayto, tomahto. 

Almost all the time I go with a 1/8-ounce jighead, and when I need a touch more weight due to wind, I’ll change to a 3/16 ounce. I’ll use a 1/4 ounce if I’m still struggling to keep contact with the jigworm, but this is rare. I tie on the lightest jig that will do the job because it results in the most strikes.

During the past 40 years, I’ve certainly developed a short list of favorite soft-plastic worms to use with this presentation. Long ago, my go-to was a Culprit Original Worm (6 inch), but that eventually changed with the invention of PowerBait by Berkley. The company’s clever marketing phrase, “fish bite and won’t let go,” wasn’t hype, it was true.

I was guiding in north-central Minnesota during summers back then (early 1990s), and when I had a client who had trouble detecting the subtle bite on a jigworm rigged with a Culprit Original, I replaced it with a Berkley Power Worm (7 inch). I’m not exaggerating — it felt like cheating. Bass wouldn’t let go, and a fish would often hook itself, no matter how oblivious my client was to the situation.

Yes, I still purchase Berkley Power Worms in 100 packs to this day (pumpkinseed color is my favorite); bass bite and still won’t let go. However, there are two downsides to fishing Power Worms. The first is sunfish won’t let go, either. In lakes littered with sunfish, it’s annoying to play tug-o-war with them on every cast. Sometimes the sunfish are so aggressive that my jigworm never falls into the depths to attract a bass. The second disadvantage is durability. I can usually catch more than one bass per Power Worm, but I’m typically replacing it after three or four bass (and this includes biting off a half-inch of worm as needed along the way).

For me, the solution to the sunfish jigworm problem was found in a thicker stick worm; my favorite is a YUM Dinger (5 inch). Yes, sunfish will still attempt to grab it, but the lack of an action tail like the one found on the Power Worm, combined with its bulk, really cuts down on the sunfish frustration.

What Makes a Z-Man SMH WormZ Different?

Because I like to keep an open mind when it comes to jigworm combinations, I was intrigued the first time I saw professional bass angler Brian “B.Lat” Latimer explain the new Z-Man SMH WormZ, which he helped design.

For those of you who, like me, are late to the abbreviation party, SMH means “shaking my head.” The worm carried that name because Latimer and Z-Man also produced a shaky-style head — the SMH Jighead —  specifically for rigging the SMH WormZ.

Because the drop-offs I fish in Minnesota often don’t require a weedless presentation, instead of going with the SMH Jighead and SMH WormZ and rigging it Texas-style, I chose a standard mushroom jighead and fished the worm with an open hook (top photo). 

What caught my eye when I saw the SMH WormZ unveiling was the overall simple tapered shape of the worm. The length, 6.5 inches, was perfect for my style of jigworm bass fishing, and the lack of a ribbon tail, like found on the Culprit Original and Berkley Power Worm, might mean fewer sunfish bites.

I was also intrigued by the fact that the SMH WormZ floats because of its ElaZTech construction. I’d never fished a floating worm on a jigworm setup, and was curious if it might make a difference on days when bass were especially finicky, or produce a few more bites on a school of bass after beating up on them with other jigworms. The primary benefit to ElaZTech is its incredible durability; very simply, it’s unmatched in this regard. ElaZTech is also salt-impregnated for taste and texture.

On-the-Water Testing

I had exactly one bag of Junebug-colored Z-Man SHM WormZ in my possession in August 2023 when I hit the water in my kayak. Actually, that’s not quite true, because I’d given four of the seven worms in the pack to my son and his buddy, who were fishing the same small local lake in our john boat. 

Right off the bat, I liked that a SMH WormZ was very soft to the touch. Of course, a Berkley Power Worm is also soft, but earlier I explained that durability is a problem with that product. In my opinion, you get more strikes with a soft worm than a hard one; and due to the ElaZTech construction, durability would be a non-factor.

The big question: Would bass like it? Absolutely!

My son Elliott, who is an outstanding bass fisherman, used YUM Dingers rigged Texas-style, and he set up his buddy Sawyer, a novice angler, with a mushroom jig (1/8 ounce) and a SMH WormZ. It’s not uncommon for Elliott to outfish his friends by a large margin (think 10 to 1), even while taking second water, and on this day, Sawyer caught just as many bass as Elliott, actually more.

“Dad, it was pretty incredible,” Elliott explained later. “Sawyer caught a few more than me today, and I know that’s never happened before. Not even close. I really think it had something to do with the way the SMH floats off the bottom and sits almost vertically. And Sawyer’s hook-up percentage was off the charts. Eventually I ended up switching to the SMH, too.”

My on-the-water experience that day was similar. Bass grabbed the SMH WormZ and wouldn’t drop it, even when I applied decent pressure before setting the hook. Eventually I had to replace the worm, but that was after at least a dozen decent-sized bass and two small pike; one of the pike finally ripped the worm to the point where I decided to rig a new one.

Final Thoughts

As I stated previously, I typically buy Berkley Power Worms in 100 packs. The same is true for YUM Dingers (favorite colors: black/blue flake, green pumpkin, watermelon/red flake). In years past, it was common for me to burn through two 100 packs of YUM Dingers, and also put a dent in one Power Worm bulk pack (I use the Dingers much more than Power Worms for reasons explained earlier).

But now I have a dilemma: If I start using SHM WormZ for jigworm fishing on a regular basis next year, I don’t know how many to buy. In the past with Dingers, it was nothing on a great day of bass fishing to destroy 10 stick worms — and 20 wasn’t out of the question. Buying 100 packs made smart financial sense. SMH WormZ aren’t sold in 100 packs — and I can understand why because it would likely be more than a lifetime supply!

I suppose what I’ll do is buy three or four packs of Z-Man SMH WormZ (again, seven worms per pack) prior to the 2024 fishing season. Elliott and I finally killed a single pack of Junebug-colored worms, and I can’t imagine the total number of bass we caught on them. On average, I’d say we caught 10 bass per worm, but it would’ve been much higher except for the fact that pike would either rip it, or bite off the line entirely, stealing the jig plus the worm.

One last tip: If you’ve never used Z-man ElaZTech soft plastics, you might struggle to rig it on a jighead; it’s so stretchy that it doesn’t slide over a hook keeper the same way as traditional soft plastics. Check out the 3-minute YouTube video below on how to easily rig ElaZTech on a jighead.