VMC Crossover Rings

[Capt. BassinLou]

The VMC Crossover Ring came across my radar recently.  I'm a sucker for marketing, I'm telling you .

As you guys know, I'm honing in my stickbait fishing skills, and the wacky style type of rigging is a killer technique.

The problem with that rigging method is that I lose a lot of stick baits.

I tried the rings to no avail. Until I recently came across these  crossover rings.



Conceptually, it makes perfect sense, to me at least.

You need a special pair of pliers to attach the ring on the  stick bait. The ring itself has two small holes atop of the ring for different wacky presentations.







It's pretty easy to do, plus the pliers come with a few rings already in them stored in a special compartment.



Match it with your favorite hook, and you're good to go.



I'm trying out these vmc wacky hooks as well.



Stay tuned for my on the water review.



Thanks for reading.

[Bud Kennedy]

Lou, I started using these a year or so ago.  I have a multiple sizes even down to trick worm size and they work great for me here on the river.  I did buy multiple colors including the clear version although I am not sure it makes much difference.  Certainly a lot better than O rings and better than just stabbing through the bait. 

[big g]

I am a big fan of wacky worms especially when out in the boat.  Fish them around drop-offs and ledges.  I have never used rings especially because I use trick worms more than stick baits.  They are longer, more flexable, and provide more movement with just a slight twitch.  They come in more colors, and the cost is good for what you get.  I really don't care if a lose a few because of that.  The cost of those rings will probably get me a few bags of worms.  Just another perspective of a wacky worm lover!

[Capt. BassinLou]

Lou, I started using these a year or so ago.  I have a multiple sizes even down to trick worm size and they work great for me here on the river.  I did buy multiple colors including the clear version although I am not sure it makes much difference.  Certainly a lot better than O rings and better than just stabbing through the bait.

Thank you for your input Bud. Appreciate it.

[Princeton_Man]

I'm looking forward to your water review. I saw them in an online ad some time back, but as I recall they were pretty pricey (.50 each?) compared to the ordinary wacky rings I use. I also keep a couple of the Wacky ring tools on the boat, my travel bag, co-angler bag. That could get kind of expensive if I had to buy multiple tools as well. I suppose if you could make it through the whole day on just one or two rings, it wouldn't be so bad.

[Capt. BassinLou]

I have interesting observations to share. Just came back from my local fishing hole. Took just one stick worm attached to a cross-over ring. I wanted to test out a few things. 1. Durability of the crossover ring if I caught fish. 2. Durability of the stick worm after catching fish, and 3. The new hook I'm trying out.

The good news is that I was able to convince 2 decent bass to volunteer for my test in very short order. 

Bass number one observation: Ring stayed in tact. However, the ring slid up the hook, around the eye, and then up the line. Worm was still intact, but I observed stress marks around the worm where the ring was situated.
The hook worked great, stuck the bass solid. I could not slide the ring down back over the eye hook. Had to cut the line and re-tie. Hmmmm.



** Note the stress marks just to the right of the ring in this ^^^ picture.



Bass number two observations, two casts later. Ring stayed in tact, slid up the hook and line again, but with no worm in sight. Worm broke in half during the fight, and the halves landed close to me. Hook once again performed flawlessly.




Obviously, I need to catch more than 2 bass to draw better conclusions, but here are the questions I'm asking myself now.
- Will I need to retie my hook after each catch due to the ring sliding up and around the eye of the hook?
- Stick worm longevity. So far its suspect. However, I will need to test other stick worms to be conclusive. I was using a Senko, and although bass love these stick baits, their longevity is poor. Maybe other brands may last longer using this ring system. Time will tell.

I will report back when I have more time under my belt fishing these rings.

** Side note, apparently showing the inside of a bass mouth is considered an adult picture now.  The system flagged my picture that showed the hook deep in the bass mouth with just the hook and the ring, with no worm. But apparently the picture resembled something else. 

[Bud Kennedy]

The saddles I have are a bit different.  First of all the hook slot is very very tight and have not had the hook slide through that way yet.  The other thing is mine allows to rig the bait in the traitional horizontal fashion  and also in an in line fashion.  I will see if I have any in the garage and will take a picture.  Otherwise they are likely in the boat on the storage lot.

[NavyToad]

I prefer heat shrink. Works like a champ.

[FlatsNBay]

Boy that is a giant wacky hook. I've never used that type of o ring. Curious to see how it works for you.  I use a standard o ring and it seems like the worm lasts forever and hook ups were excellent.  I was saving my used Texas rigged stick worms for wacky hook presentations but stopped doing that because the worms last so long on an o ring and I ended up with bags of stick worms waiting for their second life.

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[J.W.]

I haven't found anything that keeps a Yamamoto brand Senko intact for very long if it's wacky rigged. Not sure if it's how much salt they're using or of it's their particular plastisol, but they are super-fragile. Regular O-rings are what I settled on, being easy and cheap, but I haven't tried heat shrink tubing.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Boy that is a giant wacky hook. I've never used that type of o ring. Curious to see how it works for you.  I use a standard o ring and it seems like the worm lasts forever and hook ups were excellent.  I was saving my used Texas rigged stick worms for wacky hook presentations but stopped doing that because the worms last so long on an o ring and I ended up with bags of stick worms waiting for their second life.

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Yeah, I use big hooks when I wacky. I usually use a 4/0 Ewg, but I wanted to experiment with a smaller profile hook. I see that wacky rigging is synonymous to small hooks. Clearly I never came across that memo. Still catch them on big hooks though.

[J.W.]

Boy that is a giant wacky hook. I've never used that type of o ring. Curious to see how it works for you.  I use a standard o ring and it seems like the worm lasts forever and hook ups were excellent.  I was saving my used Texas rigged stick worms for wacky hook presentations but stopped doing that because the worms last so long on an o ring and I ended up with bags of stick worms waiting for their second life.

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Yeah, I use big hooks when I wacky. I usually use a 4/0 Ewg, but I wanted to experiment with a smaller profile hook. I see that wacky rigging is synonymous to small hooks. Clearly I never came across that memo. Still catch them on big hooks though.

We've caught them on 3/0 and 4/0 EWGs in a pinch.

Those Gamakatsu G-Finesse stinger hooks in 1/0 or 2/0 are good, but you have to seal the hook gap (where the wire bends back around at the eye to meet the shank) with some superglue or epoxy if you're using lighter braid. Learned that the hard way. We lost two really good bass in a tournament when the line slipped out of the hook eye. Other than that, they are awesome light wire hooks, and fish have stayed pinned for us with them.

[Smallie_Stalker]

I like the concept of the Crossover rings. As Bud pointed out they used to be available with holes that allowed for rigging horizontal or vertical. If I could find those rings I'd probably give this system a shot.

Big problem is I have several thousand of the regular O-Rings. About 10 years ago I had a local guy who was selling the regular O-Rings dirt cheap. He had 3 different sizes in a variety pack of colors and 250 of each size per pack. He was selling the packs for $7.50 so the rings worked out to a single penny each. So I bought a bunch of packs. 

Still, I would give the Crossovers a fair try IF I could find the originals.



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[Capt. BassinLou]

I like the concept of the Crossover rings. As Bud pointed out they used to be available with holes that allowed for rigging horizontal or vertical. If I could find those rings I'd probably give this system a shot.

Big problem is I have several thousand of the regular O-Rings. About 10 years ago I had a local guy who was selling the regular O-Rings dirt cheap. He had 3 different sizes in a variety pack of colors and 250 of each size per pack. He was selling the packs for $7.50 so the rings worked out to a single penny each. So I bought a bunch of packs. 

Still, I would give the Crossovers a fair try IF I could find the originals.



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I didn't show them in my pictures, but there is a hole for that option of rigging.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Here's a picture. Tough to focus on the small hole on top of the ring.

[Smallie_Stalker]

Here's a picture. Tough to focus on the small hole on top of the ring.

Cool beans. Thanks for the info. Lou. 👍

[chrisD46]

Here is the VMC Cross Over Ring Sizing Chart :
    8mm: 6" Senko
    7mm: 5" Senko
    6mm: 6" Roboworm Fat
    5mm: Zoom Trick Worm
    4mm: 4.5" Roboworm Straight Tail
    3mm: Small finesse worms and drop shot baits

*Please Note : These sizes  above are approximate - try going down one size (i.e. 6mm for stick worms like Yum Dinger) , Try other stick worms from Bass Pro (Stik-O) , the Yum Dinger , Gambler Ace , Zoom Zlinky and Big Bite Bait Trick Sticks then test for longevity - all of these stick worms have good action wacky rigged .

[skidemn]

Save your money!

I tell everyone about this every chance I get, and have been using this method since I read about it. I haven't spent a dime on rings, sleeves, etc. since!

https://www.m3outdoors.com/post/diy-wacky-rig-neko-rig-sleeves


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[J.W.]

Save your money!

I tell everyone about this every chance I get, and have been using this method since I read about it. I haven't spent a dime on rings, sleeves, etc. since!

https://www.m3outdoors.com/post/diy-wacky-rig-neko-rig-sleeves


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Hmmm, I think I like that. O-rings are not terribly expensive if you buy them in bulk from a hardware warehouse or something. They get marked up a lot when they are sold as tackle. I think the tubing might be cheaper and work for other uses though.

[chrisD46]

Save your money!

I tell everyone about this every chance I get, and have been using this method since I read about it. I haven't spent a dime on rings, sleeves, etc. since!
*The video does not show how he hooks the soft plastic : Is this a method for going under the silicon tube parallel to the worm OR can you hook through the center of the silicon tubing perpendicular to the worm ?
https://www.m3outdoors.com/post/diy-wacky-rig-neko-rig-sleeves


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[skidemn]

*The video does not show how he hooks the soft plastic : Is this a method for going under the silicon tube parallel to the worm OR can you hook through the center of the silicon tubing perpendicular to the worm ?
https://www.m3outdoors.com/post/diy-wacky-rig-neko-rig-sleeves

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You can rig parallel to the worm when Neko rigging or perpendicular to the worm when wacky rigging with the tubing. I have a Senko I've caught many fish on still sitting in my box because they last so long this way.


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[Capt. BassinLou]

Save your money!

I tell everyone about this every chance I get, and have been using this method since I read about it. I haven't spent a dime on rings, sleeves, etc. since!

https://www.m3outdoors.com/post/diy-wacky-rig-neko-rig-sleeves


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I appreciate this info! 

[Capt. BassinLou]

Update time. I have been fishing with these rings since I bought them, and have caught several bass already using this system.

I use a very simple thumbs up or thumbs down classification system. I'm giving these rings a thumbs down. Here's why:

- For what they are they these rings are very $$$
- The rings really don't last as long as people say. They rip off after two bass, and they were little bass by the way.
- The rings slide up the line after a catch, which means I have to slide them back down through the knot and eye of the hook, which then probably tears the ring a bit, leading to its failure.

What am I going to do next?

First off, shout out to skidemn. I looked into the information you posted, and the silicone tubing looks like a better, and cheaper solution. I purchased a roll of tubing and will be experimenting with that option next week!!  Never a dull a moment with me. Stay tuned!! 

[skidemn]

First off, shout out to skidemn. I looked into the information you posted, and the silicone tubing looks like a better, and cheaper solution. I purchased a roll of tubing and will be experimenting with that option next week!!  Never a dull a moment with me. Stay tuned!!

Here's a comparison of a new Daiwa Neko worm (made by Yamamoto) versus one that has caught several fish using the silicone collar method. As you can see I saved it and will use it again because, despite all the little tears from teeth, etc., it is still holding together well. I hook around the collar, not through the worm—well, I hook a little through the worm, but not enough that it gets torn up easily and can't be used for several fish. For wacky rigs I cut my collar sections about 2-2.5x as wide as seen on this worm.



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[Capt. BassinLou]

First off, shout out to skidemn. I looked into the information you posted, and the silicone tubing looks like a better, and cheaper solution. I purchased a roll of tubing and will be experimenting with that option next week!!  Never a dull a moment with me. Stay tuned!!

Here's a comparison of a new Daiwa Neko worm (made by Yamamoto) versus one that has caught several fish using the silicone collar method. As you can see I saved it and will use it again because, despite all the little tears from teeth, etc., it is still holding together well. I hook around the collar, not through the worm—well, I hook a little through the worm, but not enough that it gets torn up easily and can't be used for several fish. For wacky rigs I cut my collar sections about 2-2.5x as wide as seen on this worm.



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Very cool. If you may, could post a picture of how you rig the stick worm wacky using the silicone ring. Thanks!