Rigging soft plastics

[Justfishing]

I dont use soft plastics much as I have a hard time rigging them. If there a good book or other source to help with this.

A related question is selecting the proper hook, both size and style.

[ocf1]

I almost always use worm hooks. The best sizes are 3/0 to 5/0 for bass. Look up alton jones on youtube. That gives some great advice for a beginner. And remember, practice maes perfect.

[ocf1]

To begin, I think that once you learn how to effectively fish a soft plastic bait on a Texas rig, you can fish just about anything. A Texas rigged soft plastic bait can catch fish year-round in just about any situation by simply varying your soft plastic bait and your retrieve. The Texas rigged plastic worm accounts for more wins in the B.A.S.S. tour than any other lure. For some reason, it has lost popularity as of late, but despite its apparent decline it still catches fish.

The basic set up for the Texas rig is very simple: a hook (depending on size of bait), the lightest sinker you can get away with (wind and water depth will determine this), and a gob of plastic (which I will get to later). You can add other things to a Texas rig like a glass bead and clacker (brass piece) if you want.

Depending on cover and water clarity, you want to use either a baitcaster or spinning gear in a medium/heavy action rod, 6 1/2 to 7 foot in length with 6-20 lb. test. I will usually start with 10-12 lb test and go from there. The lighter the line, the more natural or realistic the plastic will work. The length of the rod is important for taking the slack out of the line during the hookset. The action of the rod is important in that you want the tip to be sensitive, yet not give yourself away if you are feeling if a fish is there. You want the butt section of the rod to have plenty of backbone to drive the hook home.

The way to rig a Texas rig is to insert the hook into the plastic and run it into the worm about 1/4 inch, then pull the hook to the eye and turn it around and run the hook tip through the worm and skin hook it on the opposite side so that the rig is weedless. Be sure that the worm hangs straight or it will twist your line. I don't often peg my sinker. Pegging is a way to keep a slip sinker from slipping, this is either done by jamming a toothpick tip in, running a piece of skirt material through the sinker, or a by using a new product called "peg its". The only time I peg the sinker is when fishing heavy weeds or when I am trying to skip the bait under cover (dock or tree limbs).

Step 1. Penetrate the head of your soft plastic lure with your hook tip Step 2. Pull the point of the hook through the bottom of your lure aproximately 1/4 inch below the head

Step 3. Before turning the hook around and re-inserting it into the plastic, visually check to see where the penetration should occur Step 4. After re-inserting the tip of your hook into the lure your finished Texas rig should look something like this

The weight of the bullet sinker you use is determined by the conditions you are fishing - add enough to make your plastic sink slowly To add more noise to your rig (thus attracting more attention from bass) put a bead on your mainline between the sinker and the hook

TIP: if using a toothpick, be sure to peg the sinker then push the sinker up the line and cut off the line where you stabbed the toothpick in. Usually you damage the line slightly when you do this, and it would not be good to lose a big fish from this.

From Mr. Deitz Dittrich,

[Deitz Dittrich]

LOL @ OCF- looks like you found one of my old articles.. Thanks for posting it.

[ocf1]

Haha, yep, number 2 on google.....