Texas Rig Fishing 101: All You Need To Know About The T-Rig

The Texas rig has been one of the most effective and easiest ways to present a soft plastic bait for decades. Bass anglers can simply slide worm weights on their lines, tie on a hook, thread on soft plastic and they are ready to catch fish.

Year after year the Texas rig continues to be the best match for a variety of soft plastic baits including plastic worms, creature and beaver baits, tubes, craws and Senkos. When a soft plastic lure is rigged straight on a hook the Texas rig creates a streamlined and weedless bait that can be presented effectively into the thickest cover to tempt bass into biting.

The Texas rig consists of four basic elements: a soft plastic lure, bullet-shaped sinker, pegging device and a hook. The hook is the key component of the rig. My hook choices for Texas-rigged lures are 3/0 straight shank for plastic lizards, Senkos, and 6-inch plastic worms; 4/0 straight shank for 7- to 8-inch plastic worms; 5/0 straight shank for 10-inch or longer plastic worms; 4/0 extra-wide gap (EWG) for beaver baits and craws; and 5/0 EWG for creature baits and flipping tubes.

Match the hook with a bullet-shaped slip sinker of various sizes ranging from 1/8-ounce to 1 1/2-ounces. Rate of fall, depth of the fish and thickness of cover dictate the weight of your sinker for Texas-rigging. A 1/8-ounce weight is best for creating a slow-falling lure in shallow water. Sinkers in the 1/4-, 5/16- and 3/8-ounce sizes are best for fishing sparse cover or brush piles less than 20 feet deep. A 1/2-ounce weight is ideal for pitching into thick bushes or for bass holding on the bottom deeper than 20 feet. Try a 1 1/2-ounce or heavier weight for punching soft plastics through matted vegetation.

Pegging the weight with a toothpick, piece of rubber band, bobber stop or other pegging devices now on the market keeps the slip sinker close to the hook and lure. This tactic works best for presenting lures in thick cover because the weight stays close to the lure and helps pull it through the cover.

Leave the sinker unpegged when fishing flipping tubes or ribbon tail plastic worms in open water. The sinker slides away from the lure helping to create a spiraling action for the tube and more tail action for the plastic worm.