The Texas Rig

Texas Rig, let's talk about it. Hi, my name is Gene Jenson. I'm with BassResource.com.  Today, let's talk about a Texas Rig. 

I like to call the Texas Rig the all terrain vehicle of bass fishing.  There's not much you can't fish with a Texas Rig.  Only thing I can think of off the top of my head is grass, submerged grass.  You can punch matted grass with it, but submerged grass, it tends to get hung up and as you're trying to drag it and hop it along the bottom. 

Now what a Texas Rig consists of is just a simple bullet weight, any weight will do.  I like nothing larger than a quarter ounce, because I'm typically fishing shallow water with it.  Now if I'm fishing like a deep hump or a rock pile in deep water or whatever.  If I'm using a Texas Rig I will up to about a 3/8ths ounce but nothing much heavier than that. 

Like I said it consists of a bullet weight and then your main line is tied onto your hook.  The bullet weight is left freely sliding up and down your line.

Sometimes people, and I do this too, will put a bead in between your hook and your sinker just to give it a little clicking sound if you need a little bit noise on your bait.   I'll do that when I'm night fishing and things like that.  

The types of soft plastics that you can use with this are endless.   You can use straight tail worms like this one.  And this is actually a hand pour from a company out of Slidell, Louisiana, called Nasty Baits.  He custom does it, a couple of colors for me, does an excellent job.  Nice and soft, not too soft that it tears up easy. 

And this is my favorite color; it's a green pumpkin, with purple and gold flake, and we call it he LSU color. 

Anyway, with any type of bait, crayfish, lizard, or anything else, it's all about the action, it's all about what the bass want.  So let's get out on the water and show you the different little things you can do with a Texas Rig.

Well there's really not much to fishing a Texas Rig.  What I'm going to do is I'm just going to kind of work along this bank and hit the lay downs.  I'm sitting here on the banks of the Savannah River, not a whole lot of current.  They’re not pulling water out of Clarks Hill right now.  And I'm just going to hit the lay downs in the grass and the brush right a long the grass.  I'm also going to drop it down on the outside edge of the weed lines.  Just work that all the way down the bank on medium speed and see what happens.  Let's check it out and see how it goes. 

Now I'm going to start from the outside and I'm going to work my way in.  Long accurate casts, I'm letting it fall on the slack line.  All the way to the bottom and let it sit here for a second.  Then I'm just going to hop it.  Little bit of grass on the bottom so I'm going to just hop it out of that grass and hop back down.   And after a few hops I'm just going to bring it back in. 

I'm going throw a little further up the tree.  Nice little cast, fall right on down. 

Once again on a semi-slack line. I'm actually following it down with my rod tip, just like you would a jig.   Then I'm going to bring it in and go all the way to the back. I'm going to let it fall down. Now I'm over the top of a little stick, so I'm just going to hop it up on that stick just a few times.  Then there's a little bit more brush on the left side of the tree, so I'm going to slide it up underneath the overhang.  I didn't do a very good job of it; try that one more time. 

There you go, let it fall right on down. 

Once again I'm going to follow in it with my rod tip all the way down.  Let it sit on the bottom just for a few seconds, then I'm going to hop it.  And I'm only hopping it about this far, I'm just hop up and down on the bottom.  

All right, I'm going to get right in the middle of that brush pile.  There you go.  And nine times out of ten those bass are going to hit that bait on the fall or right as it hits the bottom.  It's going to pass them, they're going to follow it down, nose down to it and they're going to hit the bottom.  

Now sometimes when they're not quite so certain, you let it fall down and sit on the bottom, and count one or two seconds, three seconds, and then just shake it or hop it just a little bit like I'm doing.  Those bass that followed it down are just sitting there nosing it, and just looking at it.  You make that one hop and they're just going to instinct strike it.  They're just going to suck it in and then you just set the hook.

Now that reminds me, with hooks sets, with a Texas Rig, most of my hook sets are at 2:00.  I swing it over the top of my right shoulder and I don't go straight up, I don't go down to the side, and I don't go low.  I go right up about 2:00 and I set it pretty hard.  And then I try to keep tension on them and pull it out of whatever brush pile they're in. 

Let's go ahead and work our way up this bank and kind of just watch me and watch how I work this Texas Rig on this bank.

What I've got here is I've got a grass line it runs out about eight feet.  And I'm just going to work my way, I'm just going my way up the grass line.  Then I follow all the way down to the edge of the grass line.  

I missed him, just like that.  So they're down deep on the grass line.   That wasn't a big fish that was a little one. I felt him hit and I waited too long to set the hook. 

Again, I just let it fall down on the grass, on the outside edge of the grass line.  Then I work it parallel to it, and I'm trying to cast out at an angle some I'm working in that strike zone the longest... 

Let it fall down. 

If you've never fished a sinking bait, the question always comes up as how do you know it's on the bottom?  If you throw it out and you put your line at a semi-slack line, meaning  that it's got a sag to it and you watch your line moving, it'll be moving out away from you, and all of the sudden it will stop and when it stops it's sitting on the bottom.

And I try to keep it as a semi-slack line even after it's on the bottom so I can watch the line, and if he fish bites I can see line move and the fish doesn't feel me.  

And really that's all there is to fishing a Texas Rig.  Like I said it just a cast and hop and retrieve, cast, hop and retrieve.  And then just hit targets, be good and accurate, practice casting and get that nice, low accurate cast that doesn't splash that much.  Do that and you'll end up with a new favorite rig. 

Have a good day and remember always visit BassResource.com.  It answers all your questions about bass fishing.  Enjoy your time on there and enjoy the people. Thank you.