How To Rig And Fish The Texas Rig

I slowly raised my rod tip, feeling the bullet weight inch across the bottom until my plastic worm rested against the ruins of a drowned willow tree. As I lowered my rod tip and reeled in the slack, I felt the tell-tale tap. Twelve-year-old me rammed home the hookset and then reeled in another farm pond largemouth—the latest victim of the traditional Texas rig.

The Texas rig is the first bass presentation many of us learned. This beginner-friendly rig is easy to tie, easy to fish, and unapologetically old school. But as with music and wine, older can be better with bass fishing. Here’s a quick guide to the good old Texas rig, including how to rig it up and how to fish it.

How to rig a Texas rig

The Texas rig consists of a free-sliding bullet weight, a worm hook, and a soft plastic bait. To rig a plastic Texas-style:

1. Thread your line through the nose end of a bullet sinker.
2. Tie on a worm hook below the sinker.
3. Press the hook point through the top tip of your plastic worm, crawdad, or creature bait about a ¼ inch (approximately 2-3 worm segments) and then poke the barb back out the side of the plastic.
4. Slide the plastic up the hook until its nose is flush with the hook eyelet.
5. Twist the hook to align it with the plastic. Then embed the tip of the hook in the bottom of the plastic—right at the point that keeps your worm (etc.) as straight as possible.

Why Texas rigs catch bass

Texas rigs refer to a relatively weedless presentation for soft plastics. The bullet sinker is streamlined, limiting hang ups in heavy cover. Plus, you embed your hook inside the plastic while Texas-rigging, which makes your baits more weedless and snag-resistant than most plastic presentations. This adds up to a classic presentation for fishing heavy cover—where you usually catch the most bass and the biggest bass.

In addition, the sinker also slides freely up and down the line, so bass won’t feel added weight when they pick up your worm or swim off with your creature bait in their mouths. This means fish won’t spit a Texas-rigged plastic as quickly as fixed weight lures, giving you more time to set the hook.

Overall, the Texas rig is a versatile option for bass. It’s one of the best bass rigs for fishing heavy cover but also works in open water. You can fish it year-round and with almost any soft plastic in your tackle box. It’s an all-around presentation that catches all species of bass.

How to fish a Texas rig

I basically fish Texas-rigged plastics using three different retrieves.

On the fall

Most of the time, I will cast out and let my lure hit the bottom. Then I’ll raise my rod tip up a foot or two to lift my worm off the bottom before lowering my rod tip and reeling in the slack as it falls back down. With this retrieve, bass often hit my rubber worm on the fall.

Dragging bottom

Or, I’ll simply drag my Texas-rigged plastic along the bottom with slow, sideways sweeps of my rod. If I hit cover, I may let my lure sit still for a bit before giving my rod tip a quick pop to slip my plastic off the snag. This is a good presentation to snake your bait through cover or to work down a bank or drop off.

The flip

You can also flip or pitch Texas-rigged plastics to nearby cover. Personally, I prefer flipping jigs. For me, jigs are more vertical presentations and Texas rigs more horizontal presentations. However, plenty of anglers will flip or pitch Texas-rigged worms. If you do this, you might consider anchoring the bullet weight with a bobber stop, peg, or toothpick to reduce snags and increase your feel.

On top of these basic presentations, consider that there are numerous expert techniques.

Texas Rig vs. Carolina Rig: When And How To Fish Each

Where and when to fish a Texas rig

The best place to fish a Texas rig is in or near heavy cover. When I know bass are buried in weed beds or holding tight to docks, stumps, brush piles, and underwater trees, I’m probably throwing a Texas rig. Overall, it’s a good thing to throw when you’re fishing tight to cover, sight fishing in the shallows, worried about getting hung up, punching lures through matted grass, or targeting fish down on the bottom.

Texas rigs can torment bass year-round, but they’re especially good choices for the spring spawn. Dragging a Texas-rigged worm, lizard, or creature bait by a bass bed can provoke parental strikes from bass protecting their nests.

Bait and tackle choices for Texas rigs

• For the most part, I fish Texas rigs with offset worm hooks in 3/0 (most worms) and 4/0 (longer worms and bulkier plastics).
• Choose EWG (Extra Wide Gap) hooks for thicker, chunkier plastics.
• For weights, save money with lead bullet sinkers or splurge on tungsten weights, which are smaller at the same weight due to their greater density.
• Choose smaller weights for shallow water and lighter plastics. Size up for deeper water, heavier cover, and windier weather. My tackle box always carries 1/8 to ½ oz bullet weights to cover typical bass fishing conditions.
• You can Texas rig most soft plastics, including plastic worms, creature baits, lizards, Senkos, and craws.
• Most anglers fish these rigs with baitcasting rods and reels. A medium-heavy rod in the 7-foot range is a versatile choice for Texas rigging your favorite plastic.
• However, you can also fish these rigs with spinning tackle, too, especially if you’re finesse-fishing lighter plastics on lighter line in shallower water with less cover.

Texas rigging may not be the trendiest pick for bass fishing. But this relatively weedless and versatile rig still catches plenty of fish—including the pigs we all dream about. Going old-school with a Texas-rigged worm is a great technique for beginners and for seasoned anglers who know they’ll catch more fish and bigger fish by casting into heavy cover.