Texas Rig 101 – How to Rig & Fish

A Texas rig is a popular and versatile fishing technique that involves attaching a soft plastic bait to a specially designed hook, which is then weighted with a bullet-shaped sinker. This rigging method is weedless, which means you can fish it in dense vegetation and heavy cover, without getting snagged.

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How to Setup a Texas Rig

1. Start by threading a bullet weight on your line,N point side first so it’s facing your reel.
2. Tie on a 3/0 or 4/0 offset shank worm hook with a palamer knot.
3. Thread the point of the hook down through the middle of the worm at the nose and then come out the side about 1/8 to 1/4 inch down.
4. Slide the worm up the hook until you get to the offset bend. At the bend rotate your worm as you slide it over the bend.
5. Lay the tail end of the worm next to the hook to find the location where the bend meets at the worm. Stretch the worm and thread your hook up at that precise point until it’s through the worm and the worm is perfectly straight on the hook.
6. Take the hook point and just barely skin hook it to make your rig weedless.

How to Fish a Texas Rig for Bass

All you really have to do is drag it across the bottom and reel up the slack. After reeling up the slack wait for a few seconds before repeating the process.

If your line moves or tightens during the pause, set the hook, a fish picked up your bait. When fishing a texas rig be patient and fish it slow.

With the texas rig being so weedless you can also throw it in light and heavy cover. You still work it the same way as open water. Slowly work it through the cover pausing every so often.

A texas rig is extremely easy to fish and is great for beginners. There are only a few key steps to fishing it successfully:

1. Cast your texas rig near cover or structure. These are high percentage areas where bass are often hiding. These areas include submerged trees, rocks, grass edges, docks, and lily pad fields.
2. There are few different retrieval techniques you can use with a Texas rig, such as:
   • Dragging: Slowly drag the rig along the bottom by lifting your rod tip and reeling in the slack. This technique is effective for imitating a crawling creature like a crawfish.
   • Hopping: Give the rod a few gentle upward twitches, causing the bait to hop off the bottom. This technique can be useful for imitating the erratic movements of an injured baitfish or worm.
   • Swimming: Retrieve at a steady pace with occasional pauses, this is a great way to cover water extremely fast!

What Type of Hook to Use for Texas Rig

There are 3 styles of hooks for a texas rig: straight shank hooks, offset hooks, and wide gap hooks. The biggest differences between these types is the angle the hook point sticks out.

• Straight Shank Hooks – hook comes out at a 30 degree angle when texas rigged.
  • Advantage: Higher hookup ratio
  • Disadvantage: Gets hung up more often & tears baits more easily.
• Offset – allows the bait to sit flat against the hook point when texas rigged.
  • Advantage: More weedless & soft plastic baits last longer
  • Disadvantage: Lower hookup ratio.
• Extra Wide Gap – allows the bait to sit flat against the hook point while also having more room between the hook point and bait.
  • Advantage: Weedless, soft plastic baits last longer, better hookup than offset
  • Disadvantage: Lower hookup ratio than straight shank

I like to use wide gap (EWG) style hooks most of the time for my texas rigs.

What Size Hook do You Need for Texas rig?

Baits	Hook Size
Worms under 6″	2/0
Lizards and 6″ Worms	3/0
7″ – 8″ Worms	4/0
Beaver and Craw Baits	4/0
10″ or Larger Worms	5/0
Creature and Flipping Baits	5/0

Best Texas Rig Baits

With a texas rig you can use any of your favorite soft plastics. Below I will give you a handful of my favorite baits to texas rig. I broke it down into two categories: worms, and creature/craws. The baits at the top are more finesse baits and the baits on the bottom are more power fishing baits.

What is the Best Weight for a Texas Rig

For a texas rig you are going to want a bullet style weight. These come in lead or tungsten. Tungsten are better, but more expensive. Lead are cheaper, but get the job done. For a full breakdown read our tungsten vs lead weight comparison.

Weight Size

There are two factors you should consider when choosing a weight for a texas rig; the depth, and cover you are targeting.

Weight	Depth or Cover
1/8 oz	Less than 15ft deep, open water
1/4 oz	15-20ft deep or light cover
1/2 oz	20ft + deep or thick cover
1-2 oz	Punching super heavy mats

Best Texas Rig Weights

• Tungsten – Shaddock
• Lead – Dr.Fish

Should You Peg a Texas Rig?

Pegging a texas rig involves adding a bobber stop to your line in order to pin the weight to the bait. You should peg your texas rig when fishing in heavy cover.

• Pegged – Heavy cover
• Unpegged – Open water or light cover

Having your weight pegged to your bait will help force the bait through thick vegetation. The disadvantage is your bait will fall fast and unnatural when in open water. 

An unpegged weight will slide up your line and sink faster than the bait. This allows your bait sink slower and more natural. The disadvantage of this is your weight and bait can travel a different path around cover and which can cause more hang ups.

For pegs I use Peg X.

Gear Up for Texas Rig Fishing

Having the right rod for fishing a texas rig can play a large role in your success. A medium-heavy action rod will be the most versatile option but both medium, and heavy action rods have their uses. Pair it with a suitable reel loaded with a 12-20 lb fluorocarbon or braided line with a fluorocarbon leader.

Final Thoughts

Mastering the Texas rig is a valuable skill for anyone looking to increase their success on the water. It’s adaptability to get through cover without getting hung up make it an indispensable tool to have in your arsenal. It’s the perfect setup kids or those pond fishing.