It's called the Texas rig, but it's caught big bass the world over. Anglers from the California Delta to Lake Okeechobee use the Texas rig to put a soft plastic lure where others dare not go. Get familiar with one of the most effective bass catching techniques with SmallmouthCrush as he walks through Texas rigging basics.

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Video transcript:

Travis Manson:

Hey, guys, Travis Manson here. I want to talk about the basics of a Texas Rig. There's so many different applications when you can use a Texas Rig. I find myself using the Texas Rig all the time but I understand if you're brand new to fishing or if you haven't used the Texas Rig a lot in the past there's some key, important pieces of the puzzle that I need to talk to you about in order for you to fish this rig effectively.

Travis Manson:
So the first thing about a Texas Rig is whether or not you're going to peg or unpeg your weight. In this case I'm going to use a Bobber Stopper and that's going to allow me to peg that weight to the bait and there's a lot of benefits with that. One of them is being able to effectively fish that bait and have complete contact with it as it's coming through cover.

Travis Manson:
So I'm just going to take a tungsten weight, this is a 3/8-ounce. Of course there's a lot of different sizes and there's so many different applications when you're Texas Rigging that the type of cover you're fishing's really going to depend on the size of the weight that you're going to use. So in this case we're going to go with a 3/8-ounce. So once I put that weight on there I'm going to use an extra wide gap hook. There's a lot of different hooks on the market, you can use a straight shank, a worm hook, a round bend. In this situation we're going to use extra wide gap and that pairs well with any type of creature bait, any type of worm or lizard, whatever the case may be, this extra wide gap hook is going to be a pretty good fit for that situation.

Travis Manson:
All I'm going to do is tie that on. Use whatever knot you're comfortable with. I'm going to use a Palomar. So I want you to take notice of where I'm going to cut this. You want to be pretty close to the knot and that's going to allow you to really get this bait threaded on perfectly. And that's the key to Texas Rigging, is rigging your bait perfectly.

Travis Manson:
So I'm going to take this hook point, I'm going to insert it at the tip of the bait and I'm going to push it through about a quarter of an inch. So I'm going to take my finger and I'm actually going to push that plastic through there so it comes out dead center, that's the most important part of rigging this, is making sure that line comes out dead center. I'm going to take my finger and I'm actually going to use this to determine where that hook point needs to come out of the plastic because you want to keep this straight. And so once I have that lined up I simply push that hook point through, and you can see here, it's perfectly centered.

Travis Manson:
I'm going to take my weight now and I slide that down. I take my peg and now I have it perfectly pegged, perfectly straight, and that's going to allow that bait to look extremely natural in the water. If you have it twisted or if you have it off just a little bit take the time to redo it. It's really important that that bait looks natural.

Travis Manson:
And the benefit of rigging something, Texas Rigged of course, is being able to bury that hook point back into the plastic which is going to allow you to fish this in a lot of places where you cannot effectively fish a bait because it's going to get caught, it's going to get hung up, you're going to be around grass, you're going to be around structure. Having that hook point buried is going to allow that bait to come through that cover extremely well. So fishing the Texas Rig, it's a very versatile bait. Now that it's rigged perfectly we can actually try to catch a few fish with it.

Travis Manson:
So there's a lot of ways to fish this Texas Rig. I can go out and I can actually pitch it to targets. There's a lot of laydowns in here, a lot of stumps, and I'm just working that worm through there and because it's rigged Texas Rig I'm able to come through this cover extremely well and not get hung up. So again, when I rigged this one it was pegged and that's going to allow me to have a lot better bottom contact. So on this long cast, because it's pegged, I'm able to work this bait back and I can feel exactly what that weight and what that worm's doing.

Travis Manson:
So with this Texas Rig we're going to go on to make a long cast and because it's so versatile, there's a lot of different retrieves that you can make with this. You can cast it out there and you can just keep it on the bottom and make slow retrieve with that Texas Rig worm. I can speed it up. Really depends on the fish's mood.

Travis Manson:
And another technique that you can do with a Texas Rig, especially around grass, you can actually swim it. So specifically with this bait because it has a rage tail, it's got a nice little kick to it, it's got a lot of action and you can actually take this Texas Rig, fish it around grass, make a nice cast and just swim it back real slow. And it's not going to get hung up. It's going to come through that grass really clean. And oftentimes that's one of the most effective ways to catch fish, Texas Rigging in the grass. There's so many different applications where a Texas Rig bait will work great whether it be a swim bait, whether it be a creature bait, whether it be a lizard, even a tube, works great Texas Rig.