How do you fish a texas rig?

[TriStateBassin106]

Hey all,

 

The texas rig is probably my favorite rig for all around bass fishing and it's very easy to catch largies and smallies on but my question today is what style do you fish the texas rig? Are you a hopper or are you a dragger? 

 

When I fish a texas rig I usually let it sit for 5 to 10 seconds then proceed to hop it and let it sink again, then repeat.

 

I've heard other people say you should drag and drop almost like a Carolina rig, what is your guys opinion on how to fish the legendary T-rig? 

 

[A-Jay]

I will routinely attempt to work the bait back to the boat really sneaky like; imagining that I'm keeping it undetectable by the bass.  Just like most everything the bass is looking to eat.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

A-Jay

 

[Choporoz]

I'd say 40+% of my trig casts are to a target.  I have little patience to work it back if I don't get bit pretty close to where I drop it....they don't get worked back.  Another 40+% are being worked down a ledge or a pretty steep slope....those can be challenging to maintain bottom contact,  to slight drags and lifts.  The rest I most often bring back with gentle rod tip lifts/drops, when I can stay patient. 

[TriStateBassin106]

7 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

I'd say 40+% of my trig casts are to a target.  I have little patience to work it back if I don't get bit pretty close to where I drop it....they don't get worked back.  Another 40+% are being worked down a ledge or a pretty steep slope....those can be challenging to maintain bottom contact,  to slight drags and lifts.  The rest I most often bring back with gentle rod tip lifts/drops, when I can stay patient. 

I tend to do that sometimes. I've had luck catsting a T rig into Muck and got results.

[Tennessee Boy]

I do it different every cast until I find what works on a given day.  I would say I've caught the most fish on a very slow retrieve with long (20 seconds or so) pauses between short movements.  

[Hook2Jaw]

Mmm, Texas rigged worming was my first bass fishing bread and butter technique, learning in my grandfather's farm ponds.  They were muddy, gunky, and grassy, and back when my older cousin taught me we had straight shank worm hooks, 7.5" culprit worms, and 1/4oz bullet weights.  We never texposed, and we caught loads of bass casting out, allowing it to fall, lifting up before reeling slack and repeating.

 

Almost 25 years later I still lift and drop, but I'll dead stick, shake, drag, and in the case of craws, even swim my Texas rig back until I figure out what the bass are in the mood for.

[Todd2]

Cast or pitch (to cover) let it fall on semi tight line. Work it back along the bottom with drags, hops, shakes with some pauses in between. A steady swim rarely works for me but sometimes I'll be get bit reeling it back to cast again and that can be a clue to swim it. I kind of just play around till something works. When pitching to cover most bites come on the initial fall.

48 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I will routinely attempt to work the bait back to the boat really sneaky like; imagining that I'm keeping it undetectable by the bass. 

Interesting...so you drag with the reel or rod?

[A-Jay]

12 minutes ago, Todd2 said:

Cast or pitch (to cover) let it fall on semi tight line. Work it back along the bottom with drags, hops, shakes with some pauses in between. A steady swim rarely works for me but sometimes I'll be get bit reeling it back to cast again and that can be a clue to swim it. I kind of just play around till something works. When pitching to cover most bites come on the initial fall.

Interesting...so you drag with the reel or rod?

I mostly use the rod ~ 

It's not magic - just a mind set.  

Movements are slow, subtle and designed not to attract attention.

I bank on the fact that Old Bertha is the Mistress of her domain, she knows the baits there.

Perhaps if the bait is acting like it doesn't know she's there and not acting like 'it's trying to get away', it makes it appear like an easy meal.

I think she likes that.

A-Jay

 

[Catt]

Short Stroking!

After my lure has sat on the bottom for 20-30 seconds I'll stroke upwards 2-3', let it fall back down, I do this 3 times quickly before pausing for 20-30 seconds. I do this all the way back to the boat. If I'm casting in 10' of water or less the height of the strokes are not as high.

 

When a bass attacks a school of shad, minnows, perch, ect, does it try to run down the healthiest, fastest, the one out front?

 

No it targets the slowest, the one swimming erratically, the one drawing attention to itself.

 

When a crawfish senses danger does it nonchalantly walk away?

 

No it makes 3 quick hops up off the bottom, pauses briefly, and makes 3 more quick hops until it feels it's reached a safe distance.

 

I want my lure to draw the bass's attention; I want that bass to say "I can catch that one!".

[tkunk]

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

Short Stroking!

After my lure has sat on the bottom for 20-30 seconds I'll stroke upwards 2-3', let it fall back down, I do this 3 times quickly before pausing for 20-30 seconds. I do this all the way back to the boat. If I'm casting in 10' of water or less the height of the strokes are not as high.

That's, what, five minutes per cast? Do you only t-rig when you're highly confident that there are fish around? Mostly asking because I'm impatient and usually get outfished by guys like you.

 

 

[Brad Reid]

10 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I mostly use the rod ~ 

It's not magic - just a mind set.  

Movements are slow, subtle and designed not to attract attention.

I bank on the fact that Old Bertha is the Mistress of her domain, she knows the baits there.

Perhaps if the bait is acting like it doesn't know she's there and not acting like 'it's trying to get away', it makes it appear like an easy meal.

I think she likes that.

A-Jay

 

Along the same line as what A-Jay wrote, if you can imagine a bass sitting somewhere, say, under a pad, under a boat house/dock, in a bush, in the shade behind a rock, it is hard to imagine that it is there all by itself. Just as in a large aquarium like we see in some of the big fishing stores/restaurants, there are likely other nearby bass of different sizes, likely some panfish, some minnow/bait fish action. Things scooting along the bottom and surface, too. Smaller fish remain weary of larger ones, no doubt, but they often occupy space close to things that could eat them. So, my guess is a bass in a good ambush location ALWAYS has meal choices, not just our presentations. We are competing against other possible meals.

 

For T-Rigged plastics, what usually works best for me is a very slow presentation. If I cast one out and it gets bit on the drop, I change my thought process knowing I have more active feeders. I speed up a bit, fish competing for food act different than fish taking naps.

 

Brad

[WRB]

Since I have been chastised for suggesting a T-rig has a bullet and it's not a weedless hooking technique I will venture to say my T-rig usually is made up with a glass faceted bead inbetween the sliding bullet weight and hook. The glass bead adds a clicking sound that I believe increases strikes. My retrieve technique is making bottom contact then shaking the line several times before lifting the rod tip to move the worm about a foot then let it sink back to the bottom repeating a few shakes. How fast the retreive is depend on how the bass are reacting to presentation and if working up hill, down hill or sideways.

Tom

[Catt]

29 minutes ago, portiabrat said:

That's, what, five minutes per cast?

 

Depends on how far I cast but ya it can take 4-5 minutes.

 

29 minutes ago, portiabrat said:

Do you only t-rig when you're highly confident that there are fish around?

 

No I fish a Texas Rig or Jig-n-Craw 85-90% of the time.

 

Now ya got understand that's how I like to fish a Texas Rig, but on any given day the bass may want it faster... I'm capable of that.

 

I'll also add I seldom if ever peg my weight, I want that worm chasing that bullet weight to bottom...can we say predator/prey!

 

Lagniappe: I fish my Jig-n-Craw the same way 

[bowhunter63]

Mostly a dragger, But like to swim auger tail worms too.

[roadwarrior]

https://www.bassresource.com/content/search?SearchText=texas+rig&BrowsePageLimit=30

 

[scaleface]

I'm definitely a hopper and I start working it as soon as it touches down . 

[ike8120]

I let it sink, raise rod, then reel in slack, sometimes twitch it 

[Mobasser]

I like to cast, let the t rig hit bottom, and keep my rod vertical, slow hopping the worm. Most all strikes have come on the fall, but some bass may hit at any point. I fish them pretty slow, and don't peg my slip sinker

[Russ E]

21 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I will routinely attempt to work the bait back to the boat really sneaky like; imagining that I'm keeping it undetectable by the bass.  Just like most everything the bass is looking to eat.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

A-Jay

 

^^^ this is a perfect explanation of what I try to accomplish.

Especially if I am dragging big worms across offshore structure in summer.

This is the one of the few times I put my pedestal seat in the boat, turn on spotlock, and slowly sneak worms across structure. This often produces some of my biggest fish of the year.

If you are a run and gun fisherman this technique will drive you crazy, but it can produce big fish.

[Log Catcher]

I fish my Texas rigs slow like most of the others on here. One thing I change is I peg my sinker. I have always preferred to fish fish it that way and had good luck doing it that way.

[greentrout]

work the worm slooow and slower and hop it along fast and sometimes inch it along dragging it if the terrain allows ... like to go with as light a weight i can get away with ... at least a 7ft. casting rod med. and med heavy ... with a bc reel with at least 30" ipt ... bring it in sooner than most ...and cast again ...

 

good fishing ...

[Bankbeater]

This time of year once the bait is out of the cover I'll go ahead and reel it back in.  While it's in the cover I will hop it, drag it with sweeps of the rod, drag it on the bottom with the reel, or dead stick it.  I'll let the bass tell me what they want.

[Todd2]

On 7/18/2019 at 3:48 PM, WRB said:

My retrieve technique is making bottom contact then shaking the line several times before lifting the rod tip to move the worm about a foot then let it sink back to the bottom repeating a few shakes.

Doodle slide?

[N Florida Mike]

I catch most of mine on the initial drop. I wait app 15 seconds, maybe longer in deeper water. Maybe as many as 80% of the fish I catch are caught this way. First lift of the rod to check , and they are on .

I get most of the rest of them reeling at or near the top of the water column. 

I get a few by reeling a few feet, stopping, reeling a few more feet, stopping.

There are some variations depending on the bait, like flukes , for example. I twitch and swoop them, but still catch more on the first fall of the bait. 

[Todd2]

On 7/18/2019 at 2:10 PM, pondhopperNJ said:

 what is your guys opinion on how to fish the legendary T-rig? 

 

So what I'm seeing from some of the big guns on this forum weighing in is that....there is no one way to fish it. I see hopping, shaking, dragging, swimming, etc. A lot of different types of water no doubt..and seasonal differences but it might be hard to find a more versatile technique of catching Bass.

 

I'll be throwing it early and often tonight when the sun sets..too hot now.