Struggling with Texas Rig Fishing

[kirkkoh]

Ive recently been trying to use and gain confidence in my "finesse" fishing techniques. TX rig, ned rig, shakeyhead, etc. i rarely fish these techniques because i hate how slow and boring it can be IMO. i've noticed that i think i would prefer TX rig fishing on a spinning reel...? i have years of experience with tx rigging on a baitcaster but ive always felt my presentations sucked regardless of what oz weight im throwing and although i know exactly how i want to work the bait in my head i struggle to match those motions physically with my rod and reel sequences, almost like its a brain comprehension thing. Im kind of puzzled lol. when i use a spinning reel. everything feels natural, i can work my bait exactly how i envision it in my head. all of my pop, drag, lift, and reel sequences seem to flow together much better. am i going crazy or does this seem logical?

[roadwarrior]

Doesn't seem logical to me, but there is nothing wrong with using spinning tackle for

everything.

[detroit1]

Tom Mann used spinning rods fishing his Jelly worms....

[Happybeerbuzz]

When I first started using baitcasting gear for T-rigs, I use to find it really inconvenient to make pitches and have to manually pull line off the spool to make by bait drop vertically.  Since then I have learned to adjust my technique where I do a combination of very little spool tension, finishing the pitch with the rod tip higher to allow for more slack in the cast, and manually pulling line out of the reel.  Leaving the bail of my spinning rod open seemed so much less hassle and still does.  However I want to pitch with 12-20 test mono/FC or 50# braid so I got use to it.

 

 

[dodgeguy]

I find the best way to fish a trig is slow and boring drags with dead sticking sometimes. It takes patience. I hated it at first but dead sticking on a slow day can be the best. I prefer baitcaster for everything.

[Skunkmaster-k]

Nah you ain’t going crazy. I’m more comfortable dragging baits with a spinning rod too. Or maybe we’re both crazy and I don’t know it. Hmmm

[Captain Phil]

I think the Texas rig fishes better on a spinning outfit. I'm right handed and I can work the bait better when holding a spinning rod in my right hand.  My hook sets are better too.  Setting the hook while holding a casting rod in my left hand always seemed awkward to me.  Slowing down your presentation is a challenge for many people.  It's also more productive.   Try fishing a Texas rigged Zoom Trick worm with no sinker and only the weight of the hook on 8 pound mono or fluorocarbon line.  It takes more time for the worm to sink to the bottom.  It's also a deadly presentation.  That will teach you the power of slow fishing.

[Catt]

One of the biggest misconception anglers have regarding a Texas Rig is that it has to be fished slow.

 

I seldom drag a worm, preferring to hop it, short stroke it, or what ever y'all wanna call it. 

 

Flipping-n-pitching are other techniques that can be fished faster.

 

Don't fall into the trap of many that think weightless or the lightest weight you can get away with. 

 

R.O.F. Rate of Fall is the key to Texas Rigs or Jig-n-Craws.

 

As for the spinning reel...roll with it!

[Tatulatard]

7 hours ago, kirkkoh said:

Ive recently been trying to use and gain confidence in my "finesse" fishing techniques. TX rig, ned rig, shakeyhead, etc. i rarely fish these techniques because i hate how slow and boring it can be IMO. i've noticed that i think i would prefer TX rig fishing on a spinning reel...? i have years of experience with tx rigging on a baitcaster but ive always felt my presentations sucked regardless of what oz weight im throwing and although i know exactly how i want to work the bait in my head i struggle to match those motions physically with my rod and reel sequences, almost like its a brain comprehension thing. Im kind of puzzled lol. when i use a spinning reel. everything feels natural, i can work my bait exactly how i envision it in my head. all of my pop, drag, lift, and reel sequences seem to flow together much better. am i going crazy or does this seem logical?

You are holding a stick with a spinning rod.  You are wrapping your hand around the side of a reel and stick when using a bait cast rod and reel.  

[Big Hands]

I definitely prefer casting gear for Texas rig fishing, but encourage others to fish whatever way they want if that's how they want to fish. If you don't like fishing with casting gear for Texas rigs, do what makes you happy.

 

If the bait is landing in deeper water and I don't want to have it pendulum toward me, I will try to cast farther than I need to, and then raise the tip and then dip it back down a second before splashdown just before the bait lands. I do this with casting and spinning gear if I feel the need. This will regulate the distance and it will strip out some extra line to let the bait begin sinking straight down. I can strip out a little more line before the line gets tight too if I want it to sink more. 

 

The fish will tell you how they want you to present the bait. I'll be the first to admit that I don't always care to listen, and sometimes I just want to do what I want to do anyway.

 

I enjoy a slow methodical presentation and I think it takes more focus to fish that way. I'm sure others think it's just mindless and boring.

 

I also know that if I only fish using a slow methodical presentation, then that's the only thing that will work for me, unless I get bit reeling the bait in at the end of a cast. . .

[GRiver]

4 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

o.  Setting the hook while holding a casting rod in my left hand always seemed awkward to me. 

That was one of the reason I have left handed bait casters… I like fishing Texas rigged smaller, lighter baits with a spinning rig too. 

[Captain Phil]

11 hours ago, GRiver said:

That was one of the reason I have left handed bait casters… I like fishing Texas rigged smaller, lighter baits with a spinning rig too. 

 

Back in the 80s I experimented with left handed bait casters.  I did this for the same reasons I stated above.  It worked, but it was inconvenient.   Most of my finesse fishing is done with spinning outfits.   I've won a lot of tournaments fishing light tackle when my competition was power fishing.  The Mojo rig is something hardly anyone talks about any more.  It was a secret weapon for many years.

[Bankc]

I'm not a licensed psychologist, so I can't say if you're going crazy.  But I would say that it's not really logical.  Though I also know enough about the human brain to know that logic isn't what drives us, despite what we choose to believe.  

 

Ultimately, whatever works for you is what you should do.  There are some things that you need to learn to do a certain way, because learning to do them the wrong way will either stunt your growth or do physical harm to your body over time.  This isn't one of those situations though.  

[GaryH]

Not crazy. Spinning reel / bait caster whichever one feels right to you. Slow retrieve, fast retrieve let the fish tell you what they want at any given time. Big key is perseverance on your part.

[kirkkoh]

21 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

I think the Texas rig fishes better on a spinning outfit. I'm right handed and I can work the bait better when holding a spinning rod in my right hand.  My hook sets are better too.  Setting the hook while holding a casting rod in my left hand always seemed awkward to me.  Slowing down your presentation is a challenge for many people.  It's also more productive.   Try fishing a Texas rigged Zoom Trick worm with no sinker and only the weight of the hook on 8 pound mono or fluorocarbon line.  It takes more time for the worm to sink to the bottom.  It's also a deadly presentation.  That will teach you the power of slow fishing.

I CANT STAND IT but im trying lol!! especially those days where you just have to grind... The last thing i want to be doing is sitting in a large unproductive area fishing a slow and tedious finesse rig thinking they are just being finicky when they just arent there.

[kirkkoh]

On 12/11/2022 at 8:06 AM, Happybeerbuzz said:

When I first started using baitcasting gear for T-rigs, I use to find it really inconvenient to make pitches and have to manually pull line off the spool to make by bait drop vertically.  Since then I have learned to adjust my technique where I do a combination of very little spool tension, finishing the pitch with the rod tip higher to allow for more slack in the cast, and manually pulling line out of the reel.  Leaving the bail of my spinning rod open seemed so much less hassle and still does.  However I want to pitch with 12-20 test mono/FC or 50# braid so I got use to it.

 

 

no mono for me... not sensitive compared to others.

[kirkkoh]

21 hours ago, Catt said:

One of the biggest misconception anglers have regarding a Texas Rig is that it has to be fished slow.

 

I seldom drag a worm, preferring to hop it, short stroke it, or what ever y'all wanna call it. 

 

Flipping-n-pitching are other techniques that can be fished faster.

 

Don't fall into the trap of many that think weightless or the lightest weight you can get away with. 

 

R.O.F. Rate of Fall is the key to Texas Rigs or Jig-n-Craws.

 

As for the spinning reel...roll with it!

Im a firm believer in the lightest you can get away with. i feel like most people misinterpret that saying, including you.

 

The idea is to get the most natural looking presentation and rate of fall experimenting with different oz weights. i find it is much easier to fish a lure too fast than to fish it too slow.

 

once i find that good natural presentation and rate of fall, its likely its gonna be my highest chance of catching fish or "getting away with it". if i go lighter my bait isnt going down in the water column or going haywire in the current with a bad presentation. i go too heavy and its like a meteor landing next to the fish and a superfast unnatural rate of fall. either way "you arent getting away with it"

 

if you go lig

[Tatulatard]

Bass are stupid. They'll eat a senko with a d**n Texas rig weight on it.  Can you believe it?  Don't they know a senko should only be fished weightless to allow for that beautiful fluttering action and that a weight ruins it.  Stupid fish.  I don't catch dumb fish so I fish my plastics weightless or with as little weight as possible.  It looks better in the water to me and thats what really counts.

[Jrob78]

43 minutes ago, kirkkoh said:

Im a firm believer in the lightest you can get away with. i feel like most people misinterpret that saying, including you.

 

The idea is to get the most natural looking presentation and rate of fall experimenting with different oz weights. i find it is much easier to fish a lure too fast than to fish it too slow.

 

once i find that good natural presentation and rate of fall, its likely its gonna be my highest chance of catching fish or "getting away with it". if i go lighter my bait isnt going down in the water column or going haywire in the current with a bad presentation. i go too heavy and its like a meteor landing next to the fish and a superfast unnatural rate of fall. either way "you arent getting away with it"

 

if you go lig

Sometimes the fish want that fast fall a heavy weight provides. Assuming the lightest weight and what you believe to be the most natural rate of fall will always work the best is a mistake. Assuming a TX rig should always be fished as slow as possible is also a mistake. Sometimes those things work the best, sometimes the opposite is true. There are no rules.

[GaryH]

22 minutes ago, Jrob78 said:

Sometimes the fish want that fast fall a heavy weight provides. Assuming the lightest weight and what you believe to be the most natural rate of fall will always work the best is a mistake. Assuming a TX rig should always be fished as slow as possible is also a mistake. Sometimes those things work the best, sometimes the opposite is true. There are no rules.

Exactly…..  that’s what makes fishing fun. You need to find out what they want!!! And how they want it.

[bowhunter63]

Roland Martin did back in the day. I do on the River. 1/8 ounce sinker is what i use most the time. It works 

[WRB]

My version of a Texas rig includes a bullet weight, not just a weedless hooked soft plastic worm or creature.

I use Spinning a lot for finesse worm fishing but not T-rigs, only bait casting tackle.

Reason feeling line easier with bait casting reel and using line diameter exceeding .010D, usually 12# test daytime and 15# nights.

Tom

 

[Aaron_H]

On 12/11/2022 at 7:33 AM, kirkkoh said:

Ive recently been trying to use and gain confidence in my "finesse" fishing techniques. TX rig, ned rig, shakeyhead, etc. i rarely fish these techniques because i hate how slow and boring it can be IMO. i've noticed that i think i would prefer TX rig fishing on a spinning reel...? i have years of experience with tx rigging on a baitcaster but ive always felt my presentations sucked regardless of what oz weight im throwing and although i know exactly how i want to work the bait in my head i struggle to match those motions physically with my rod and reel sequences, almost like its a brain comprehension thing. Im kind of puzzled lol. when i use a spinning reel. everything feels natural, i can work my bait exactly how i envision it in my head. all of my pop, drag, lift, and reel sequences seem to flow together much better. am i going crazy or does this seem logical?

 

I fished a Texas rig for years on spinning gear, caught many fish and good fish doing it. The fish don't know what combo you're throwing, use what feels natural to you and enjoy.

[BrianMDTX]

If I'm fishing a Texas rig with a bullet weight, I'm using my baitcaster. If I'm fishing a weightless TR, I'm using a spinning rig. 

[Bankbeater]

If I'm fishing a 1/16 or 1/8 ounce Texas rig then I'm using spinning tackle.  For heavier weights I use a baitcaster.