Cold Water Texas Rig Bites

[33oldtimer]

I haven't used Texas Rigs much since the late summer. During the Fall I used moving baits. I've had bites on 2 different bodies of water but I missed the last 3 bites on Texas Rigs, 2 were stick baits, 1 was a beaver style plastic and I used ewg hooks all 3 times. And the 3 bites were good with my line moving. During the summer I had no issues. My question is, are the bass biting differently in the cold water? Picking it up by the tail and not really taking the bait? Or are ewg hooks not as effective with cold water bass? Surprised I'm missing these bites and welcome any insight you might have on cold water bass and using a Texas Rig. Thanks!

[Pat Brown]

I stopped using EWG hooks a long time ago.  Missed too many fish on the hookset for my liking. Specifically with Texas rigs.

 

For Texas rigs, I like offset round bend worm hooks.  A little trickier to rig but I stopped missing fish on hooksets.  It seems to drive the hook point up and out and into the roof of a fishes mouth much more naturally.

 

Beyond that, they do tend to bite a little lighter in the cold and sometimes I like to make sure they have it more so than warm months.

[Catt]

21 minutes ago, 33oldtimer said:

, are the bass biting differently in the cold water?

 

Nope 

 

21 minutes ago, 33oldtimer said:

Picking it up by the tail and not really taking the bait?

 

Nope

 

22 minutes ago, 33oldtimer said:

Or are ewg hooks not as effective with cold water bass?

 

Nope

 

When my hookup ratio goes down I look in the mirror.

[33oldtimer]

19 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

I stopped using EWG hooks a long time ago.  Missed too many fish on the hookset for my liking. Specifically with Texas rigs.

 

For Texas rigs, I like offset round bend worm hooks.  A little trickier to rig but I stopped missing fish on hooksets.  It seems to drive the hook point up and out and into the roof of a fishes mouth much more naturally.

 

Beyond that, they do tend to bite a little lighter in the cold and sometimes I like to make sure they have it more so than warm months.

Yep. Been thinking more about using offset worm hooks. Also thinking I need to give the fish more time to take the lure.

[PaulVE64]

What water temp?

Under 40°F all my bites are lighter if only because the bass slow down

[scaleface]

I have never caught much on T rigs when the water drops below 50 degrees. Dont know why. And T-rigs are the lures I fish most.

[33oldtimer]

11 minutes ago, PaulVE64 said:

What water temp?

Under 40°F all my bites are lighter if only because the bass slow down

Pretty cold. One bite I got yesterday and skim ice was starting to form at the shady end of the pond.

9 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I have never caught much on T rigs when the water drops below 50 degrees. Dont know why. And T-rigs are the lures I fish most.

Definitely fishing smaller profile lures, and 4" stick baits.

[WRB]

1. Do not peg the sinker, free sliding or a free rig.

2. Try putting slight pressure on the line between your finger reel in free spool to determine if the bass is dropping the soft plastics. Line still moving reel to engage and set the hook.

Getting bites is hard part and you are doing that.

Tom

[33oldtimer]

11 minutes ago, WRB said:

1. Do not peg the sinker, free sliding or a free rig.

2. Try putting slight pressure on the line between your finger reel in free spool to determine if the bass is dropping the soft plastics. Line still moving reel to engage and set the hook.

Getting bites is hard part and you are doing that.

Tom

I almost never peg the sinker.  I could load up the rod a bit to see if the bass is still there, I do that for jigs, but never had to for T-Rigs. That's the tough part, bites are so few right now with the cold water it is painful to miss 3 good T-Rig bites in a row.

[WRB]

When mis the hook set is the soft plastic balled up in the hook gap? Both the stick worm and beaver are large diameter io wide bodied soft plastics, you may need to peg the head end to the hook eye or use keeper style hooks.

Glenn has a video using heavy mono to peg with and I like to use Peg-It rubber peg through the hook eye before rigging the soft plastic. With the rubber peg put it through the hook eye and trim off with about 1/8” sticking out on both sides.

Keep hooks have built on keeper near the hook eye, all help to prevent the soft plastic sliding down the hook shank.

Tom

[33oldtimer]

13 minutes ago, WRB said:

When mis the hook set is the soft plastic balled up in the hook gap? Both the stick worm and beaver are large diameter io wide bodied soft plastics, you may need to peg the head end to the hook eye or use keeper style hooks.

Glenn has a video using heavy mono to peg with and I like to use Peg-It rubber peg through the hook eye before rigging the soft plastic. With the rubber peg put it through the hook eye and trim off with about 1/8” sticking out on both sides.

Keep hooks have built on keeper near the hook eye, all help to prevent the soft plastic sliding down the hook shank.

Tom

I recently started pegging larger soft plastics at the top of the offset hook with a tooth pick.

[WRB]

Be carefull you don’t damage the line with a wooden tooth pick. So the plastic wasn’t balled up, you just missed setting the hook.

The reason I am not a fan of EWG hooks is they can turn flat in the bass mouth when crunched down, they cam over.

Tom 

[Catt]

During cold water periods I go the opposite direction. 

 

Larger profile & heavier weights. I will go a heavy as 3/4 oz. 

 

Bass will still chase food just not very far. 

[txchaser]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

During cold water periods I go the opposite direction. 

 

Larger profile & heavier weights. I will go a heavy as 3/4 oz. 

 

Bass will still chase food just not very far. 

Y'all pay attention, Catt spends a lot of time with a t-rig in his hands. 

 

@Catt do you have a favorite winter profile on a t-rig? 

[Catt]

7 hours ago, txchaser said:

do you have a favorite winter profile on a t-rig? 

 

Nah!

Maybe 

 

Creatures & craws early in the season.

Lizards as pre-spawn approaches 

 

Hogwalla 😉

[thinkingredneck]

My hook up rates went up dramatically when I quit using ewg hooks.  Straight worm hooks or Tru turn (if sharpened) hook best but hang up more.  Off set round are the sweet spot for me in cover.

In MS I don't fish really cold water compared to you so I don't know much about it.

[Pat Brown]

I don't think pegging or not pegging is a bite thing personally.  I get lots of bites on both - I will however say, pegged is a lot more efficient when you're trying to feel bites on the fall in very heavy cover.

 

I like unpegged weights most of the time, especially if the water is more stained and the cover is more sparse.

 

In colder weather I often find fish suspending around structure and unpegged usually makes more sense in those situations.

 

If you're fishing inside of a thick brush pile or a very big underwater tree for bass, peg it or get ready to hang up a lot.

 

That's just my approach and it may or may not be correct.  😂

[Catt]

[33oldtimer]

I'm going to start using offset round bend worm hooks whenever I can, but seems I'm mostly stuck with ewg hooks for thick plastics. I've heard you can bend the hook so it's slightly out of alignment with the hook eye for better hook ups. Anyone ever try that?

[Pat Brown]

With flukes and toads and other baits like that where an EWG makes more sense, I bend the point out to where it's straight /bent outward ever so slightly and just accept it might hang up more.  I catch the fish that bite.

[Catt]

I throw Mustad Straight Shank Round Bend Hooks except for Senkos, Flukes, Horny Toads & Ribbits.

[Carolina Pines]

I might show this thread to my brother in law, he struggles sometimes fishing mag speed worms rigged weightless on EWG hooks.  Some days he's on, some days not so much. 

 

I tried to tell him he needs to adjust his hookset... but I could tell it was bothering him watching me catch nearly everything that bites my mag trick worms.  He'd miss a fish, then I'd throw to the same spot with my trick worm and catch it. 🤣🤣

 

I dunno, 5/0 EWG has worked so well for decades with the mag trick worms I never thought about using worm hooks.  Those mag worms are pretty thick...  I just reel down and sweep hard to the side, gets them right in the corner of the mouth pretty much every time.

 

My opinion is they do bite differently (softer) in the colder water, and they seem to drop it sooner as well.  You just gotta figure out when to stick them.  For me in the winter it's maybe 1-2 seconds after the initial bite.  

 

[ChrisD46]

19 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I stopped using EWG hooks a long time ago.  Missed too many fish on the hookset for my liking. Specifically with Texas rigs.

 

For Texas rigs, I like offset round bend worm hooks.  A little trickier to rig but I stopped missing fish on hooksets.  It seems to drive the hook point up and out and into the roof of a fishes mouth much more naturally.

 

Beyond that, they do tend to bite a little lighter in the cold and sometimes I like to make sure they have it more so than warm months.

Unless the soft plastic girth requires an EWG hook or dragging a C-Rig , I too believe a round bend offset or offset O’Shaughnessy hooks (the late A - Mart’s fav) are best for cast and retrieve T-Rig soft plastics . If you are flipping / pitching to a target - then a straight shank hook for soft  plastics is more appropriate . *When I moved away from EWG hooks for T-Rigs I experimented with inexpensive BPS hooks in the styles I shared above in sizes from 2/0 up to 5/0 . When I better dialed in the sizes I used most then I expanded to using better Owner hooks in the sizes / styles I used most . Hope this helps ! 

[Bluebasser86]

I t rig fairly often in cold water. My go to baits are a 5" stick worm or baby brush hog on a 4/0 Owner Cover Shot hook pegged to an 1/8oz bullet weight. 

[Catt]

2 hours ago, ChrisD46 said:

If you are flipping / pitching to a target - then a straight shank hook for soft  plastics is more appropriate

 

Why?

 

Lots of anglers follow this theory & I don't understand why.