Texas Rig

Category: Techniques

The Texas rig is the most versatile and widely used soft plastic presentation in bass fishing, consisting of a bullet-shaped slip sinker threaded on the line above a hook with the point embedded in the body of a soft plastic bait — making it completely weedless. This weedless design allows the Texas rig to be fished through the heaviest cover — grass, brush, laydowns, rocks, docks — without snagging, while the exposed hook point can be set through the bait and into the fish with a firm hookset. Weight sizes range from 1/16 ounce for shallow finesse presentations to 1 ounce or more for punching through vegetation mats. The rig works with virtually every soft plastic shape: worms, creature baits, crawfish imitations, lizards, and tubes. Pegging the weight to the line (using a toothpick, peg, or screw-in weight) keeps the sinker and bait together during the fall and through cover. An unpegged weight allows the sinker to separate from the bait on the fall, creating a more natural free-falling action. The Texas rig can be fished from 1 to 30+ feet, in any cover type, at any speed — making it the go-to choice when conditions are uncertain or when you need a single versatile presentation.