One of the go-to finesse fishing rigs for catching bass is a Texas rigged soft plastic. Whether you use a 4″ stick bait, a creature bait or a big, 10″ worm, Texas rigging is easy and effective. Its also very versatile. There are so many ways to fish a Texas rigged soft plastic! Here are my three favorite techniques that have proven effective at catching bass.
Dead-sticking – the Do Nothing Approach
My favorite method for catching finicky summer bass under docks and cover is dead-sticking a 4″ or 5″ stick bait. What is dead-sticking? Cast your lure, click your bale shut and let it drop. I usually count to 15 or 20 before I so much as take the slack out. If I get no bite, I lift my rod @6inches and let it drop, counting only to 10 this time. Still no bite? I reel it in quickly. I use this method a lot when I am skipping way back to the shoreline under docks. There are some monsters lurking in those hard to reach, dark corners. Its also great for skipping under low lying bushes or lay downs. Its weedless setup is ideal for casting around laydowns with this method also, as you will not get snagged on any underwater branches.
Topwater Teaser
Another way I like to use a Texas-rigged soft plastic is by reeling it back just below the surface, like a topwater bait. This is perfect for fishing over tall weed beds and shallow flats. I love the Verbinator Baits Donkey for this style of fishing. It is a slow sinking, ringed stick bait that moves water and was meant to be used as a chase bait. Another soft plastic I like using this way is a Texas-rigged zoom frog. I use this a buzzbait alternative – kind of a “finesse buzzbait”. I often use this method in combination with the vertical bait method described below, by letting my lure drop into holes in the weed mat.
Ups & Downs of Texas-rigged Lures
I am not a patient angler. Drop-shotting and jig fishing is not my thing. My answer to vertical fishing is a Texas-rigged weighted tube or 5″ stick bait with a nail in the tail. Dragging a weighted tube along the edge of weed beds and edges of deeper water attracts smallmouth bass in a hurry! I learned the nail in the tail trick many years back from a Mike Iaconelli video tip. I love it because of the weird, backwards fall of the bait. Its something fish don’t see every day that invites a strike. I have had several big bass on the end of my line with a nail-tailed stick bait! The nail-tailed stick bait is perfect for covering weed mats. Use as a topwater, but pause and let the bait drop into holes and at the weed edges, too.
Next time you go fishing, tie a Texas-rigged soft plastic on a rod and have some fun exploring the many ways you can catch fish with it. There are many more than I have mentioned here. This is truly a time-tested style of fishing you can catch bass with all season long. I always keep mine ready to cast!