How Do You Texas Rig a Plastic Worm?
What a Texas rig is
The Texas rig is the standard weedless way to fish a soft plastic worm: a bullet-shaped weight slides on the line ahead of an offset hook, and the hook point is skin-hooked back into the worm's body so nothing exposed can grab weeds or wood. It is probably the single most-used soft plastic rig in the country, and the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation's step-by-step Texas rig tutorial is the reference this page follows.
What you need
- A soft plastic worm, typically 4-8 inches (10-20 cm)
- An offset worm hook — see the hook sizing guide for matching hook to bait
- A bullet weight, commonly in the 1/8 to 3/8 oz range for casting; lead-free tungsten versions exist and are covered in the lead-free weights guide
- Optionally, a small bobber stop or peg to keep the weight against the worm in heavy cover
The steps
1. Slide the bullet weight onto your line, pointed end facing up the line, then tie on the hook with a strong knot such as an improved clinch or Palomar.
2. Insert the hook point into the center of the worm's nose, about a quarter inch (roughly 6 mm) deep.
3. Bring the point out the side of the worm and slide the worm up the hook shank, rotating it around the offset bend until the worm's nose sits snug against the hook eye.
4. Lay the hook against the worm to judge where the bend naturally reaches, then push the point back into the body at that spot so the worm hangs straight.
5. Skin-hook the point: push it just up to, or barely under, the surface of the plastic on the far side. A straight worm with a hidden point is the whole goal — a kinked worm spins and looks wrong in the water.
Fishing it
Cast to cover — weed edges, laydowns, dock posts — and let the rig fall on a semi-slack line. Watch the line where it enters the water; many bites happen on the fall and show up only as a tick or a sideways twitch. Then work the worm back with slow lifts and pauses. Take Me Fishing's general technique reference covers hook-setting; with a Texas rig, reel down until you feel the fish, then set firmly, because the hook point has to come through the plastic before it finds the fish.
Common mistakes
- Worm not straight. Re-rig it. Thirty seconds of adjustment beats an hour of spinning bait.
- Weight too heavy. Lighter weights fall slower and get more bites in shallow water; go heavier only for depth, wind, or thick cover.
- Hook too small. The gap has to clear the worm's body on the hook set. When in doubt, size up.
Once the Texas rig feels natural, the rig comparison guide explains when a wacky or Ned rig is the better call.