What are the best soft plastics for bass fishing with a Texas rig?

The best soft plastics for bass fishing with a Texas rig depends upon the fishing environment that you are fishing in. Let’s cover a few different fishing scenarios with a Texas rig.

Let’s assume that you are fishing in thick vegetation. A great soft plastic to use is something small like a crawdad or a creature bait. The smaller the profile, the easier your bait will be able to slip through the thick vegetation and get down to where the bass are hanging out.

You can use this Texas rig in place of a punch jig to get through the thick stuff. You can pin the bullet weight with a toothpick or a bobber stop to keep the weight stuck right at the hook to make it more streamlined.

A Texas rig is a great rig for catching spawning bass too. The male bass will kill anything that comes near their nests. Crawdads, salamanders, bluegills and other pan fish are all predators of bass eggs and bass fry.

A Texas rigged salamander is a great lure to fish around the nesting areas for aggressive male bass. The Texas rigged crawdads are another great choice for fishing around the nests. The bottom line is that anything that you can get around the spawning grounds will elicit an attack from a protective father bass.

You can also use a Texas rigged soft plastic when you are fishing around docks with great success. You can skip a Texas rigged tube, crawdad or creature bait way up under the docks. Those really big bass like to hold around structure and the pilings of a dock or bridge are a great place to use a Texas rigged soft plastic lure of some sort.

Why is a Texas rig better than a Carolina rig sometimes?

The Texas rig is better than a Carolina rig sometimes because it is much easier to use and set up. It is also better than a Carolina rig because it is easier to cast. We have already talked about how to set up a Texas rig and a Carolina rig so let’s talk about casting them both.

A Carolina rig can have up to a 4 or 5 foot long leader which is extremely difficult to cast with a normal rod. If you get a 8 to 9 foot rod then you can cast the Carolina rig much more effectively.

A Carolina rig is better than a Texas rig if the bottom where you are fishing is all gunked up. If there is vegetative matter that is fouling up your presentation, then a Carolina rig is a better option.

The reason that it is a better option is because the salt impregnated worms, lizards, creature baits, crawdads……. will float above the goo that is on the bottom. This puts your soft plastic right in the strike zone of the bass that you are targeting. A Texas rig will have so much stuff on it that the bass often will ignore it.

What is the best rod and reel combo for fishing with a Texas rig?

You can use a baitcasting rod and reel combo or a spinning rod and reel combo for bass fishing with a Texas rigged soft plastic bait. The choice is yours. I like to use a spinning rod for bass fishing with a Texas or Carolina rig because they are very easy to use and cast.

You will want to choose a medium/heavy powered rod that is at least 7 feet long for fishing with a Texas rig. That way you can fish the rig in thick cover and out in open water on the bottom. You will want to couple this with a 6:1 gear ratio baitcasting reel. That combo will work just fine for all of your Texas rigging needs.

Your spinning rod and reel combo will be similar to the baitcasting combo. You will want a medium/heavy rod that is 7 feet long coupled with a 2500 to 3500 series reel to go along with it. That rod and reel combo will catch bass in just about any fishing scenario.

What time of year is a Texas rig the best choice for bass fishing?

A Texas rig is the best choice for bass fishing all year long. You can fish it slow on the coldest days of winter for those lazy bass that are freezing. You can fish it in the shallows during the spawn in the middle of spring. You can also fish it in the hottest summer days. In other words, a Texas rigged soft plastic bait is a good choice all year long.

Can I use a spinning reel when I am bass fishing with a Texas rig?

I prefer using spinning reels for all of my bass fishing needs except when I am fishing jigs and frogs in very heavy cover. A Texas rig is a great choice for bass fishing with spinning rod and reel combos. It really doesn’t matter if you are fishing with a Texas rig or a Carolina rig. The spinning rod and reel is the way to go for both of those bass fishing techniques.

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