Mastery of Texas rigging soft plastics in different situations is essential to being a well-rounded bass angler. Pro bass angler Wes Logan takes a quick second to share his top 2 hook, weight, and knot setups for Texas rigging bass in 1) short-range flipping and pitching scenarios and when 2) pitching or casting the bait away from the boat and working it more horizontally. Here are the details.
- Use a straight-shank flipping hook with a heavy tungsten weight and snell knot when making short-range flips or pitches to bass in heavy cover. In this situation, a straight-shank flipping hook, heavy tungsten weight, and a snell knot excel. The wider gap of flipping hook produces better hookup ratios in close-quarters combat, especially when fixed to the line using a snell knot. Many bass anglers believe the “kick out” effect of the tungsten weight hitting the top of the hook increases hooking percentages. For others, such as Brandon Palaniuk, the snell verdict is still out. In any case, you won’t be going wrong following Logan’s guidance.
- Use an offset Wide Gap Hook (EWG) and conventional knot when casting or making longer pitches away from the boat. In this situation, Logan doesn’t want hook position altered by the tungsten’s impact on the hook set. Additionally, the EWG hook shape is a more streamlined package when working Texas rigs horizontally back to the boat. It seems to produce better hookup ratios in this situation as well.
TACKLE LISTING
VERTICAL SET-UP
- Gamakatsu Heavy Cover Flippin’ Hook
- ARK Fishing No Chip Tungsten Flippin Weight
- VMC Sinker Stops
- Sunline Siglon PEx8 Braided Line
- ARK Randall Tharp Series Honey Badger Casting Rod, “G-Ville Special”
- Team Lew’s Pro-Ti SLP Speed Spool Casting Reel
HORIZONTAL SET-UP
• Gamakatsu Offset EWG Worm Hook
• ARK Fishing No Chip Tungsten Flippin’ Weight with Insert
• VMC Sinker Stops
• Sunline FC Sniper Fluorocarbon
• ARK Reinforcer Series Casting Rod, 7’4″ Heavy
• Team Lew’s Pro-Ti SLP Speed Spool Casting Reel
