Adam Johnson Outdoors • Reading Outdoors

Rigging Plastic

By Adam Johnson

Keep two things in mind when you are rigging a plastic bait. How fast do you want the lure to fall? How weedless do you want the lure to be?

In some situations I want the plastic lure to drop fast and take up position on the bottom for the retrieve. This would be when I'm flipping or pitching into heavy vegetation. I'll slide a crawfish body onto a heavy jig so it gets to the bottom quickly. When the lure is resting on the bottom I quiver the rod tip and twitch the jig a few times before pulling the lure in for the next pitch.

I like to see the plastic drop quickly when I'm working a deep rock pile. I'll take a seven-inch plastic worm and rig it on a three-eighths ounce bullet sinker. The bass are usually near the structure so the faster you get the lure into them, the quicker you get a bite.

Sometimes I want a real slow fall. I fish weightless worms over shallow vegetation. Weedlines are a great place for a slow falling plastic worm since bass can be anywhere in the water column along a weedline.

After a cold front, when we know the fish get real picky about what they eat, a slow-falling plastic bait is a great option to trigger a strike. The bass don't want to work real hard for a meal when conditions put them in a negative mood, so when that slow-dropping plastic bait provides an easy feeding opportunity, your odds of getting a bite go up.

Some anglers rig their plastic lures weedless no matter what situations they fish. Not me. If I'm over a rubble pile or on the edge of some sparse vegetation then using an exposed hook will result in more bass in the livewell. When snagging the lure is not a problem a jig/worm setup gets my vote. If I must rig the plastic so it's snag proof then I do what's called for.

If I'm fishing a Carolina Rig and using a lizard body that needs to be rigged weedless, I always make sure the hook is razor sharp. Not only will you need to penetrate the plastic bait, but that hook has to get buried into the bass. A poor point on a hook is the main culprit when it comes to lost fish on weedless-rigged plastic baits.

There are never any situations where a plastic lure won't work for bass. Sometimes a crankbait will allow you to cover more water and sometimes a spinnerbait will strain a weed bed more efficiently, but plastic is always an option due to the vast amounts of body styles and rigging methods.

The key to effectively presenting the plastic baits is to figure out if the bass want a slow-falling lure, or do you need to get the lure down to the bottom quickly to set up the retrieve? Should the plastic lure be rigged weedless or with an open-tipped hook? These two little things can make a big difference in whether that plastic lure triggers a bite or not.