A true blast from the past , the do-nothing rig , such as this grape / glow tip offering from IKE-CON , is still a solid selection for shallow-water bass .
DO-NOTHING RIG
Everything you need to know about fishing this pre-rigged worm can be gleaned from its name . A slow and pretty much unaltered retrieve – almost nothing – is all it takes .
The rig consists of two small hooks on a single piece of monofilament line threaded through the soft-plastic worm . The leader-like line extends several inches from the nose of the worm , ending in a loop . In shallow water , a snap swivel
A still-worthy finesse technique , the split shot rig can be employed with a variety of soft plastics to tempt big bass .
YAMAMOTO 4 ” FAT SENKO COLOR : SMALLMOUTH MAGIC
SPLIT SHOT RIG
Most of the weapons in our bass arsenal find common ancestry in the simple split shot rig . Originally paired with a live nightcrawler or forage fish , the split shot rig adapted easily to plastic imitations resembling the same .
Today , it is hard to find a veteran West Coast bass angler unfamiliar with the Reaper , a 3- to 3.5-inch plastic ( usually hand poured ) bearing faint resemblance to a leech or eel . Deadly effective at the end of a split shot rig for bass in deep , clear California and Washington reservoirs , it was also a staple for smallmouth anglers on Lake Erie and other parts of the Great Lakes for decades .
While the rig may be the poster child for “ old school ” finesse , it has a venerable big fish heritage as well . Trophybass pioneer Bill Murphy employed the split shot rig with giant 15-inch worms and pork rind eels to take monster largemouth in the early days of California lunker hunting . He coupled the rig with a painfully slow but highly effective handretrieve presentation called “ stitching .”
The reaper / split shot combination has been largely forgotten in the pro ranks . For the most part , so has the split shot rig itself .
But not entirely so . Duckett keeps a split shot rig with a 4- inch senko ( Texas-rigged with a 2 / 0 hook and fished on a spinning rod with 6- to 8-pound line ) ever at the ready .
Status : Duckett attributes broad abandonment of this effective technique to the development of other techniques that tend to catch bigger fish . But don ’ t write it off .
“ A soft-plastic worm fished behind a light weight or weightless has stood the test of time ,” he says . “ The split shot rig is extremely effective all the time .”
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2024 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM attached to the loop is all you need to get it down . An additional split shot above the swivel makes the rig more serviceable in windy conditions or to reach deeper .
Decades ago , the do-nothing was a standard trailer on a Carolina rig . In some regions , it remains so today .
Status : Oft forgotten , particularly at advanced angler levels , the do-nothing remains a reliable shallow-water fish catcher as a stand-alone rig .
TEXAS RIG
The Texas rig became the emblem of modern bass fishing when it traveled from Lake Tyler , Texas , in the late 1950s into the hands of pros like Bill Dance and Larry Nixon , who won groundbreaking Ray Scott tournaments in the early 1960s . Within a handful of years , familiarity with the Texas rig became a rite of passage into the bass fishing fraternity .
Grammatically , “ Texas rig ” has applications as both a verb and a noun . As a verb , to “ Texas rig ” a plastic bait means to thread the hook – usually an offset hook – through the head of the worm / bait , pivot the hook , and bury its point into the bait body , thus making it relatively “ weedless ” or “ snagless ” when worked through tangled cover .
Used as a noun , it refers to a terminal tackle combination of bullet-nose sinker , hook , and weedless-rigged plastic worm , lizard , beaver , creature , etc . It triggered an unprecedented explosion of tackle innovation , leading to varieties of offset hooks ; sliding weights ; plastics of varying shapes , softness , buoyancy and durability ; and a vast array of rod , reel and line improvements for delivery , presentation and capture that continues to this day .
In addition to its relative snaglessness , the Texas rig offers the option of pegging the sliding sinker to the head of the plastic or letting the weight slide freely . Each option has advantages and disadvantages that have inspired other rigging methods .
Status : Though the Texas rig has yielded much of its popularity to presentations better tailored to particular circumstances , the rig remains a staple among most members of the bass fishing community .
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