FREE Rigging Cheat Sheet: Top 3 Soft Plastic Mistakes to Avoid
- By: Luke Simonds
- on
Soft plastic lures are becoming more and more popular for inshore saltwater fishermen who are targeting redfish, seatrout, snook, flounder, and a variety of other species.
This growth in popularity has been due to the fact that they can work exceptionally well in a wide variety of situations.
The key to success is to be able to match the right rigging hook or jighead to the proper depth for getting strikes with a hook size/type that enables good hooksets even when rigged weedless.
This step is a big struggle for many fishermen, so we put together this lure rigging cheat sheet to take the guesswork out of it.
Rigging Mistakes & Solutions Guide
Download Depth Chart Cheat Sheet
For each of the lures in the chart, the green section indicates the optimal scenario for using that lure. And yellow indicates that it still works but is not used best in that particular scenario.
This rigging guide allows you to cut down the time it takes to figure out which type of weight and hook to choose for a soft plastic lure based on if you need to be weedless or non-weedless.
Weedless Jigs & Weighted Hooks
- Best for fishing tight to structure (rocks, oysters, seagrass, pilings, etc.)
- Will save you a ton of time and hassle due to low risk of getting snagged on the bottom
- Allows you to fish very close to structure where most of the feeding takes place
Get Your Hoss Helix Hooks
Get Your Weedless Roundeye Jigheads
Get Your Weedless Football Jigheads
Non-Weedless (Traditional) Rigging Options
- Best for fishing areas without snags since it has a higher hook-up ratio
- Often used for covering open water situations
Get Your Roundeye Jigheads
Get Your Football Jigheads
Get the full Depth Chart Cheat Sheet here!
Conclusion
This depth chart cheat sheet allows you to clearly see which hook and soft plastic pairing will work best given the depth or environment you are fishing
Traditional jig heads are best for open water of lower depths to cover more ground and explore the bottom of the water column.
Weedless and weighted jig heads are ideal for fishing near any type of structure, but they have a lower hookup ratio.
If you know of any other lures or jig heads that are not listed here and you want to know more information about them, let me know down in the comments!
Get the full Depth Chart Cheat Sheet here
Related Articles:
- HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST LURE (PDF CHEAT SHEETS INCLUDED)
- THE ULTIMATE INSHORE SLAM CHEAT SHEET (FREE PDF DOWNLOAD)
- 4 MUST-KNOW REDFISH TIPS (PLUS FREE PDF CHEAT SHEET)
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Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Thanks for sharing the guide. Helps a lot!!!
Great info. Thank you.
Speaking of jighead hook color i remember about 20 years ago the color red was the big rage because supposedly it represented a baitfish thats bleeding but like you said rarely do fish attack anything they will eat head on instead its either from the side or from the bottom or from the rear but also about 10 to q5 years ago as technology and study on fishes behavior has advanced they have found that unfortunately the color red disappears first in the water column before any other color does so obviously the original theory was debunked and obviously an angler wouldn’t want to use the same weight jighead for all his or her plastic lures because with weight the more weight the bigger the hook size but like you I have seen countless beginner anglers doing just that and usually they don’t catch squat but your absolutely right how your lure is rigged is very crucial if one wants to be a successful angler thanks for this info and as usual all you do😉👍
Thanks, Luke! You help take the guesswork out of the equation! 😎👍🏻🎣🧂💪🏻
thanks, the guide will be a great help. I have been looking for something like that.
Very good video and informative
Thank you Luke
Great tips. Thx
Awesome information as always….Thank you.
Only on some occasions but I have also found that for soft plastic twitch baits like the saltstrong tweaker or similar baits a small circle hook can be a great weedless hook because the hook point is curved at a downward angle it sheds weeds very well while also being the hook point is fully exsposed the hook up ratio is somewhat better then a hook point that is buried in the plastic being skin hooked so to speak the circle hook can be rigged anyway my preference is straight through the first inch of the tip with the hook point coming out the top of the bait a couple small splitshot up the line about a foot from the lure and your good to go just be sure to remember its a circle hook and only tighten your line down instead of trying to set the hook a mistake and habit that takes a few trials and errors to fully become used to but after a while you will find its a very efficient rig and the fish have a greater difficulty throwing the hook as opposed to one with weight b that is attached to the hook just saying I discovered this rig while reading a florida sportsman mag I still find alot of helpful info in that mag anyways thanks for the updated info and all you do😉👍
This may be the most concise easily understood rigging video ever! It will get printed and laminated.
Thanks Luke!