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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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).
The link to the Depth Chart Cheat Sheet seems to broken.
It is working when I try it. What happens when you click on it? https://www.saltstrong.com/wp-content/uploads/Lure-Depth-Guide-Rigging-Salt-Strong-Products-2025-Nov-images.pdf
Is there a general rule of thumb to account for current flow, like the current is moving roughly x rate, bump up weight or bump down the weight to maintain bottom contact
In general, I bump up the weight 1 level from this table if the current flow is strong… and in the rare case that’s not enough, I’ll go 2 levels up.
Thank you Luke, that helps a lot. I will report back to community after my trip on the 17th.
I watched this video last week and yesterday was my first time trying the weed less football head. After I found the 10% zone, I got five trouts, two keepers and three oversized in less than 30 minutes. Thank you Luke
Great work Alejandro!!!
I’m fishing for migrating Stripers in the Delaware river north of Philadelphia in PA. I’ve got a box full of a good veriety of your soft rubber baits and an equal amout of hooks and jig heads too. Can’t get right down on the bottom , too many rocks. Fishing from the bank. Where we cast out to is 12-14 foot depth and reeling back to shore.
I am a subscriber ( and glad of it!).
Michael Boland Avis, PA
( will be fishing in the surf of of New Jersey in another month or so !!!)7
Good video! I have heard it several times in different training throughout the platform, but I still don’t fish deep enough sometimes. I have to get better at the weedless options and get deeper!
Great information thanks
I printed the chart, a handy tool!
great
Good stuff Luke, thx!
Thank you for great info.