Depth Guide for Rigging Soft Plastics By Depth Range [Cheat Sheet PDF]
- By: Luke Simonds
- on September 17, 2021
Knowing the combination of water depth, soft plastic lure, and hook weight can set you up for the best chances of success!
Rigging of your soft plastic lures is crucial for both presentation and making sure your lure is in the strike zone.
Check out the cheat sheet below!
How To Match Soft Plastics To Hooks [VIDEO]
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For each of the lures in the chart, the green section indicates the optimal scenario for using that lure.
Yellow indicates that it still works but is not used best in that particular scenario.
There is a green option for every product on the chart to show the best situation to create the ideal presentation.
This cheat sheet (below) 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.
Traditional Jig Head
- Hook is exposed
- Highest hook-up ratio
- Higher chance of getting snagged on the bottom
- Better for covering more open water
Results may vary based on your retrieve speed, current flow, and wind speed.
When using the Slam Shady Bomber, the Redfish Eye Jig Head will fit the larger paddletail better than the smaller trout eye.
You can mix and match the jig heads to the paddletails, however, the green sections of the chart indicate the best case for a given situation.
If you do use a smaller jig head with the Bomber, for example, it could be torn off by a fish.
Weedless Jigs & Weighted Hooks
- Best if you are fishing tight to structure, in seagrass, up against mangroves, over oysters or around docks
- Less of a hookup ratio but will save you a ton of time and hassle from getting caught or snagged
- Tight to structure is where most of the strikes happen
If the water is really calm, it is best to go with a lighter weight.
You can go with a higher weight if it is windy to increase your casting distance and swim it in deeper water.
A smaller hook still works with a Slam Shady Bomber, it just hurts the hookup ratio a bit and needs a stronger hook set.
The Power Prawn lure has its own custom setup with weighted jig heads because it can be difficult to rig on traditional jig heads.
Power Prawn can also be great for offshore reefs of greater depths for snapper and grouper!
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
And if you know someone who is unsure of what lures and hooks to use depending on water depth, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
P.S. Want access to our best fishing spots and tips, plus discounts to our online tackle store? Click here to join us in the Insider Club!
Here you can find all of the lures mentioned in the cheat sheet:
- Slam Shady 2.0
- F.R.E.D. (Insiders Only)
- Gold Digger (Insiders Only)
- Slam Shady Bomber
- Power Prawn
- Alabama Leprechaun
- Z-Man Slam Shady Paddletails
- Traditional Jig heads
- Weedless/Weighted Hooks
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That well help me out down here in south fl
That chart
I love them giggs an that slam shady bomber
Good info. I’ve lost faith in twist lock hooks. Since switching to jig heads I’ve increased my catch by 5X.
Really well done guys. Good job. Agree with a previous commenter, that some kind of all-inclusive kit with all the right sized /weight hooks would be a nice convenience.
Thanks for great information.
We’re going our best to have inshore lure kits available… the holdup has been in keeping everything in stock (continued manufacturing delays has made that a very difficult task).
Perfect..Thanks ! Love spread sheets. Takes out the ” What did they say about….” Now to shrink it and laminate for quick reference. Thanks Guys !!
Thanks Paul!
Thank you!
Our pleasure Rob!
Great idea!! Now I need to go to your tackle store.
Thanks Gregory!
Nice chart . How about one with ONLY the recommended lure and hook for each depth
That is reserved for Insiders Only and can be seen in the overall cheat sheet for fishing equipment… in it, you’ll see the situations in which each lure is best: https://www.saltstrong.com/fishing-tip/fishing-equipment-cheat-sheet/
Thanks for this, Luke ! Now that you have all of the terminal tackle listed on one sheet, wouldn’t it be great if SaltStrong would put together a terminal tackle kit that had all of these hooks and jigs, may be 3 of each, in a single kit that could be ordered with one line item. Think of the convenience. And we wouldn’t have to keep checking to see if those OUT OF STOCK items were ever back in stock. I hope you give this some consideration. Saves on ordering overhead and shipping, too.
We are doing our best to do that… the biggest issue has been in keeping everything in stock (continued manufacturing delays has made that a huge challenge).
This is so helpful, thank you and God Bless!
Thanks John!