Depth Guide for Rigging Soft Plastics By Depth Range [Cheat Sheet PDF]
- 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 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 Soft Plastic Lures Guide
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)
Finding The Fish Help
In order to help make sure that you are targeting the right areas based on the latest feeding trends and upcoming weather forecasts, make sure to use the following 3 resources because they will save you a ton of time.
1. Weekend Game Plans (updated weekly)
These regional game plans will show you exactly what types of spots to target in under 10 minutes… just click the video to start, and you’ll be informed on what to do on your next trip.
2. Smart Fishing Spots Platform (updated every 15 minutes)
This exclusive software literally shows you where the most fish are likely to be feeding based on exactly when you’ll be fishing. It factors in the tides, wind, and weather to help you quickly see which areas to target throughout the day.
3. Community Reports (live feed)
The Insider Community platform is what you can use to see what is biting near you, and you can get to know other members who fish in your area. Plus, you can use it to keep a log of your catches so you can use past trips to help predict future catches.
Related categories:
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).
Great stuff. Thanks again.
I agree with Mark Laminated cards would be great
i took the sheet to staples, laminated it, and keep it with my stuff at all times
great info, it would nice if this available on laminated cards for purchase.
Thank you Luke. Takes a lot of guess work out of the equation.
Good stuff, Luke
What about current? How do you adjust the weight for the current? I frequently fish in 1-3 feet of water in an area but the current can be pretty strong especially during tide changes. The area is pretty frequently highlighted red in the fishing spots app.
These depth ranges are for moderate current flow zones. If higher current flow, then bumping up a weight classs level is often needed.
This will a great guide chart while fishing difference area in one day.
Glad to see that you enjoyed this video!
This is a great version of the guide. I printed it out and used clear packing tape to attach it to one of my tackle trays so that I wouldn’t have to memorize it…
Great idea on making it waterproof so you can attach it to your tackle tray!
This would be nice to put on the bottom side of a Salt Strong Jig Tackle box, like the hardware stores do for various screws, pins, o-rings, etc.
What a great idea to recommend to the Salt Strong Staff-I think it would be a great reference toll as well as a wonderful way to MARKET our Salt Strong Fishing community!
It would be helpful to integrate this into the Smart Spots app.
The lure pairings from this table do show up in the AI Game Plan details (we trained it on this table for the lure recommendations).