How to Rig a Bass Lure: Texas, Carolina, Wacky, Ned and Drop Shot Rigs

Pick a hook and a bullet weight

Horner suggests “Typically, a 2/0 or 3/0 EWG hook” and a lead or tungsten bullet weight “from ⅛-ounce to ½-ounce” (3.5 to 14 g). Merwin uses a 3/0 Gamakatsu offset-shank worm hook “for a typical 6- or 7-inch worm” (15 to 18 cm). Rules on lead weights are set by each state. For example, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife says “It is unlawful to use, sell, or offer for sale lead sinkers and unpainted lead jigs measuring 2.5 inches or less in length or weighing one ounce or less.” The same page adds: “Effective September 1, 2026, the use of painted lead jigs measuring 2.5 inches or less in length or weighing 1 ounce or less will be prohibited.” Those are Maine’s rules; check your own state agency’s current rules before you buy lead weights or jigs.

Decide on a peg, and put it on first

A peg, or bobber stopper, is a small rubber stop that holds the weight against the bait. Horner says: “If you’re using a bobber stopper, thread that onto your line prior to adding the bullet weight.” He prefers the rig unpegged “to maximize the action of my soft plastic.” Tackle Warehouse says to add one for heavy cover.

Slide the bullet weight onto the line

Merwin’s order is “first put a conical worm weight on the line, then attach the hook.” Mister Twister, a soft-plastic maker, says “The bullet weight rests on the head” of the worm and “slides up the line to reduce weight when the worm is picked-up by a fish.”

Tie the hook to the line with a Palomar knot

Horner ties the Texas-rig hook with a Palomar. Hooks are sharp: the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s beginner pamphlet says “Be careful when handling sharp hooks.” Trim the tag end.

Put the hook point into the nose and out the underside

Merwin threads the hook point “into the worm’s head and then through the worm’s underside.” Tackle Warehouse gives the distance: “bring the point back out about 1/4 of an inch on the underside of the lure” (6 mm).

Slide the bait up and turn the hook

Merwin: “Slide the worm up the hook shank so it just covers the hook eye. Rotate the hook until it faces upward toward the worm’s body.”

Bury the point

Merwin: “Grab the worm right behind the hook bend, push its body slightly forward, then bring it back down on the hook point until the point is almost but not quite all the way through the plastic. The bait should now lie straight.” With a straight-shank hook, Tackle Warehouse says to stop “just short of passing the hook point through the body.” Merwin says the rig “keeps the hook point nearly buried in the plastic, making it weedless.”

Slide the weight onto the main line

Baker says bullet, egg or barrel weights work, “as light as a 1/4-ounce if you’re fishing in 2 feet of water” (7 g in 0.6 m) and “as heavy as a full ounce in 25 feet or more” (28 g in 7.6 m). He adds: “If you can’t feel the bottom, go a little heavier; if you’re constantly getting hung up, go a little lighter.” Wired2Fish says “The most popular weight for a Carolina rig is 1/2 ounce to 3/4 ounce egg sinker” (14 to 21 g). The lead note above applies here too.

Slide a bead on below the weight

Baker says the bead “creates a little rattle as it bumps into the weight, and it protects the knot you’re about to tie.” Wired2Fish warns that tungsten weights “break the glass beads,” so tungsten needs a magnetic bead.

Tie the main line to one eye of a barrel swivel

Merwin calls for a “small barrel swivel.” Wired2Fish prefers “a little bit larger size,” a No. 10 up to a No. 6.

Tie the leader to the other eye of the swivel

Baker: monofilament or fluorocarbon, “typically 2 to 3 feet works best” (0.6 to 0.9 m). Merwin ties “about 18 inches of clear leader” (46 cm). Wired2Fish says a longer leader, especially in clear water, gives the bait more freedom.

Tie the hook to the end of the leader

Handle the point with care (“Be careful when handling sharp hooks,” per the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service). Baker says offset worm hooks suit thin baits such as finesse worms and EWG hooks suit thicker grubs and creature baits.

Rig the bait on the hook

Baker: “Insert the hook point into the nose of the soft-plastic bait about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch, then run the point out of the bottom. Bend the bait slightly, then run the hook back through the plastic so the bait lies straight.” (13 to 19 mm.) Merwin instead says to Texas-rig the worm and “leave the hook eye exposed,” where the Texas steps above slide the bait up to cover the eye.

Pick the bait and a wacky hook

Baker suggests a Neko or wacky hook, “1/0 is a good all-around size.” In 2016 Ehrler used a “1/0 Gamakatsu B10S Stinger hook” and a “standard 5-inch Yamamoto Senko” (13 cm).

Tie the hook to the line

Baker says to tie it “using your favorite knot.” Trim the tag end and keep your fingers clear of the point (“Be careful when handling sharp hooks,” U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service).

Find the balance point of the bait

Baker: “locate its center of gravity,” and “Typically, the bait will be a little heavier towards the head than the tail.” Ehrler puts the hook through a Senko’s “smooth area” located “about 1/3 of the way down.”

Run the hook through the bait

Baker runs the hook point “through the center of the bait, which will orient it perpendicular to the length of the worm.”

Test the fall

Baker: “toss your worm in the water. If your bait falls horizontally, you’ve rigged it well.” If one end falls faster, “slip the hook out of the bait and adjust it.”

Optionally use an O-ring

Baker rolls an O-ring onto the worm to its center of gravity and runs the hook through the ring, in line with the bait, still catching “a little of the material of the bait.” For a weighted version, Ehrler pushes “a 3/32 nail weight” (about 2.7 g if ounces) into the head and says “The important thing with a nail weight rig is to use an O-ring on the Senko.”

Choose the jighead

Baker: “Select either a weedless Ned head or one with an exposed hook.” Z-Man, which makes the Finesse ShroomZ jighead, lists it in “1/20 oz” through “1/5 oz” weights (1.4 to 5.7 g; also 1/15, 1/10 and 1/6) with “custom light wire size 1 and 2 hooks.” Ned jigheads are lead jigs, so the lead note in the Texas steps applies; check your state’s rules before you buy. Tackle Warehouse says “Typically anywhere between a 1/16 to 1/8oz jig head.”

Choose a short stick bait

Baker says there are “hundreds of options” and the classic is a bait that “looks like the tail end of a normal soft plastic stick bait.”

Tie the jighead to the line

Use your usual knot and trim the tag end; the hook is exposed on this rig, so keep fingers clear (“Be careful when handling sharp hooks,” U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service).

Hold the bait beside the hook

Baker: “Place the soft-plastic bait beside the hook to gauge where the point should come out.” The bait should stand up with “the hook bend and point exposed.”

Thread the bait on

Baker: “Run the hook point through the center of the nose of the soft-plastic body. Then slide the bait onto the hook until you reach the predetermined extrusion spot in the midsection.” Then “Push the hook point back out of the bait. Then push the head of the bait up onto the bait keeper.”

Check that it is straight

If it is not, Baker says to “start over by removing the bait” and thread it again. Tackle Warehouse says a twisted bait “has a greater tendency to spiral on the fall and introduce twist into your line.” Z-Man says its welded keeper holds ElaZtech baits “securely without the need for gluing.”

Pick the hook and weight

In a 2015 Bassmaster report, pro Brandon Palaniuk used “a No. 1 VMC drop shot hook and a 3/8ths-ounce Eco Pro tungsten weight” (10.6 g). In 2017 Kevin VanDam wrote: “use enough to gain good tension but not so much it hangs up in cover.” Horner says “most anglers choose light wire circle-style hooks.” The lead-weight note in the Texas steps applies to lead drop shot weights too.

Tie the hook on, leaving a long tag end

Horner: “Thread your hook 8 to 12 inches above the bottom of your fluorocarbon leader, then using a Palomar knot, tie on the hook.” (The bottom is the end of your line, or of the fluorocarbon leader if you fish braid.) Handle the hook point with care (“Be careful when handling sharp hooks,” U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service).

Pass the tag end back through the eye

Horner: “thread the end of the leader back through the eye of the hook (top to bottom) before putting on the weight. This will keep the hook straight up and down.”

Attach the weight to the end of the tag

Horner: “Using the line clip, or a simple clinch knot, attach your drop shot weight to the bottom of the line.” Sources set the distance from hook to weight differently: Horner and Palaniuk say about 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) and 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 cm), Ehrler uses a 14-inch (36 cm) leader with a wacky-rigged Senko, and VanDam gives an 18-inch (46 cm) leader as an example.

Hook the bait through the nose

Horner: “Nose hook your soft plastic lure.” Palaniuk goes from the bottom of the lure and out the nose rather than the top, because “when a lure is nose-hooked the usual way, it can pivot and spin around the hook bend.” VanDam says he prefers to nose hook with a drop-shot hook, but it “can be deadly by wacky rigging it in the middle of the bait.”