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A fishing rig is a hook, a weight and a bait you put together on the end of your line, and where the weight sits decides what the bait does. Snug against the bait, it takes the bait through grass and wood. Behind it, the bait drifts over the bottom; below it, the bait hangs in front of a fish that will not look down. Five rigs cover almost all bass fishing, and the same ideas catch catfish, walleye and panfish.
Ned Kehde and a friend caught 109 largemouth in four hours on October 12, 2006, on a mushroom-head jig and half a plastic worm. The rig took his name four years later.
Start here
- Texas rig: the rig to learn first. The hook point is buried in the plastic, so it goes through any cover.
- Drop shot: for fish holding just off the bottom in clear or deep water.
- Ned rig: small and slow, for cold water and fish that have seen every lure on the lake.
- Catfish rigs: the bottom rigs for bait fishing, with sinker weights and hook sizes.
- Fish finder rig: the surf’s sliding-sinker bait rig, with sinker weights by surf and leader lengths.
Which rig for which water?
| Rig | Build | Weight | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | Bullet weight, worm hook, plastic rigged weedless | 1/8–1/2 oz (3.5–14 g); 1–2 oz (28–57 g) to punch grass | Grass, wood, docks: any cover |
| Carolina | Egg sinker, bead, swivel, 12–36 in (30–91 cm) leader, hook | 1/2–3/4 oz (14–21 g) | Dragging flats and points from pre-spawn through fall |
| Drop shot | Hook tied 12–18 in (30–46 cm) above the weight | 1/8–1/4 oz (3.5–7 g) | Fish just off the bottom; clear, deep water |
| Ned | Mushroom jig head, 2–4 in (5–10 cm) bait that floats tail-up | 1/16 oz (1.8 g) | Cold, clear or hard-fished water; smallmouth |
| Wacky | Stick worm hooked through the middle | None, or 1/32–3/16 oz (0.9–5.3 g) | Spawning bass in the shallows; docks |
The weights in the table are bass weights. The shaky head sits between the Ned and the Texas rig: a stand-up jig head with a finesse worm. It lives with the jigs because its weight is molded onto the hook.
Free PDF · Water temperature chart Which fish are biting at today's water temperature?
One reading, and the 16-page chart shows which of 26 fish are spawning, feeding hard or slowing down; for bass, crappie, bluegill and walleye, where they sit and what to throw. Every number sourced.
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Why does the weight’s position matter?
Because the weight decides where the bait hangs, and that is the whole difference between the rigs.
On a Texas rig the weight rides against the bait, so the two fall and crawl as one, and the bait goes wherever the weight goes: into the cover. On a Carolina rig the sinker drags the bottom and the long leader lets the bait trail behind it. The drop shot turns that upside down. The weight sits on the bottom and the bait hangs above it, so you can shake a worm in one spot in front of a fish without moving it away. The Ned and wacky rigs carry almost no weight, and the slow fall is what draws the bite.
The catfish slip-sinker rig is the Carolina rig again, with a circle hook and a bigger sinker. Crappie anglers turn the drop shot into a two-hook bottom rig, the Kentucky rig, with minnows on short droppers above a bell sinker.
How heavy a weight?
Depth and cover decide it. Bassmaster’s weight guide is the list most bass anglers work from:
- Finesse baits: 1/32 to 1/8 oz.
- Five feet of water or less: 1/8 oz.
- Around twenty feet: 1/4, 5/16 or 3/8 oz.
- Deeper than that, or dragging big worms: 1/2 oz.
- Through matted grass: 1, 1½ or even 2 oz.
Wind adds weight at every depth, because line bowed by wind hides the bite. Tungsten is smaller than lead for the same weight and passes more of the bottom up the line. The hooks hub has the worm, drop-shot and wacky hook sizes the rig pages use.
Which rod and line?
The Texas and Carolina rigs are baitcaster rigs. Use a 7 ft to 7 ft 6 in medium-heavy, fast-action rod with 15–20 lb fluorocarbon, or braid to a leader: 40 lb on a Texas rig, 30 lb on a Carolina rig. The finesse rigs, Ned, drop shot and wacky, go on a 7 ft medium-light spinning rod with 10–15 lb braid to a 6–8 lb fluorocarbon leader. The rods hub explains power and action.
With the finesse rigs, the retrieve is restraint. In his swim-glide-and-shake retrieve, Kehde keeps the Ned rig “swimming slowly from six inches to one foot above the bottom”. On a drop shot, shake the rod tip and leave the weight where it is.
Where did the rigs come from?
Nick Creme made the first soft-plastic worm in Akron, Ohio, in 1949. By the late 1950s anglers on Texas reservoirs were burying its hook point so the worm came through cover without snagging, and that is the Texas rig. The drop shot was “definitely a Japanese development”, in James Niggemeyer’s words; Aaron Martens showed it to him in California in the mid-1990s. The Ned rig is the youngest, from that Kansas afternoon in 2006, and In-Fisherman gave it its name in 2010. The bass hub says which season calls for which rig.
All articles
- Carolina Rig: How to Tie It, Leader Length and When to Use It
Carolina rig: a 1/2–3/4 oz sinker, bead and swivel, then an 18–36 in leader to a 3/0–5/0 hook. Sizes, leader by cover, the retrieve and the bite.
Drop Shot Rig: How to Tie It, Hook and Weight Sizes, How to Fish ItDrop shot rig step by step: a #1–1/0 hook tied 12–18 in above a 1/8–1/4 oz weight, the tag trick that stands it out, the baits, tackle and how to fish it.
Fish Finder Rig: How to Tie It, Sinker Weights and Leader LengthHow to tie a fish finder rig for the surf in seven steps, a size for every part, sinker weight by surf, leader length, and when a circle hook is the law.
Ned Rig: How to Fish It, the Right Jig Head and Where It Came FromThe Ned rig is a 2–4 in floating bait on a 1/16 oz mushroom head, fished slowly; the head and bait for each depth, six retrieves, the tackle, its 2006 origin.
Texas Rig: How to Rig It, Which Weight and Hook, and How to Fish ItA Texas rig is a bullet weight above a worm hook with the point buried in the plastic. Weights from 1/8 oz in 5 ft to 2 oz for mats, and how to fish it.
Wacky Rig: How to Rig It, and When It Beats a Texas RigThe wacky rig hooks a stick bait through its middle so both ends quiver on the fall. The O-ring method, hook and line, weightless or weighted, when to use it.
Free PDF · 16 pages
Know what's biting before your first cast
The Water Temperature Fishing Chart. Take one water temperature reading, find it on the chart, and see which of 26 freshwater fish are spawning, feeding hard or slowing down. Six pages go deeper: bass, crappie, bluegill, walleye, catfish and trout. For your phone and the tackle box.
- Where they sit and what to throw at every temperature: bass, crappie, bluegill and walleye. Catfish, one by one. Trout: the 68 °F line where you stop, and where they hide
- A bass that drops 3 ft feels more pressure change than the biggest cold front: the front day by day, and what to throw on each
- The three thermometer mistakes that make a reading lie (the first one is the surface)
- The 26-fish chart: who's spawning, feeding hard or slowing down at your reading
The chart's numbers come from state fish and wildlife agencies and fisheries research: 61 sources, each listed on the site.
Enter your email, confirm it with one click, and the PDF is in your inbox. Plus one email a week on what's biting. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy.
Sources
- Bassmaster, The Texas rig part 3: weight selection
- Wired2Fish, The Texas rig: how to rig and fish
- In-Fisherman, A history of Midwest finesse fishing and the so-called Ned rig
- In-Fisherman (Ned Kehde), Six Midwest finesse retrieves
- Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, Plastic worm inventor changed bass fishing
- Wired2Fish (Jason Sealock), The Carolina rig: how to rig and fish
- Bassmaster (Louie Stout), Carolina rigging in-depth
- Major League Fishing (James Niggemeyer), The history of the drop-shot