The Bass Angler's Rigging Reference.
Eight rigs. Every situation covered. Understand what each one does and when to reach for it — then watch Doug's videos for how he ties and fishes each one specifically.
Which Rig For The Situation?
Start here if you know the situation but aren't sure which rig fits it.
Texas Rig
A bullet weight slides freely above the hook on your main line. The bait is rigged weedless — hook point buried in the body — so it works through nearly any cover without hanging up. It's the closest thing to a universal rig in bass fishing.
- Flipping wood, brush, and dock edges
- Punching through grass and pads
- Working the bottom at any depth
- Anytime you're not sure what else to throw
- Weedless through any cover
- Works at any depth
- Precise target casting
- Slower across large open flats
- Wrong weight kills the action
Carolina Rig
A heavy sliding weight on your main line above a swivel, with a long fluorocarbon leader to the hook. The weight drags along the bottom and stirs up silt while the bait floats freely behind it — looking like an easy meal following the commotion.
- Offshore humps, long points, channel swings
- Covering deep flats to locate roaming fish
- Pre-spawn through fall on hard bottom
- Any time you need to cover water fast
- Covers water efficiently
- Bait floats naturally off bottom
- Telegraphs bottom transitions
- Less precise on small targets
- More hardware to manage
Wacky Rig
A stickbait hooked through the middle — not the end — so both halves hang down and flutter independently. That wide, side-to-side wobble on the fall is what makes bass that have seen every other presentation suddenly commit.
- Open water around docks and shorelines
- Bass that follow but won't eat other baits
- Suspended fish at any depth
- Spring through early fall, all water clarity
- Catches pressured, finicky fish
- Simple and repeatable
- Skips well under structure
- Not weedless — open water only
- Baits tear without O-rings
Neko Rig
A nail weight inserted into the nose of a stickbait, with the hook placed wacky-style through the middle. The weighted nose sinks first so the bait stands up nose-down on the bottom and quivers in place. Fish that won't commit to anything else will eat a shaking Neko.
- Rock piles, gravel flats, hard bottom
- Post cold-front — fish glued to bottom
- Smallmouth in clear water — deadly
- Points, dock edges, bluff walls
- Stand-up posture draws bites
- Finesse look with real bottom contact
- Ideal for smallmouth on hard bottom
- Nail weights can eject on hooksets
- Not weedless without weed-guard hook
Ned Rig
A small chunk of plastic — usually the front third of a cut stickbait — threaded straight on a light mushroom-style jig head. It stands up on the bottom, glides on the fall, and basically does nothing that looks threatening. That's the point. When nothing else works, this catches fish.
- Post cold front — when nothing bites
- High pressure, clear water, tough bite
- Gravel flats, bluff ends, dock edges
- Any time finesse is the only answer
- Catches fish when nothing else will
- Stands up and glides naturally
- Simple, minimal hardware
- Light wire limits heavy cover
- Not a searching bait — slow by nature
Drop Shot
The weight is below the hook instead of above it. That one change suspends the bait at a precise height off the bottom — exactly where fish are holding — while the weight stays anchored below. When your electronics show fish at 18 feet and the bottom's at 22, this is how you put the bait in front of them.
- Fish suspended near bottom on electronics
- Ledges, humps, dock pilings in deep water
- Summer heat and winter cold — both
- Clear water, pressured fish, tough finesse bite
- Exact height control at any depth
- Stays in front of fish longer
- Works vertically or on a cast
- Slower — not a searching bait
- Clip weights can slip under pressure
Weightless Rig
No weight at all — just hook and bait. The bait falls and glides on its own at the slowest possible rate, with the most natural action. Nothing about it looks threatening. It's what you throw when bass are actively spooking from anything that makes noise or hits the water hard.
- Shallow grass, inside weed edges
- Sight fishing to spawning bass
- Post-front clear water, cruising fish
- When you need a silent entry
- Most natural action of any rig
- Silent water entry
- Maximum hang time in the water column
- Wind kills line control
- Slow — can't cover water
Punching Rig
A Texas rig on extreme duty — the heaviest tungsten weight that can be pegged tight, a straight-shank flipping hook, and a compact bait that creates a tight bullet profile. The whole package is designed to blow through matted vegetation and drop into the pocket under it where the biggest bass in the area are sitting in the shade.
- Matted hydrilla, hyacinth, milfoil, pads
- Summer heat — fish buried under shade
- After locating fish with swim jig first
- When you want to target large fish specifically
- Reaches fish no other rig can touch
- Big-fish technique — filters dinks
- Fast loop: pitch, drop, set, go
- Demands stout, heavy gear throughout
- Useless outside true heavy cover