This isn’t about the bait so much as how to make a soft plastic more versatile than what you might think and catch more fish. This bait is one that I used as a go to, especially when the going got tough. It’s a BPS salty tube, 3.5 inches, smoke color.
The line size I used was between 6 and 12 pound mono, mostly 8 and 10, mono was the only line back then. I threw them on spinning gear, usually a 6’6” or 7’ medium action rod. The first rigging was Texas style, Gammy G Loc hook with a 1/16th to 3/16 ounce. I would fish it around cover such as docks, break walls, the outside of docks and grass lines, inside and outside. I didn’t peg the hook.
The second rigging was with an internal weight, they can be had from BPS and lindy and I’m sure there are other sources, they look like a cylinder with a hole in one end and in the side just below the end, and the hook goes in the end through the end of the weight and out the side finish normally. A bank casting sinker with the brass loop on the end will work also. This puppy skips at least as well as any bait out there and better than most if not all. It’s not the best in heavy grass.
The third one pictured is with a ball head jig; there are a bunch of open hook jigs made for tubes, the ball head, the fat ball head, the tube jig, long and slender and others. I used them open hooked, never tried the stupid jig, the weight can be varied to control fall rate; lighter weights allow the bait to spiral down a strong trigger. They can be dragged, hopped, and swam at varied speeds. I used it much the same as other rigging, this was the rigging I used the most, the only place I didn’t was heavy grass.
The forth one is weightless, very seldom but shallow if I did. They can be wacky rigged drop shot, put a piece of foam in it and Carolina rig it so it floats above the bottom. Scent can be inserted inside also.
As you see, a simple soft plastic has more than one way of being rigged upping its versatility and yours, see what you can think of and ones you see mentioned in videos or articles, the internal weight idea came from seeing an ad for the weights, every soft plastic that I know of can be rigged more than one way, try it.
Rodney
First Rig
Second Rig
Third Rig
