Texas equipment - scope, installation and fishing technique

Manufacturing of Texas equipment, installation techniques

Among spinning fishermen, a tackle called Texas rig is becoming increasingly popular. It got its name from the lake, which is located in Texas, and was used for catching American bass. This type of tackle is characterized by non-snaking and excellent catchability, and is successfully used by Russian fishermen for catching perch, pike perch and pike. Thanks to the use of an offset hook and a bullet weight, the equipment acquires excellent maneuverability, and is used for fishing in heavily overgrown water areas.

Installation of Texas equipment on pike

To catch pike , you can attach either a standard twister or vibrotail , or a slug or silicone worm to an offset hook .

Many novice anglers make a mistake when mounting a bait on an offset hook by sticking the sting into its back. This should not be done. In this case, the probability of a hook is reduced to almost zero, but the percentage of bites also drops. When hooking, the spinning angler often simply pulls the bait out of the pike’s mouth. The hook point, which is located in the body of the bait, does not detect the fish.

Correct installation assumes that the hook tip is located close to the back of the twister, vibrotail , slug or other artificial fish , but does not enter it. In this case, when biting, the pike, squeezing the bait, exposes the tip of the hook, and it easily enters its mouth when hooking. At the same time, the installation passes quite confidently through algae and snags.

During the fishing process, the bait can move , exposing the hook, so it needs to be checked periodically and corrected if necessary. It is important to correctly disassemble the offset machine , which corresponds in shape and size to the type of bait. In this case, it will sit securely, and the likelihood that the sting will be exposed during the fishing process will be minimized.

Peculiarities

The equipment of the Texas spinning rod is quite simple - a silicone worm is tied with an offset hook to the main fishing line, along which a bullet-shaped sinker slides freely. A bead is placed between the bullet and the hook, but this is not necessary. Thanks to the bullet-shaped loading, the installation perfectly passes all underwater obstacles without getting stuck in them or clinging to them.

Advantages of the Texas equipment:

• simple installation;
• excellent maneuverability in hard-to-reach places;
• big catch;
• good flight performance.

This type of fishing equipment is effective when catching passive fish. Thanks to it, it is possible to carry out ultra-slow retrieves, which allows you to encourage the most well-fed and sluggish predator to grab. Active underwater inhabitants also pay attention to the installation and begin to attack it at the first opportunity. Since the shape of the sinker is streamlined, and the lures are narrow-bodied silicone, this makes it possible to cast the tackle over fairly decent distances.

Essential elements

Such equipment was invented in the 50s of the last century and initially it consisted of an offset hook, an artificial worm, a plexiglass ball, and a brass bullet sinker. Thanks to the hook and sinker, it became possible to fish in places with various obstacles under water. And when plexiglass and brass come into contact during wiring, a ringing noise effect is created.

Modern fishermen began to use various silicone baits instead of artificial worms:

• lizards;
• twisters;
• arthropods;
• crustaceans.

Texas pike rigs have slightly different weights, but they all have a bullet shape . These sinkers usually have a notch in the back that covers the worm's head or bead like a cap. Thanks to its streamlined shape and the absence of a gap between the bait and the sinker, the rig is able to pass through the most impassable places without collecting a beard of grass.

Sinkers are made of lead , as well as steel or brass. It is believed that hard metal can create an additional irritant for the pike by hitting a bead or stones during retrieving, which leads to an increase in the catchability of the gear. You can make your own bullet weight by casting it from lead or cutting a lead olive in half. The weight of the sinker is selected taking into account the fishing conditions, and ranges from 3 to 12 grams. But heavier bullets are rarely used.

When fishing in the grass, the weight of the bullet must be selected so that the bait sinks slowly. For this, 3–4 grams is enough. During the current, the weight should be a little more, but even in this case the bait should not fall like a stone to the bottom, otherwise it will lose its attractiveness to pike, pike perch or perch.

Hooks and lures

To successfully overcome underwater obstacles with the equipment, you need to choose the right hook . If a worm is used, then an offset hook with a slight bend and a long shank is suitable. Larger silicone baits require an offset tool with a larger bend.

For maximum cross-country ability of fishing equipment, it is recommended to use round-shaped baits. Otherwise, a large number of hooks will be observed. The color of the bait should match the weather: on a clear day it should be light, on a cloudy day it should be dark. If the water is clean, then use natural colors, and for muddy water, bright colors of baits are suitable. But sometimes everything happens exactly the opposite.

Beads and beads

It is believed that a glass bead placed between the bullet and the hook creates a click when the sinker hits it during the jerk retrieve. This can attract perch , pike perch and pike. In addition, thanks to the bead, the knot on the hook is protected from constant blows from the sinker, which is especially important if mono-line is used as the main line. The effectiveness of the tackle for pike directly depends on how the bait was mounted on the offset hook.

Installation of Texas equipment

Even a novice spinning angler can install the Texas rig This requires being careful and consistently performing simple steps. To make the tackle correctly, a bullet sinker is strung on the main line so that its pointed part is located towards the rod. A bead, a silicone shock absorber or a plexiglass ball is placed on the fishing line. After this, an offset hook is tied to the fishing line. All that remains is to select the appropriate bait and place it on the hook.

If fishing takes place in places where pike mainly live, then you need to protect the equipment from the sharp teeth of the predator. For this purpose, a metal leash is attached to the main fishing line, and the hook with bait is mounted to it using a carabiner. The rest of the equipment is placed on the main line.

Installation of equipment

Texas equipment is mounted in one of the following ways:

1. Classic; 2. A more complex option - multi-component

Classic installation involves assembling the following elements:

• A piece of fishing line is taken and a bullet sinker is attached to it. The narrower part of the sinker should be located away from the hook.
• Next, a glass bead is put on the fishing line. It should move along the fishing line and, accordingly, collide with the sinker. The harder the metal of the sinker, the more sonorous the sound produced from contact.
• Now you need to attach the offset hook.
• The hook is camouflaged in silicone bait. The masking process was described above.

Another assembly method, the most complex, includes the following steps:

• A piece of fluorocarbon fishing line is taken and a bullet sinker is also attached to it. To avoid chafing of the line thread on the sinker, a cambric or any other homemade plastic gasket is placed in the sinker.
• Next, two plexiglass balls are attached.
• Now you need to attach the micro fastener.
• At the end, a hook is tied and bait is placed on it.

The first installation method is easy, but it can be simplified even more if you do not add a bead. It is worth noting, with a bead or not, a spinning rod equipped in the Texas style almost always brings a catch. Also, while fishing, you can fully explore the bottom of an unfamiliar body of water.

Elements of Texas equipment

Since this equipment is used both for catching perch or pike perch, and for pike. It can be assembled not only on the main fishing line (cord) but also on a separate metal leash.

Main line

The color of the braided cord or fishing line is selected in such a way that when reeling out, the direction of movement of the equipment is visible. Thus, a fishing line or cord of bright yellow or poisonous green color is clearly visible on the water, allowing you to control the trajectory of the installation near promising places when wiring. Monofilament or cords of neutral colors are used in clear water and shallow depths.

The choice of type and thickness of the main fishing line for the tackle depends on the fishing object:

• For perch or small pike perch, use monofilament fishing line with a cross-section of 0.18-0.25 mm;
• For pike and large pike perch, a braided cord with a thickness of 0.1-0.12 mm is used.

When fishing in reservoirs where medium and large pike often take, the equipment is assembled on a 30-40 centimeter steel or tungsten leash. In this case, the carabiner attached to one of its ends is removed and the offset hook is attached with a cape.

Some spinning anglers, when catching small perch, mount Texas equipment on fluorocarbon leashes with a thickness of no more than 0.23-0.25 mm.

When fishing for medium-sized perch or pike perch, leashes are not used. The sinker and offset hook are mounted directly on the main line. In this installation, to prevent injury and weakening of the hook assembly after the sinker, a small plastic limiter bead is placed on the cord. Allowing the unit to be protected from destruction, when inserted and in contact with the lower end of the bullet sinker, it emits a noise effect that attracts predators - a series of repeated ringing clicks.

The basis of the Texas rig is a bullet sinker with a special notch in the wide base. When fishing with such a rig, sinkers weighing from 5 to 22-30 grams are usually used.

The choice of sinker weight depends on the depth and strength of the current in the fishing area:

• On small lakes and rates with an average depth of up to 2 meters, as well as in small slow-flowing rivers, sinkers weighing no more than 8 grams are used;
• For reservoirs with standing water and depths up to – 5 meters, as well as for rivers with medium flows, sinkers weighing 12-15 grams are used;
• For greater depths and sections of rivers with fairly strong currents, the heaviest 20-22 gram sinkers are used.

Important.

When fishing with thin monofilament, a thin plastic tube is inserted into the sinker's passage hole, sealed at both ends so that there is a passage for the fishing line. They do this in order to improve the sliding of the sinker along the fishing line, and therefore reduce its injury.

The size of offsets is selected taking into account the type and size of the bait used:

• For twisters up to 50 mm long, use hooks No. 8;
• For more voluminous vibrating tails, offset printers No. 1/0-2/0 are used;
• For slugs and silicone worms, small offset presses No. 6 are used;

When fishing with this rig, preference is given to “Wide Gap” type offsets. The advantage of such hooks is the fore-end, which is curved to the side, which reduces the number of derailments, improving the grip of the offset tool.

When choosing between regular and edible rubber, preference is often given to softer edible rubber impregnated with special attractants. The so-called noise ribbed rubber also plays better and attracts predators.

For this spaced installation, exclusively silicone baits of the following types are used:

Making Texas Tooling

Making equipment is quite simple. To do this, we put a bullet of the required weight on the main fishing line, then string (if desired) a bead and tie a hook. Next, we attach a silicone worm (bait) and the equipment is ready for battle.

How to attach a silicone worm to a hook?

Step-by-step instructions for attaching a silicone worm to an offset hook:

• We pierce the worm from the head along the body about 5 mm. and take the sting out (see photo 3);
• we pull the hook through the body of the worm, turn and pull the bait onto the step of the hook;
• again we pierce the worm across and bring the sting out, the sting of the hook should fit snugly to the body of the worm, you can hide the tip of the sting in the body of the bait for better penetration in the grass.

If there is a high probability of catching pike in a given reservoir, then it is better to mount the equipment on a soft tungsten or Kevlar leash to withstand the sharp pike teeth.

Fishing with a Texas rig

As with fishing with other spaced rigs, especially Carolina rigs, the success of fishing with Texas rigs depends on choosing the optimal type of wiring. It is also important to correctly perform timely hooking and subsequent landing.

Wiring technique

The following types of fishing are used in Texas fishing:

• Classic jigging - after casting, the equipment is allowed to sink to the bottom. Then a rewind is performed, consisting of 2-3 turns of the reel handle. After this, the bait is again allowed to fall onto the bottom soil. The moment the bait touches the bottom is determined by the sag of the cord or the straightening of the tip of the form.
• Step with tosses - performed like a regular step. The only difference is that the bait is lifted from the bottom with short tosses. Following them, standard winding is performed.
• Dragging along the bottom - with this type of fishing the bait is allowed to lie on the bottom. Then the tip of the blank is lowered low to the surface of the water and, by winding the reel, they begin to pull the entire equipment along the bottom soil. This wiring is effective in places with a sandy or muddy bottom. This is explained by the fact that a predator, noticing clouds of turbidity and a silhouette swarming in them, mistakes it for a small bottom fish (ruff, small perch, goby) and attacks more actively.
• Dash-and-dotted - after falling to the bottom, the tip of the form is lowered to the water itself and they begin to drag the installation in jerks, alternating with short pauses.
• American step - retrieving a bait that has fallen to the bottom consists of smoothly raising the rod to an almost vertical position, followed by reeling out the resulting slack in the fishing line.

Advantages of Texas equipment

Texas equipment is classified as a spaced type of installation. It consists of a bullet weight that moves freely along the fishing line, a bead, an offset hook and a silicone nozzle.

The main advantages of Texas equipment are:

• Easy and quick installation;
• Good catchability;
• Ability to use various wiring methods and their combinations;
• Excellent cross-country ability in cluttered areas, which is achieved due to the presence of a bullet load;
• Good range;

The Texas rig works well on passive fish; by retrieving it slowly, we provoke a predator standing in the shelter to attack, and besides, when swallowing the bait, the fish does not feel the weight of the sliding sinker.

At the same time, when the Texas rig is mounted on an active predator, it is no less catchy.

Fishing with Texas rigs is effective both in still waters and in the current.

How to choose the right installation elements

The mounting options described above are suitable for catching various predators. The only difference is the size of the offsets and the length of the baits. The hook number and bait size are selected depending on what predator you plan to catch.

Fishing for perch with a Texas rig involves the use of small offsets and silicones up to 5 cm long. For a Texas rig for pike, you will need edible rubber 10-15 cm and appropriate hooks. Soft baits with a length of 7 to 12 cm are suitable for catching pike perch; offsets are preferable to the elongated form.

The size of the silicone is also affected by the activity of the predator. If there is no bite, it is recommended to try compact silicone baits, preferably edible ones. If the bite is decent, then it is advisable to fish with large rubber bands in order to catch a trophy specimen.

There is one requirement for Texas lures - they must be elongated. These can be twisters, rippers, octopuses, and of course silicone worms. Edibles that imitate insects and crustaceans work well with Texas bass rigs.

Texas snap montage

You can buy a bait with ready-made Texas equipment in a store, but it is better to learn how to make it yourself, this will give you the opportunity to quickly change the equipment, adapting to different fishing conditions.

So, we knit the rig:

• A piece of fluorocarbon fishing line, 1-1.5 m long, is connected to the main fishing line using a swivel or loop-to-loop installation. When hunting pike, a flexible metal bait is used.
• We put a sinker on the leash, but so that its pointed part faces the direction of the rod;
• Next we string the bead;
• We tie the offset hook using a “clinch” or “palomar” knot (for the “palomar” knot it is important that the eye of the hook is wide enough to allow the doubled fishing line to pass through);
• Now all that remains is to attach the bait to the offset and the installation of the Texas rig is ready.

Elements of the Texas rig for walleye

The equipment in question is considered quite simple. It consists of several elements that are sold today in a variety of specialized stores.

The main ones can be called:

1. Sinker. This element resembles a product with a high degree of smoothness, which has an axial hole. In most cases, lead or brass is used in manufacturing. You can make such a product yourself.
2. Hook. In most cases, in the manufacture of the equipment in question, offset machines are used, due to which wiring through difficult places is significantly simplified. If fishing is carried out in free areas, then single hooks are used. They are selected for bait and potential prey.
3. Leash. This element can be made using a variety of materials, recently most often from monofilament.
4. Bead. It can be made of glass, plastic, metal. This element is placed between the sinker and the hook. Acts as a damper and is noisy during wiring.

Often equipment is created for hunting pike, which has sharp teeth. This is why you should choose durable materials.

Texas rig lures

It is best to use various edible versions of silicone tips. They must be narrow-bodied; they can be either passive or active.

Passive (not having their own game):

• Worms;
• Octopuses;
• Slugs;
• Creators;

Which bait to choose for mounting on a Texas rig depends on the degree of activity of the fish? The higher it is, the brighter the animation should be on the attachment.

Texas rigs work better with baits made of floating silicone, which can stretch 6-8 times. This silicone is quite wear-resistant, holds well on the hook and can withstand a large number of bites.

As you know, when fishing with offset, it is the front part of the bait that most often suffers, and if you use ordinary rubber, it will have to be changed often, but stretchy rubber will last for almost a whole day of fishing.

Continuing the topic of Texas rig mounting, I would like to mention that the size of the bait depends on the size of the trophy. So, perch is caught well with worms 5 to 7 cm long and vibrotails 2-5 cm. Pike perch chooses larger baits: worms 9-11 cm and vibrotails 5 to 7 cm. Large worms (from 12 cm) are taken for pike ) and vibrotails (from 7 cm).

Tackle for fishing with Texas rig

Rod

Fishing with a Texas rig is more of a jig fishing, so the appropriate forms are chosen. When fishing in large bodies of water with great depth, fast or ultra-fast action blanks with high power and high sensitivity are used. On small rivers and ponds you can use light class rods with medium action.

Coil

When fishing in difficult areas (snags, algae), it is dangerous to give the fish freedom of action; here our main task is to bring the fish to the boat or shore as quickly as possible. For these purposes, power inertia-free or multiplier coils are used. In other cases, you can use a faster inertia-free coil. For long casts, the quality of line laying is very important. Don't forget about a good clutch.

fishing line

Most anglers prefer braided fishing line, since one of the most catchy jig fishing methods is to slowly drag the bait along the bottom, and here braid has no equal. True, there are a number of anglers who fish with monofilament and fluorocarbon fishing lines. Fluorocarbon is great for Texas rigs because it is less susceptible to damage and abrasion from various hard and sharp objects.

Fishing with a Texas rig

Some features of hooking

If you carry out the retrieval by pulling the rod (fishing with casting tackle, in places where there are hooks), then it may happen that the bite will occur at the moment when your rod is raised above your head. It is extremely inconvenient to hook from such a position; at best, we will hook by throwing the rod over our head.

In this case, it is better to lower the fishing rod down, reel in the fishing line and then make a jerk, spotting the fish. At the same time, the pause that we will have will allow the fish to better swallow the bait.

Relatively small baits up to 5-7 cm and light weights are recommended. When retrieving, you must be very careful, since in most cases the attack of the perch on the bait is weak,

in the form of neat pokes, disturbances in the game of the bait and twitching. Of the wiring, it is preferable to pull the equipment along the bottom, which periodically changes with jerking wiring and pauses of different periods of time.

Texas rig mounting for walleye

Pike perch prefers depth, so the weight of the load must be heavier than when hunting for pike and perch. The size of the bait is up to 7-11 cm. The offset hook is chosen to be hard and durable so that it can penetrate and hook the hard upper jaw. A step in combination with a dotted line is used as wiring. The bite of medium-sized pike perch is often also not pronounced, and is somewhat similar to perch.

Texas on pike

One of the main differences when installing Texas rigs on pike is the presence of a thick fluorocarbon leader or steel cable. When fishing for pike in thickets of grass, you should under no circumstances use snap hooks; all gear should have a minimum of protruding elements. The baits used are larger than when fishing for pike perch, while the weight of the sinker is relatively light, which makes the bait more realistic. Stepped and wavy wiring works well.

Texas equipment is quite versatile and allows you to combine different types of fishing rods, which we will use, adapting to different fishing conditions.

• In places where there are no hooks, stepped, uniform or fast retrieving works well, as well as dragging the bait along the bottom.
• In rocky areas and snags, retrieving is done by smoothly pulling the rod.
• If the bottom is evenly covered with a layer of algae of the same height, then you can use lines operating in the water column (uniform and pelagic) to guide the bait above the algae.
• In snag, you can also use a rather dangerous but effective method. For these purposes, light loads are selected. The essence of wiring is that we carefully drag the bait onto a branch of a flooded snag, and then give it the opportunity to fall from it to the bottom.

If the bait gets caught on a branch, under no circumstances should you begin to forcefully pull it towards yourself in an attempt to push through the obstacle. On the contrary, we loosen the tension and let the bait fall back. Then we try to overcome the obstacle, either by moving along the shore to the side, or by throwing the bait up with the rod.

What kind of fish can be caught using a Texas rig?

It is believed that the Texas rig is most effective when fishing for pike and perch, especially in grass and snags. Despite this, other fish, not only predatory ones, are caught using the Texas rig. After all, it all depends on the type of bait, since you can put both artificial and natural baits on the hook.

Perch fishing

Most spinners use Texas rigs to catch bass. Edible silicone is used as nozzles as it is more catchy. As a rule, twisters, crustacean lures or worms are used, but as practice shows, vibrating tails or imitation larvae made from the same silicone are no less catchy. As for the color scheme, you will have to experiment here.

Pike fishing

The Texas rig is the best way to catch pike in hard-to-reach places such as snags, water lilies and thickets. But when catching pike, you need to take measures to ensure that it does not bite off the bait. To do this, a metal leash made of string or a fluorocarbon leash, about 35 cm long, is added to the main fishing line. Silicone, up to 10 cm long, is used as bait. In the form of twisters or vibrotails for an active pike, or in the form of crayfish and worms for a passive one pike. As for their lure colors, you need to experiment to find out the preferences of the pike.

Fishing for pike perch

Pike perch, which feed near the bottom, are also successfully caught using the Texas rig. Most importantly, it is necessary to use powerful offset hooks that are sharp enough. This is due to the fact that the pike perch’s mouth is strong and can only be penetrated as a result of a decisive hook.