A member of our Facebook group California Surf Fishing (CSF) named Greg Encino asked me to clarify the advantages of surf fishing with various swimbait rigs in various conditions. Specifically: Texas Rig, Drop Shot, Jig Head, and Carolina Rig.
So here I will explain when and why I prefer the Texas Rig, and when I chose to switch to Drop Shot, Jig Head, or Carolina Rig depending on conditions.
This applies primarily to halibut fishing on protected beaches with mixed structure such as rocks, vegetation, and sand, or in pure sand bays.
TEXAS RIG
This is my favorite and go-to rig when fishing swimbaits in the surf. TX Rig is the most versatile rig in the surf. You're able to adapt to any conditions by adding and removing weight. It's also the most weedless rig. And, when you use the Battlestar Xtra Long Shank Weighted Swimbait Hook, it also becomes the most snagless swimbait in the surf.
Dirty water (loose bits of seaweed) is our biggest challenge when targetting halibut, White Sea Bass, Rockfish, Calico Bass, etc.. on heavily mixed-structure beaches. These beaches are typically protected from waves by a reefy point on the right (north) side, and as waves crash onto those reefs, they break sea weed loose from the rocks where they are growing, and that typically gets swept across the beach to the left (south), right where you are fishing for Halibut. For that reason, when I am halibut fishing, I find it impossible to use a jerkbait 90% of the time. They pick up too much loose weed. So I only use Jerkbaits for fishing these beaches when the water is very clean (typically following a few consecutive days of tiny waves). For the same reason, I avoid using other swimbait rigs such as Drop Shot, Jig Head, and Carolina Rig. They are simply not as weedless as a lightweight Texas Rig.
The disadvantage of the Texas Rig is that you are limited in how much weight you can use. This is not a big concern for me because I'm usually trying to use as little weight as possible anyway. We should spend some time discussing why lightweight is superior to heavyweight, so I'll touch on that in a minute. I'd like to point out that I have fished Battlestar 5" Rib Bait + XLS Hooks in as much as 20mph winds with the 1/2oz hook and it casts surprisingly well. That was on a sandy west-facing beach while targeting striped bass. The water was dirty with loose kelp and eelgrass, so I knew I had to use Texas Rig. The wind was whipping so I went with the heavier 1/2oz XLS Hook. Waves were moderate, and there was a bit of current... it performed perfectly in those conditions. So I rarely ever use any other rig for swimbaits. I just love fishing and talking about Texas Rig!
But if the wind starts to whip over 20mph then I know a heavy 1.5oz Drop Shot or Carolina Rig will be my best bet to overcome the headwind. I wouldn't fish TX Rig with more than say 5/8oz or 3/4oz in the most extreme current. Because like any other rig, once you get over 3/4oz, the rig is gonna sink fast like a rock. This is a poor presentation for a Texas Rig. When you fish Texas Rig, aim to fish the lightest weight possible.
Modified Texas Rig I'd also like to point out, when you use a weighted swimbait hook, we call this a "Modified Texas Rig". A true Texas Rig uses a bullet weight to provide the weight, and the hook is not weighted. That will work fine in clean water without snaggy bottoms. But if you want maximum weedless, and snagless, then you'll want to balance most or all of the weight as far back on the hook as possible. Hence the glory of the Xtra Long Shank Weighted Swimbait Hook with Rib-Through-Groove, Battlestar 5" Rib Bait.
Why so Light? So by now, you've probably noticed that the best Halibut surf fishermen who fish swimbaits frequently mention that they prefer using light weight. Why is that? Allow me to explain. Because, when I first started surf fishing, I assumed more weight = longer casting = reaching more fish. This was a false assumption. Most of the fish you want to catch spend most of their time very close to the low tide line. This is where the waves are relatively mild, because they have crashed and lost energy before washing into these protected pockets. Eelgrass and crabs live here. Baby fish and small bait fish take cover and feed here, so the predators have adapted to live in these calmer pockets around the low tide line and ambush prey (anytime the waves and current are not too strong).
So keep in mind, that when you get further out away from the low tide line structure, the ocean becomes an abyss of underwater sand-dunes. The fish are less concentrated out there. The feeding fish are typically more concentrated around structure near the low tide line. Additionally, with a bit of experience fishing lightweight swimbaits, you will soon learn that you can cast them PLENTY far. Remember, the weight of the plastic swimbait provides additional mass to make up the total weight of your bait. So 1/4oz may sound light, but add the swimbait and drop it on a digital scale, and you'll see it weighs over 5/8 of an ounce.
With experience, you will learn that heavier baits sink like a rock and tend to get fewer bites because it doesn't move the way real food does. Real food is made of meat. Dead or alive, meat generally sinks slowly, suspends, or swims horizontally. It doesn't sink like a rock. When fish see your bait suspending, or slow sink/float, or swimming horizontally through the water column, it is interpreted as food. But that's not the only reason why we use lightweight. Baits that drag heavily along the bottom tend to snag more, and they also tend to pick up more seaweed on the bait and line. A lighter-weight bait is more passive in the current. It allows the seaweed to drift by without collecting it. It also gently grazes over rocks and vegetation, so it tends to get snagged way less often. Again, by using a weighted swimbait hook with the weight balanced further back on the hook, this snagless effect is maximized. Finally, there's something so satisfying about slow rolling a lightweight paddle tail swimbait along the bottom or through the water column. I haven't found the words to explain the satisfaction. I guess with practice, maybe you'll see what I mean.
DROP SHOT
The advantage of drop shot is that you can use heavy weight to punch through wind and navigate heavy currents, and the bait itself still has a lightweight suspending presentation. Another advantage is that you can bring the bait to a complete stop, and just hold it there in the strike zone for as long as you want, or at last until a wave or some weed interferes. Another situation where I may choose a drop shot is when I am casting over kelp beds that are really far out there. See, I will often take my Texas Rig and cast it directly into open holes and lanes in the kelp, let it sink, and then sort of twitch or yo-yo the bait a bit as it hangs over the kelp. If the kelp is too far for me to reach with the lightweight Texas Rig then I might try using a 1.5oz torpedo weight on a Drop Shot rig and bomb it way out there to hang it over the other side of the kelp. This is a deadly technique for Calico and Rock Fish, and I've managed a good number of halibut this way also. But beware, the more weight you use, the more likely you will snag on the kelp when it comes time to retrieve your bait. Also, this technique should only be employed when using really strong braided fishing line.
The disadvantage of Drop Shot is that it's not quite as weedless or snagless as a Modified Texas Rig. The tip here is, the less weight you use on your Drop Shot, the less it will snag. But like I said, If I'm using 1/2oz or less, I'll probably opt for the TX Rig. I guess that's a matter of personal preference and preparedness in case I come across some dirty water.
One more tip, if you're gonna drop shot swimbaits, you can improve the weedless factor by using rib baits, so you can bury the hook tip under some of those ribs. That way the hook tip stays protected from weed and yet it is still exposed for getting hooksets. I do not recommend burying the hook tip under the flat back of a soft plastic because it will result in a lot of lost hook sets. Most swimbaits are simply not soft enough for that method. It works fine for freshwater bass fishing with plastic worms, but those plastics tend to be softer, and bass bite differently than halibut. Halibut have bony mouths. You need an exposed hook tip. That's why the Rib-Through-Groove Battlestar 5" Rib Baits really shine.
JIGHEAD
The advantages of using a jighead are... well... not many. But if you are fishing deep water, or heavy current, if you want your bait to sink like a rock and get down to the bottom in a hurry, then you can place all the weight forward on your bait by using a jig head, or a traditional texas rig, or a drop shot. I tend to think of Jig Heads and Open Pour Swimbaits as a "boat bait". They work pretty great for trolling or jigging around kelp beds. But not any better than a Texas rig. So why do I sometimes tie on a weedless Warbait Jig Head and super glue a swimbait on? For fun! My mentor loves to fish these baits and quite frankly, they are just kinda cool in their own way. It's a traditional way of surf fishing swimbaits, and a lot of the old timers are stuck on it. And for that reason, I like to tie it on once in a while just to participate in the tradition. It's hard to deny the beauty of a 1/2oz weedless Warbait jig head in Sexy Smelt, perfectly adorned with a beautiful open pour MC Viejo swimbait. When you hold a pretty bait like that in your hand and notice that you feel compelled to bite it, then you know you're stoked about your bait. So sometimes choosing a bait is less about the fish's preference and more about the fisherman's.
The disadvantages of Jig Head swimbait fishing? Since all the weight is at the front of the bait, they tend to nose dive, sink faster, snag more, and pick up more weed. But if you're fishing pretty clean water, with the right technique, they can be just as effective as any other swimbait rig. Recommendation: One of my favorite baits is a Weedless 3/8oz Warbait Jig Head in Sexy Smelt (with WHITE nylon weed guard), matched with a Bruiser Baits, Slimmer Swimmer in Moonlight. Cut off the tip of the bait so it sits flat and flush with the back of the jig head. It's just plain beautiful!
Well, I rarely ever Carolina Rig a bait larger than 2 or 3 inches. But I wonder why... I am intrigued by the idea of Carolina Rigging a 5" Rib Bait. I have tried it a couple of times. Not enough to properly evaluate the rig. It's something I'd like to get more experience with.
The disadvantage of Carolina Rig, is that the large egg weights tend to pick up seaweed and snag on rocks as they drag bottom. But that's no problem on a purely sand beach if the water is clean. And you can also improve the snagless and weedless effect by replacing the large egg weight with a small bullet weight, say 3/8oz, or 1/4oz. That's what I would like to experiment with more in the halibut zones.
The advantage in that situation is that the bait will be extremely light, and drift so gently behind the weight up front. I love this concept! No doubt, it'll be a deadly presentation. I'll probably give it a shot this summer when Halibut fishing warms up. I'm thinking that lightweight Carolina Rigging a 5" Rib Bait will be very similar to lightweight TX Rigging a 5" Rib Bait. But when it's extremely calm, and I want to slow down even more, the Carolina Rig just might be a really interesting way to do it... I wonder... Oh boy... now I really want to go fishing!
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