I see so many fishermen who won’t go near the rocky beaches because they have had the negative experience of launching bait rigs into the rocks, only to snag and lose rig after rig after rig. This stress can be a bit traumatic for fishermen, and some of them end up avoiding the rocky beaches altogether.
I am here to renew your courage, my friend! I have discovered the trick to fishing rocky, snaggy beaches without getting snagged and losing so many rigs! It involves a TX rigged rib bait, with an xtra long shank weighted swimbait hook. With most of the weight this far back on the hook, the bait falls horizontally. With your rod tip pointed up, the nose points up, and the bait just bounces it's butt off the top of the rocks, as long as you continue to retrieve steadily and slowly with a pop here and there, to keep your line relatively straight, (I like to keep a bow in my line to make sure the bait is sinking to the bottom) and keep the bait moving at least a little, then it doesn’t snag. You may still snag now and then, but you’ll snag less than 10% as often, with this exact bait and technique. And even when you snag, it usually comes free with a tug of the straight 30# braid, because it’s often a superficial snag since the line was straight and the way the bait tends to position itself, due to most of the weight being so far back on the hook, in relation to where the line ties at the front of the lure. You can also use less weight, like 3/8oz, or even 1/4oz in calm conditions, and then swim the bait slowly through the water column, just over the bottom. Then it is extremely unlikely that you will snag.
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