Slow Falling Soft Plastics texas saltwater fishing, texas fishing, wadefishing, wading, bay fishing, speckled trout, redfish, snook, tarpon, texas redfish, texas speckled trout As we move toward late winter and, eventually, spring, we are entering a time when fish - particularly big fish - prefer a slow-moving bait. Topwaters and slow-sinking plugs are useful for times like these. However, these baits only produce when fish are working the mid- to upper-levels of the water column. So, what can you use when fish are buried down in the grass or hugging the bottom of potholes and refuse to raise up to take a bait? Soft-plastics, of course. But, before getting ahead of yourself, remember, these fish want a bait worked extremely slow. Therefore, the standard rig consisting of a Bull Minnow or Cocahoe pinned on an 1/8 ounce head won't get the job done. This combination must be worked too quickly in order to keep it from fouling on grass to be effective. However, there are a couple of things that can be done to slow down your soft-plastic presentation. The first thing to remember is two factors contribute to sink rate of jigs - head weight and body size. Obviously, the heavier the head, the faster it falls. Secondly, the body will help speed or slow the descent. A bigger, wider soft-plastic bait will fall more slowly than a narrow bait. TTF Big Minos and Mister Twister Sassy Shads are good examples of wide-bodied baits which keep sink rates slow. With those two factors in mind, you can play with combinations of head weights and body widths to gain the proper sink rate. A heavy head, narrow-bodied bait will fall the fastest. A light head, wide-bodied bait will fall the slowest. In between lies an infinite number of combinations which will all fall at different rates. However, although a lighter head and/or a bigger body will solve the descent rate problem, it may not be the answer under every situation. A slow-falling jig can be worked effectively over clean bottom or through potholes. But, even the slowest falling jig will foul in grass if it is allowed to fall too far. To solve the grass issue, there are a couple of options. One option which is rarely used here locally is to attach the soft-plastic body to a spinnerbait head. Like jig heads, spinnerbaits are measured by weight. For bay fishing purposes, 1/8 and ¼ ounce models are best. The other factor that controls the sink rate of spinnerbaits is the blade itself. A long, narrow blade will allow the bait to fall quicker, whereas a larger, rounder blade will slow the bait more. Spinnerbaits are made in both single and tandem blade models. Stick with single blade baits for saltwater use. As far as being weedless, the wire arm which attaches the blade to the head acts as a great weed guard. Secondly, the blade rotates during the retrieve, providing a propeller-like “lift” to the bait as it travels through the water. When working over shallow grass, a spinnerbait can be retrieved extremely slow. So long as the blade is turning, the bait will rise above the grass. The ideal retrieve in this situation is just fast enough to keep the bait ticking the top of the grass - a method known as “slow-rolling” among bass fishermen. The final way to beat the grass problem is to rig a soft-plastic “Texas style,” which entails running the hook through a short portion of the bait's nose, out the bottom of the bait, then reinserting the hookpoint midway down the bait, leaving the point buried in the plastic so it does not foul when dragged through grass. Modern offset hooks, better known as “worm hooks,” are designed to allow the hook point and barb to ride fully exposed just along the back of the bait. This setup increases hook-up ratio, but is still extremely weedless. While it is true that fish can still be caught with traditional methods throughout the spring, “tweaking” your presentation just a bit can increase the action you see when fish get finicky. texas saltwater fishing, texas fishing, wadefishing, wading, bay fishing, speckled trout, redfish, snook, tarpon, texas redfish, texas speckled trout