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10 Tips - Weedless Rigging

By Justin Willmer

With the impoundments firing for barramundi and bass, the jacks on the chew and other heavy structure dwellers waking up from the winter chill, I thought it would be a good time to share a few tips for rigging and fishing with weedless rigged soft plastics.

Weedless rigging allows you to present your plastic over, through and into heavy cover with minimal chance of snagging or fouling. This opens up the weed, mangroves, lilies, timber and other snags that fish so often hold in. Structure provides shelter and breaks from the current, while also attracting bait and creating ambush points. Putting your soft plastic in there puts you right in the action.

Here's 10 things that work for me when fishing weedless.

1. Rigging

Many anglers find weedless rigging easier than standard rigging as you're not threading the hook through a large section of the plastic, rather just pinning the chin, measuring where the hook needs to come out and pushing the point straight up through the plastic. You can watch some videos on weedless rigging at - http://tackletactics.com.au/Rigging-Guides

A decade ago I experimented a bit with weedless rigging and gave it away as the plastics were hard and stiff, which reduced the hook up rate and the weedless hook options were pretty limited. ZMan plastics have made weedless rigging both simpler and more effective thanks to their 10X Tough, super-soft and flexible ElaZtech material.

The softness and flexibility of the material means the hook clears much easier when a fish strikes, making the hook up rate excellent, while the durability of the material means that it can be rigged without tearing, rigged over and over again and the plastic isn't torn and destroyed when a fish strikes. This makes weedless fishing effective, simple and affordable.

Being super-soft and flexible means that we need a keeper system to lock the soft plastic in place on the weedless hook or jighead and this is where TT Lures jigheads have been designed with ZMan in mind. The 'chin lock' keeper system on the ChinlockZ, ChinlockZ SWS and SnakelockZ jigheads quickly and easily lock the chin of the ZMan plastic in place, preventing it from sliding down the hook. These jigheads are also suitable for non ElaZtech plastics.

The addition of TT Lures ChinlockZ Finesse and SnakelockZ Finesse jigheads, down to a #4, have made it possible to weedless rig even tiny finesse plastics, like the ZMan 2" GrubZ, for species such as bream, trout and redfin. It's no longer just about jacks, barra, bass and Murray cod.

If you haven't tried weedless rigging or you're keen to explore it further, you'll find a guide to selecting weedless jigheads for the range of ZMan plastics at - http://tackletactics.com.au/Rigging-Guides

2. Where to Cast

Where might I fish weedless, what might be the reason and where would I cast are a few questions that I get asked. You can pretty much have a selection of weedless jigheads in your kit to suit the plastics you carry and the species you target and utilise them whenever snagging and fouling in structure becomes a potential hazard.

I will weedless rig wherever it's necessary, including flathead on the weed flats, pikey bream up north in the timber snag piles, mangrove edges and snags for barra and jacks, pockets in the weed beds and weed edges for impoundment barra, timber for saratoga, bass and redfin, reef edges for coral trout, surf fishing plastics for tailor and other species when the weed is a problem and anywhere else where structure or weed has created a snagging or fouling issue.

Weedless rigging reduces the aforementioned snagging and fouling and allows you to spend more time fishing and less time cleaning weed off or trying to unsnag lures, which can also potentially shut down a snag. It also means more time that your presentation is swimming and swimming correctly, meaning more chance of catching fish.

An option is to have two or more rods rigged and you can still approach a snag or weed and fish the edges with your standard jighead, switching to the weedless presentation when you wish to get the lure right in there. With the increased hook up rate of the ZMan presentation though, I will often just fish a weedless presentation when focussing on structure and throwing the occasional cast into clear water on the flats or in the drains.

I will often approach a snag from down current, make a couple of casts to the down current edge and a cast to each side, hoping to draw a fish out to eat the lure and maximise my chances of keeping it out once hooked. I will then make casts into the snag and past the snag, swimming the lure back through with the current. This is more intense fishing and you need to be ready for the strike and the battle to get the fish out of the structure. You will often feel the lure bumping through the structure and strikes will often follow the lure bumping solid structure and coming up and over, then dropping back down naturally and being nailed by a fish.

Prime locations to present your weedless plastic include timber piles, lay down timber, especially in the forks and along the edges of lay downs, freshly submerged timber and mangrove edges with bushy sections in the water, lilies and especially gaps in the lilies and small patches of isolated lilies, weed beds and reeds, including pockets and channels in the weed and reeds, drains that have structure in them and isolated structure on the flats.

3. Topwater

Watching a soft plastic swim on the surface can be hypnotising, when you have them rigged correctly and swimming straight. The aggressive and explosive surface strikes that break this trance can be heart stopping and addictive.

A handful of species that respond well to surface presentations include mangrove jack, barramundi, trevally, kingfish, bass, saratoga, tailor, salmon and bream, however you will often be surprised by the species that will eat a surface presentation.

A few popular surface presentations include a 2.75" Finesse FrogZ on a 2/0 ChinlockZ or ChinlockZ SWS for bass, mangrove jack and saratoga, the larger 4" Hard Leg FrogZ for barra and Murray cod, 4" Turbo CrawZ for bass, jacks, barra and cod or the 10" HeroZ for kingfish. Don't forget to experiment with your favourite ZMan plastics though as we have had great success with a ZMan 3" MinnowZ fished on the surface on a 3/0 ChinlockZ or ChinlockZ SWS for a stack of different species, including bass, barramundi, tailor and trevally.

4. Shallow & Slow Sink

When it comes to fishing shallow structure it's hard to go past a TT Lures ChinlockZ SWS jighead. The SWS stands for Snagless Weight System and refers to a weight that is moulded onto the belly of the hook to create a slow, natural, horizontal fall, while also increasing casting distance, keeling the plastic and allowing you to retrieve the plastic sub-surface or get the rod tip up and buzz it across the top.

This is my go-to when fishing northern mangroves, drains and isolated structure on the flats, in water depths ranging from almost nothing to around 1.5m, for species such as mangrove jack, barramundi, grunter, trevally and more. Whether you are slow rolling and twitching a MinnowZ or hopping and gliding a crustacean presenation, such as a ZMan 3.5" EZ ShrimpZ, this presentation allows a natural, slow fall and the ability to keep the plastic right in the strike zone.

This jighead is also dynamite for swimming and working plastics through, around and over timber, lilies, weed beds and reeds for bass, saratoga, barra and jacks. In the larger sizes it is also rigged in jerk bait style profiles, such as the 7" Scented Jerk ShadZ and 10" HeroZ, for kingfish and other pelagic and shallow reef species.

5. Shallow to Deep

When it comes to fishing shallow to deeper structure, the SnakelockZ is the go-to. It consists of a ChinlockZ hook, with a detachable head weight that is attached via a built-in, stainless steel wire, quick connection system. This allows you to mix and match the hook size and head weight to suit your target species, chosen plastic and the structure that you wish to fish.

Being buoyant the ZMan ElaZtech plastic will also often float up, leaving the head weight on the bottom, while the plastic rises up off the bottom in a natural feeding pose or a claws up defensive pose that attracts fish and triggers strikes.

The SnakelockZ is a versatile option that allows you to select a light head weight for fishing shallow or slow, or up the head weight for maintaining depth while fishing faster, or for fishing deeper.

The SnakelockZ is popular for everything from bass in the weed, lilies and timber and flathead on the weed flats, to barra and jacks in the mangroves, impoundment barra in the weed, lilies and timber, and mangrove jack in everything from deep snag piles to around the pontoons. The ability to switch the head weights across 1/12oz, 1/8oz, 1/6oz, 1/4oz, 3/8oz and 1/2oz, while changing the hook size to suit the plastic and species, means you can carry a stack of different combinations in a single plastic tackle tray.

6. Putting a Spin on Weedless

To create additional flash and vibration and increase the snag resistance even further, you can also attach a Jig Spinner or Jig Spinner HD to your weedless presentation. The jig spinner has a boomerang shaped stainless steel wire frame with a spinning blade at one end and a quick attachment system at the other end to attach to the eye of your jighead. Your leader then attaches where the bend is in the wire frame, so that when retrieving the blade runs at the top and the rigged plastic below the attachment point.

This is an effective way to mix things up when the bite isn't happening and the subtle flash and vibration is often enough to attract fish and trigger strikes. There are a selection of blade sizes available, with one being the smallest, allowing you to opt for a more subtle flash and vibration or increase the blade size as required. The Jig Spinner HD version is built on a heavy duty stainless wire frame for targeting species that have brutal strikes and powerful jaws that are capable of damaging the standard Jig Spinner.

Another option to switch things up is the TT Lures BuzzlockZ, a clear, 4 bladed buzz blade that comes fitted with a TT Lures ChinlockZ SWS and is designed to create water movement, noise and a bubble trail when buzzed across the surface for predators that eat of the top. It is available in a selection of three blade sizes to cover smaller species, such as bass, through to impoundment barra and Murray cod.

7. Further Increasing Weedless Characteristics

Some plastics feature hook pockets to assist with recessing the barb and hook point to further reduce snagging and fouling, the ZMan FrogZ for example. Other plastics, such as the MinnowZ and DieZel Minnow feature a split fin on the top, that the barb and hook point lay inside, again to further reduce snagging and fouling.

Some plastics are just smooth on the top, making it more difficult to conceal the hook, however if you pull down firmly on the hook, to pull the barb and hook point down snug against the plastic, you will be pretty safe most of the time.

When fishing heavy cover some anglers will increase the weedless / snagless characteristics of the soft plastic presentation by pulling the hook back a little in the plastic, pinching the plastic in front on the hook point and burying the point slightly into the plastic. This can allow you to fish some nasty structure, however your hook up rate can be slightly reduced, depending on species.

8. Setting the Hook

One benefit when rigging and fishing weedless is that the hook set is often solid and in the corner of the jaw, meaning less fish lost to thrown hooks during the fight, especially if aerial antics are involved.

To assist with this solid hook set I maintain good contact with the plastic and I keep it moving a lot more than I may with a standard jighead, with the aim of there being resistance when the fish strikes the lure and turns to swim away. If I am fishing paddle or curl tails I will often use a constant slow roll, with the rod tip pointed at the lure or I keep my pauses short on the bottom when chasing species such as flathead in the weed.

When fishing slower around structure, maybe working a prawn imitation such as a ZMan 3.5" EZ ShrimpZ, it's crucial to maintain some level of contact with the plastic and keep an eye on the line for any indication of a bite. Someone once told me that strikes are free, so don't be afraid to set the hook.

9. Scent

I always scent up my plastics with Pro-Cure Super Gel to mask foreign scents, such as fuel and sunscreen, while also making the most of the powerful amino acids, bite stimulants and UV enhancement to attract fish and trigger strikes.

When weedless fishing I want the strike to be as aggressive and committed as possible to ensure a solid hook set and I believe that scent is one way to encourage this. I also want the presentation to be as realistic as possible, so that if the fish misses on their first attempt they return for another go. I smear a small amount of scent over the entire plastic every 30 to 50 casts, after a fish and when things are quiet I may add a little more or add another flavour.

10. Utilising Standard Jigheads for Weedless Presentations

If you find yourself stuck without a weedless jighead, you can utilise a jighead with the 'head lock' style grub keeper, such as a TT Lures HeadlockZ, DemonZ or Big EyeZ and sub them in. Simply pin the plastic through the chin as you would when weedless rigging, pull the hook right through the plastic so that the chin of the plastic locks into the gap between the head and grub keeper on the 'head lock' style keeper. This 'head lock' keeper is now playing the role of the 'chin lock' keeper.

Measure where you need the hook to come out and push it straight up through, leaving the hook point just below the surface. This will allow you to fish serious snags and a decent fish will shift the plastic and find the hook when it strikes.

There we go. I am a massive fan of weedless rigging as so often we are told 'find the structure, find the fish' and it's true. Structure is a magnet for predators for so many reasons and I know that by effectively rigging weedless my soft plastic is right in where the fish are and also where so many other anglers aren't fishing.

All the best with the fishing
Justin Willmer

Gear List:
ZMan Plastics to suit your species and application
TT Lures ChinlockZ jigheads
TT Lures ChinlockZ SWS jigheads
TT Lures SnakelockZ jigheads
Pro-Cure Mullet Super Gel Scent and a selection of other flavours to suit the species and environment