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The Incredible Edible Soft Bait

By Captain Mike Hogan

At Hogy Lures, we love soft baits for so many reasons. Not only are soft baits the most life like baits available, but they are so versatile in terms of how you can rig them. With the same bait, you can rig it for top-water, intermediate depth or fished down deep. You can cast them, troll them and even drift with them. As a result, with only a small amount of rigging supplies, you can adapt to just about any fishing situation imaginable. Here’s a break down on how we rig ‘em!

Part 1: Casting

Tandem Rigged Hogys Details

We like tandem rigging when short strikes become an issue. As baits get increasingly longer, the second hook becomes increasingly important. We particularly recommend tandem rigging our longer baits, such as our 14” and 18” models. On our ten inch sized Hogy, we tandem rig the bait about 50% of the time depending on the fishing situation and how many short strikes are occurring.

The Tandem Hogy Quick Rig: Our Hogy Quick rig system is a superior tandem rigging method for soft baits as it only take seconds to rig which
you can do on or off the water. See how it's done in this video.

No Rigging Needles Required! Our system does not require rigging needles nor much rigging experience to complete. Some manufacturers will recommend rigging needles to literally sew the hooks into the bait, but that takes some serious rigging experience and time to complete. (several minutes at least) Furthermore, it is not a technique that can be done on the water and once the bait is worn-out, your work has become obsolete.

Our Hooks are NOT molded in! Other manufacturers mold the hooks right into the bait. Granted this is the easiest method for the angler but the added cost is considerable. Furthermore, if the bait gets chewed up or worn out, the hooks/rig becomes useless. Also, pay careful attention to what manufacturers are using for hardware. Will it hold up? Are the hooks strong enough?

At Hogy Lures, we prefer to rig as we go. That way:

You’re not boxed into which rigging method to use
You can change baits easily
Save on rigging costs.

Hogy Tandem Rig Chart:

8” Hogy Paddle Jerk: 10” Hogy Quick Rig
10” Hogy: 10” Hogy Quick Rig
10” Hogy Double Wide: 10” Hogy Quick Rig
14” Hogy: 14” Hogy Quick Rig
18” Hogy: 18” Hogy Quick Rig

Texas Rigged Hogys Detail

Texas style rigging came about in the 1970’s as a way to fish soft baits in a weedless fashion. Traditionally speaking “Texas” Rigging includes a nose weight. But when you’re talking soft “jerk” baits, the weight can be counter productive if you’re looking to walk the dog.

When fishing Texas Style, we prefer our baits un-weighted and view this rigging method as a surface-subsurface rigging method. The hooks currently available on the market today are sharp and strong.

Hogy Texas-Style Offset Worm Hook Chart:

6” Skinny Hogy: Owner 5/0
7” Original Hogy: Owner 7/0 Oversized Worm Hook
8” Paddle Jerk: Owner 11/0 Oversized Worm Hook
10” Original Hogy: Owner 11/0 Oversized Worm Hook
10” Jiggn’ Poppin’ Hogy: Owner 11/0 Oversized Worm Hook
10” Double Wide Hogy: Owner 11/0 Oversized Worm Hook

Single Hook in the Nose:

Some anglers prefer just a single hook in the nose. On our larger baits, this is an effective method for “culling” out smaller fish. We recommend our Weighted Grip Hooks which are 3X strong and designed for very large fish. The little extra weight in the nose helps keep the bait down in moving water, rolling surf or in slightly deeper water.

Hogy Weighted Grip Hook Chart:

6/0: 7” Hogy
7/0: 10” Hogy, 8” Paddle Jerk
8/0: 10” Double Wide

Jig Heads Detail

Jig Heads are the way to go when you want your bait to reach deeper water. We designed our heavy duty jig heads to perfectly match our products. Our heavy duty cadmium hooks are tuna strong and rust resistant.

Hogy Jig Head Chart:

1 Oz: 10” Hogy, 8” Paddle Jerk, 10” Jiggn’ Hogy
3 Oz: 10” Hogy, 8” Paddle Jerk, 10” Jiggn’ Hogy

Swimming Tins Detail

Fishing with swimming tins is a plug and play method. Simply cast and reel! Keep your tip at a 30 degree angle to the water and reel SLOWLY. The swimming tin will do the rest as it wobbles the bait seductively through the water, typically a few feet below the surface.

Hogy Swimming Tin Chart:

1 Oz: 6” Skinny, 7” Hogy, 10” Hogy

Soft Bait Teasers:

Many surf casters like to add a “teaser” ahead of their lure. Often in surf casting situations, feeding fish are out of range of just about anything other than a metal lure or a heavy plastic plug. But that doesn’t mean the fish want something big and hard! Add a soft bait teaser. We recommend our 6” Skinny Hogy for this purpose, but folks will use up to our 10” Hogy when fish are keyed in on larger prey.

With this technique, we recommend rigging Texas style, so the soft bait remains weedless.

Hogy Offset Worm Hook Chart for teasers:

6” Skinny Hogy: Owner 5/0
7” Original Hogy: Owner 7/0 Oversized Worm Hook
10” Original Hogy: Owner 11/0 Oversized Worm Hook

Part 2: Drifting:

Drop Shot Rig:

This technique has become a hugely popular technique among largemouth bass anglers fishing deeper in the water column. The hooks are attached inline to the leader so that they protrude perpendicularly. The weight is then attached to the bottom, which serves as an anchor for the bait. The idea is that each time you snap the rod with a short twitching action, the baits will quiver as the line vibrates all the way down to the sinker. Try this awesome technique on any game fish.

To drop shot Hogys, we recommend Texas rigging as it will minimize weeding up and tends to have the best presentation.

Hogy Offset Worm Hook Chart for Drop-Shotting:

6” Skinny Hogy: Owner 5/0
7” Original Hogy: Owner 7/0 Oversized Worm Hook
8” Paddle Jerk: Owner 11/0 Oversized Worm Hook
10” Original Hogy: Owner 11/0 Oversized Worm Hook
10” Double Wide Hogy: Owner 11/0 Oversized Worm Hook

Three Way Rig:

“Three-waying” is a popular technique with striper anglers in the Northeast as a way to drift eels and other live bait fish. But three-waying is also an effective technique with our larger soft-baits. Their long profile coupled with our Hogy blend of hand poured plastic allows for a natural serpentine action all on their own doing. Using a three-way swivel, a weight is attached to the bottom connection and a 14”-24” leader is connected to the middle connection. With this technique, we recommend our 14” and 18” Hogys:

Hogy Tandem Rig Chart for 3-Waying:

14” Hogy: 14” Hogy Quick Rig
18” Hogy: 18” Hogy Quick Rig

Carolina Rig:

Some anglers prefer Carolina-Style Rigging which features an egg sinker on the running line stopped by a barrel swivel connected to a 18” to 36” leader. Though you can cast with this rig, we prefer it as a drifting method and would use it on a very slow drift. Since the bait is so close to the bottom, be mindful of snags.

Trolling:

The “Naked” Hogy: Our Larger Hogys make excellent tube and worm substitutes for striper folks but that doesn’t mean you can’t troll them for other big game fish including musky and tuna. We particularly like them when trolling because you can impart your own action with short “jigging” style twitches. The best part is that when you take the boat out of gear, perhaps to drop your lures over fish, the Hogy will offer it’s fluid action as the bait descends in the water. Countless fish have been taken “on the drop” with Hogys.

For this method, we recommend Tandem rigging on our larger baits:

Hogy Tandem Rig Chart for Naked Trolling:

14” Hogy: 14” Hogy Quick Rig
18” Hogy: 18” Hogy Quick Rig

Umbrella Rig/Dredge Bar:

With their amazing action, we love Hogys when rigged on an umbrella rig. Inshore, folks will rig them with a stinger down the middle for striped bass.

Popular Hogy Umbrella Rig Combinations:

7” Hogys with 10” Stinger
10” Hogys with a 14” Stinger

Blue-water folks rig them “hook-less” as a teaser rig, commonly known as a dredge bar. Popular dredge bait colors include black-pearl and rainbow bunker.

High Speed Head:

Hogys serve as a dynamite ballyhoo alternative when rigged behind a bullet style trolling head. Our favorite sizes for this rigging method are our 10” and 14” models rigged tandem style. We strongly recommend the Hogy Hook Stopper in between the trolling head and the bait, as it will seat the lure properly behind the head and prevent unwanted spinning. Read all about this technique here!

Daisy Chain:

Hogys can be rigged as high speed daisy chains. They are so soft, they quiver as they each dance uniquely along the same chain. We recommend the 7” and 10” Hogys for daisy chains with a 14” stinger.