If you haven’t fished this technique yet you’ve been missing out. The Free Rig is deadly this time of the year, especially when the weed growth is up. The rig allows your bait to fall vertically while the weight separates from it therefore allowing your lure to fall in a more slow, natural way, hence the term Free Rig. Unlike the Texas rig with a bullet shaped weight, which tends to fall a little more vertical due to its bullet shape, the weight used is more pencil like so it falls straight down, which is more effective at falling through the weeds. No, you don’t need to use a specific Free Rig Weight, the standard bullet shaped bass casting weight can work fine if fishing along weed lines, however I have found that if your casting into the thicker stuff, the thin pencil shaped weight tends to get through the weeds a little cleaner
You may ask, Isn’t this basically just punching? Well, kinda. The biggest difference is with punching you tend to use a much heavier weight that is pegged to the bait, allowing it f=to fall much faster, which at times the bass prefer the faster fall but I’ve found, especially when the bass are not as active, they prefer a slower fall vs a fast one. For me, if they are actively feeding in the grass, nothing is more fun than a frog along the surface
I like to cast it out into weeds being sure to allow it to fall on completely slack line so the rig wont pendulum back at you. As the weight falls to the bottom your lure will separate from it while falling in a slower more natural way. Be sure to watch your line for any movement because the bass tend to hit it as the bait is falling. More than once I’ve cast this rig out into 7 foot of water and kept feeding it line so it would fall straight down then realized that I’ve given it enough line for 15 foot of water because it kept taking line. Yep, a bass had grabbed my bait and started swimming off with it.
For baits, some people prefer flat bluegill looking or Fluke style ones but they tend to glide from side to side when dropping. While this action can be great when fishing outer weed lines, if your fishing from shore its hard to determine exactly where the outer edge is. When it swims side to side like a dying baitfish, in my opinion it tends to be less weedless, therefore I prefer a creature style bait that resembles a crawfish. I have had good luck on the good old Zoom brush hog, at times the want the bigger ones and at times they want the baby one, let the fish tell you which size they prefer at the time. HOWEVER, my all-time favorite bait is the Yamamoto Double Tail Hula Grub. These things have fantastic action and flat out get bit! Recently they came out with a smaller 2.5 inch version, which is becoming a favorite when the bite is tough.
While this rig can be fished with eitherspinning or baitcasting gear, I prefer a baitcast reel, specifically the Daiwa Steez because its just a great reel, spooled with 12 pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon line on a Medium/Heavy rod with a Fast or even Extra-Fast taper, this gives you the ability to get a good solid hookset and get Mr. Bass turned and quickly coming out of the weeds before having the chance to get deeper into them.
For the weight, as I mentioned before, I prefer the pencil, cylindrical shaped ones because they tend to go through the weeds easier than the bullet shaped bass casting ones. My favorite would have to be the Team Davies Ventana Rattling Free Rig Weights In almost all situations a ¼ ounce one works great. Of course one can go lighter or heavier as the conditions warrant.
For hooks, I prefer a Wide or Extra Wide gap hook. My favorite by far is the Daiichi XPoint XGap. These things are extremely sharp, he point is like a broad head arrow with Four cutting edges for faster penetration. Between these and the XPoint Offset XStrong Wide Gap they are my hooks of choice for just about all soft plastics
Rigging is very simple, just slide your weight on the line, tie on your hook with a palomar knot, put your bait on, usually weedless, and that’s it
Good Luck and Tight Lines to ya!
