How to Rig a Jig Head

Most beginner anglers will buy their soft plastic lures with hooks already attached—and this works fine for most people. Eventually, you will reach a point when you want to have a specific jig head weight with complete customization of the shape and color of your soft plastic bait.

This is why learning to properly rig a jig head is important. Sometimes pre-attached soft plastics just won’t get the job done and you need a custom rigged jig head. Here we will teach you how to properly attach your jig head to your soft plastic lures.

Materials needed:

  • Jig Head
  • Soft Plastic Lures

Before you begin, you need to make sure the size of your jig head is appropriate for your lure. Smaller soft plastics require smaller jig heads. If your jig head is too large, your lure will not swim properly.

Rigging Your Jig Head

    1. Line up the jig head with the soft plastic – The tail of your soft plastic should be pointed down while the hook is pointing up. This is the proper way to rig a jig head. You want to line up the hook and soft plastic so that the hook is about ⅔ of the way from the end of the lure. This will help you visualize where the hook should be sticking out.
    2. Place the hook into the nose of the soft plastic – Hold the soft plastic with your thumb, index finger, and middle finger, and with your other hand place the hook directly into the front of the soft plastic very slowly.
    3. Turn the soft plastic so that it follows the hook – As you work your hook through the soft plastic, very slowly pierce your lure deeper by following the shape of the hook.
    4. Poke the hook through – When your soft plastic reaches the base of the hook, pierce it through the top of the soft plastic so it’s sticking out at the top of the lure about ⅔ the way up from the tail of the lure.
    5. Firmly push the jig head into the lure – The final step is to firmly push the jig head into the soft plastic. You want the soft plastic to be flush with the jig head so that your setup can swim properly to attract fish.

Here’s a great video to show you how it’s done:

These steps should work for rigging any kind of soft plastic whether it be plastic worms, curly tail grubs, paddle tail swimbaits, or other kinds of lures.

If you want to take your rig up another level you can also rig it weedless if you’re fishing an area where you are likely to encounter snags.