Texas rigging worms for rock fish?

I grew up bass fishing and used to fish bass tourneys on Clear Lake, Shasta Lake and the Sacramento Delta.  I always loved tossing weedless rigged worms around structure and weed beds, and have done really well with it.  While tied up in the kelp the other day with the wind blowing, I thought worming would be a great way to cover more water and run through the kelp slots while tied up or dragging a worm along the bottom while drifting.

I just picked up some 10" purple curly tail worms, 6/0 off set worm hooks and some 1 ounce worm weights to give it a try.  I figured the worms would look like small eels.  I also have some 4" slotted swim shads that I poured, that can be rigged weedless with the same worm hooks. 

I may try tossing them with my longer 8' conventional rig, but a heavier spinning setup may be the way to go for casting distance.  Any one else use or try this along the coast?  I see the calico bass guys doing it down south.  The 1oz worm weight will limit my depth some, but I may try casting some larger 2oz and 3oz heads for deeper water and stronger current.  It may be good for halibut as well on the sand flats.

Thanks, just thinking out loud as the wind won't let me fish today. 

Yes, I have done it once or twice with good results.  If I was a better fisherman, it would have worked better.

Bill

It's almost the only way I fish rockfish  .

I grew up fishing Texas-rigged plastics for smallmouth.  Then I moved to Humboldt and had to figure out just how the heck to fish those Humboldt jetties.  Naturally, I went straight to my smallmouth gear and just enlarged everything.  It worked!  Few snags, no smelly bait, and lots of fish.  Since then, probably 90 percent of my rockfishing is done with weedless-rigged flukes, stickbaits, and curlytail worms.  A couple of my favorite baits for rockfish include 5" and 7" Zoom flukes, 5" YUM Dingers, 4" Senkos, and 4" flipping tubes.

You're really able to work the bottom and kelp beds with these rigs, and will only snag every once in a great while.  With your bassin' experience, I have no doubt you'll be successful.

Thanks, I can not wait to try it.  I put the gear in my tackle box to play with it on my next trip out.    I would like to try some of the new Hogie sand eels, they look pretty good!   What size weights are you using?

I ended up casting some more heads.  I have several bullet head jig molds from 1 to 8 oz.  I used an oiled wire through the hook slot to make a line hole through each head.  It worked great and made perfect large worm sinkers.  I will try the 1-2 oz first, I think much heavier would be hard to cast.    I will play around with texas rigging, pegging the head and maybe some carolina rigging, although I prefer a weedless combination.  Anything that keeps me from getting stuck in the kelp while fishing is good.  I have already been modifying my jig heads with weed skirts and by loosing the shrimp fly, I have had much fewer hangups in the kelp.    I fish the deeper reefs a lot but am trying to learn how to target the thick kelp more.

When on shore, I'll use really light stuff: 1/4 to 1/2 ounce.  But from the kayak, I'll usually roll with a 1 ounce.  Hooks range in size from 3/0 to 6/0 worm hooks.  Just about every large bass plastic I've tried has worked.  When the fish are really picky, I've had good luck with the Berkley Saltwater Gulp! jerk shads.  Some buds of mine from Humboldt use a Carolina rig often, and they catch fish.

If I'm fishing with two hooks on the bigger rod, I'll use up to 3 ounces.  It gets a little cumbersome when you use more than 2 oz, but it does catch fish.  Replace the shrimp fly with a 4/0 worm hook and rig a big tube or smaller Senko bait weedless on it.  That way both of your hooks are weedless and you can tackle the kelp without fear  .

Bass fishing is my thing, taking that knowledge to the salt has done well for me. I have had great luck just drop shooting. I will nose hook tubes, Culprits, Brushhogs and Zipper worms. I love to flip and pitch for large mouth. I want to do the same in the kelp I am sure it will work, with the rite conditions.
 Fish n Chips I am sure we have probably competed against each other on Clearlake, but if I would of known about kayaks and the ocean I would not have bought my Ranger. I can't explain it, so I don't even try.

I did the texas rig quite a bit fishing in the bays around Newport Beach and San Diego.  I did find that if you are trying to work it off rocks, my lead would get pretty beat up and I would occasionally break the main line on hook sets.  I've since switched to drop shotting as my lead can get banged up without having to worry about my main line.  Either way I like to use up a lot of old plastics for rockfish as they don't seem to care on color or condition

I've tried weedless using both texas, carolina, and drop shot on the jetties and snags have become almost a non issue for me while still able to catch rockfish and greenlings.  I just caught a Ling using a wormhook with a worm on a dropshot