A few tweaks and toothpick can set your plastics up for long-term success in the surf.
At this point, if you’re not using soft plastics in the surf, you’re not really surfcasting. I consider myself to be something of a purist when it comes to surf fishing, but my definition of purity is that most of the things I use were born out of someone’s fishy inspiration. In other words, some anglers may think of purity as using only wood plugs, or only using wood and ‘old school’ hard plastics, like a Red Fin. I want to use baits that were born out of necessity in the mind of another obsessed fisherman. And many of the large soft plastics available to surfcasters today fit right into that mold.
Like everything else in 2025, soft plastic baits come at a considerable cost. Gone are the days of buying oddball color 50-cent Slug-Go knockoffs; in fact, a large soft bait may now cost several dollars for just one, reach across into big baits for freshwater and you might have to refinance your house before filling that Plano box. The worst part is, as soon as you stick a hook into one of these super-effective baits, the clock begins ticking… and that ticking gets louder with every cast. I think most of us have given in to the idea that we’re paying for the experience the lure provides, much like eating at a Michelin starred restaurant, once the waiter clears the dessert dishes, it all goes to the same place… and we consider a soft plastic, regardless of the cost, to be disposable.
All rigging methods wreak havoc on soft plastics, but nothing seems more capable of shredding a carefully-rigged, brand new bait, than a jighead; and for surfcasters, the soft plastic jig is a standard issue striped bass assassin. The closest thing to a perfect solution is the NLBN jighead which integrates a twistlock style ‘corkscrew’ into the lead and around the hook, but rigging large baits on these heads can damage the plastic and they’re designed to fit NLBN baits and look ‘funny’ on many others. There are several collar styles on more “standard” jigheads, which are designed to be impaled into a soft plastic and utilize barbs or ribs to hold the bait in place. We all know the old single-barb jighead, we’ve all used the ‘arrow’ style, the Joe Baggs SPJ, with its series of conical ribs works well, especially when the bait is ‘choked’ onto the collar with a zip-tie.
I buy jigheads in bulk, typically 25 to 100 at a time, I don’t paint them, I don’t put eyes in them, I want them to be as cheap as possible because, I know I will lose every single one of them; the only important things for me are the weights and a good hook. I typically buy the old school ‘single barb’ heads and I make two unique modifications that can dramatically increase the longevity of a soft plastic bait. The first thing I do is use a pair of pliers to gently squeeze the barb into a longer, thinner spike. Then I use small needle-nose pliers to carefully bend that spike into a hook, bending it toward the back of the leadhead. Next I clamp the jighead in my fly vise and wrap 10 to 15 coils of rod wrapping thread around the collar, between the modified barb and the back of the head.
When it comes time to rig a bait, I mark where the hook will exit the body and stick the hook into the bait, just before plunging the collar into the plastic, I soak the thread with super glue, this absorbs the glue and forms a more complete bond with the plastic. And now for the kicker. Squeezing the bait, I locate the modified (hooked) barb and stick a toothpick through the bait, and through the hooked barb, then I trim both ends with wire cutters, this effectively pins the bait to the jighead mechanically, and when coupled with the adhesive bond of the super glue, thread and lead, it’s about as tough as you can get. Add a zip-tie just in front of where the hook exits the bait to limit tearing, and your bait should be primed to go several rounds with old linesides…as long as a bluefish doesn’t come along to ruin the party.
