Neko Rigging Early Season! (CATCH MORE FISH) External by Fresh Baitz

In the wintertime, everything seems to slow down underwater, and the fish become very lethargic. Little to no movement in the water makes it difficult to catch any fish. The key is to use a lighter weight when fishing a Neko rig early season. This will give a realistic look to your bait and will help reduce unwanted movement that might scare away the nearby fish. 

The Neko rig is best used when fishing weedless and it thrives well in spots that the traditional rig setup would get caught up in. The Neko rig is a gamechanger for rocky areas. 

The nature of the weighted plastic creates most of the action you need and bringing it back with short hops will catch fish, but there are a few other things to try to elicit more bites.

Many bites occur when the bait is initially descending towards the bottom. If the water is relatively clear, the bass can see the rig falling from a long distance and will often bite it as soon as it hits bottom or within a few shakes of the rod.

To re-create the great falling action of the rig later during the retrieve, lift your rod high reel up some line and then let it fall again on a slackline. This will allow you to replicate that initial drop and it often results in more bites.

It can also be fished very slowly and dragged along the bottom or used as a way to search for bass by casting, letting it fall to the bottom, reeling it in, and beginning the process again. But, rest assured, there is no wrong way to fish a Neko Rig.

For line, you want to aim for 8-12 Lb line. The lighter line gives the bait a more natural appeal. A thicker line will take away the bait’s life-like actions and might scare away the fish.

One thing to keep in mind is the weight size as it can significantly impact how quickly or slowly a bait falls to the bottom. Some days a faster fall is what triggers a bite and other days, a slower fall is better. A good starting point for Neko rig weight size is 3/32, and you can increase or decrease as needed. As with anything in bass fishing, it is always best to experiment until you find out what the bass want that day.

The benefit of using these items is prolonging your soft-plastic. It also allows the hook to be rigged in a perpendicular fashion instead of inline with the bait. This also helps with a better hookup percentage.