Back to Basics: Fishing the Neko Rig By Fresh Baitz

The result of rigging a bait this way is a vertical fall, allowing the bait to stand upright on the bottom, and due to the added weight, it lets the bait fall to deeper depths much faster than a weightless soft plastic bait.

There isn’t a wrong time, place, or season to fish a Neko Rig and it has proven itself just about everywhere.

A typical seven-foot medium spinning rod, matched with a 2500-sized spinning reel will be an ideal setup for a Neko Rig. For line, a high visibility braided line like Seaguar’s Flash Green Smackdown braid helps to detect subtle bites as the Neko Rig is falling. Their 20-pound Smackdown paired with a leader of 10-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon will allow you to have the strength and casting distance of a quality braided line paired with the invisibility of fluorocarbon.

Even though just about anything will work, a FreshBaitz Worm or similar style bait or a five to six-inch straight tail worm will be your best bet and covers most situations.

As the rig has evolved, more companies are designing Neko-specific gear, including specialized straight shank hooks and both lead and tungsten weights to insert into your plastics. The general consensus is that a straight shank hook is best for both lure action and hookup percentage.

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.

Another useful tool when fishing a Neko Rig (and all wacky-rigged baits) is an O-Ring or some way to protect your baits from tearing. Some companies make special tools to aid in adding an O-Ring, and some have started to produce rubber pieces that can be added with special pliers.

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.

One time when many bites occur is when the bait is initially descending towards the bottom. If the water is relatively clear, 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 and 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.

If bass are not biting the bait as the Neko Rig falls that particular day, you can fish it slowly along the bottom, much like you would with a shaky head or drop-shot rig. But, rest assured, there is no wrong way to fish a Neko Rig.

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, and reeling it in and beginning the process again.

Deep docks and the ends of long points are two of the best areas to throw a Neko Rig and if there is brush or submerged wood around, that is even better. Rocks, offshore humps, and steep walls are three other high-percentage spots for using a Neko Rig.

The Neko Rig has proven to be one of the best ways to catch bass in all situations. The simple addition of a weight to proven soft-plastic baits has expanded where and how they can be used. If you are looking for a way to fish both shallow and deep and both quickly and fast, the Neko Rig is a great way to do it.