- Many anglers spend their lifetimes
fishing for large mouth bass.
Seems like there is always a new rig to try
or an old trick to use again,
but in a different situation
or another place to fish
that promises to hold lots of big bass.
This is the stuff
that keeps us coming back to the water again
and again for decades.
During this season of Beyond the Bait,
powered by Stream Light,
we're going to highlight
some of the latest baits for bass
as well as take a look at tried and true tactics
for a variety of conditions and times of day.
Come along with us
to the bass water of Central Florida
as we go Beyond the Bait.
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They may not imitate any type of forage closely
but stick-style worm baits are proven bass catchers.
There is just something about their profile
and wiggly lifelike action in the water
that the fish can't refuse.
Several rigging techniques have been developed
to play up this action
and the neko rig is one that's especially effective
at finessing bass from both shallow and deep water.
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The key component of the neko rig
is a weight inserted into the nose of the soft stick bait.
The weight makes bait fall nose down
and when it reaches bottom,
the stick worm's buoyancy
causes the bait to stand nearly vertical.
The flexibility of the bait
allows the tail section to wiggle enticingly with each lift
and shake of the rod tip.
The heaviness of the nose weight
depends on the depth of the water you're fishing.
One 32nd ounce weights are enough for shallow water
up to six feet or so.
Go with a three 16th ounce weight
for water as deep as 25 or 30 feet.
And don't be afraid to experiment with finished nails
and construction screws in the nose of the bait
to find a particular weight
that works best for the water depth you're fishing.
A wacky rig hook is used for the neko rig
and you can use a weedless version
without affecting the action of the bait.
The hook should be light
and usually no larger than a number two
to allow the stick worm to do its thing in the water.
Fish the neko rig by lifting the rod tip
to bring the bait off the bottom
and then pause to let it fall nose down again.
Bass will often inhale the bait while it is falling.
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(speaking indistinctly)
(fish splattering)
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- The neko rig is a great rig to go to
when the bass are being finicky
or when they just refuse to bite anything else.
And that's because of the way the rig falls
and what it does once it's on the bottom.
The key to that is the weighting system in the bait.
(bag crinkling)
So what you want to use for a neko rig
is any type of soft, stick style bait.
And in that bait you wanna take a nail weight,
make sure that you insert the nail weight in the nose.
The nose is the thicker section of the bait
as opposed to a more thinly tapered tail.
So insert your weight into the nose section of the bait.
So you wanna make sure that you get the nail weight
into that bait securely.
Some of these plastic baits are really spongy and flexible.
Make sure you get that weight in there
so it's not gonna fall out.
And the other thing is too,
you know, if you're a bit of a frugal angler
you don't need to buy specially designed weights
for the neko rig.
A finished nail certainly would work,
that's why it's called a nail weight.
Your standard construction grade finish nail will work
or you can go to a drywall screw
'cause that screw thread pattern
helps hold that weight, that screw,
into the bait better than, perhaps, a finish nail.
And you could get all kinds of different types of screws
and experiment on the weight that you put in your bait.
I mean, here's just three of them here, for example.
Any of those will work
as opposed to a weight design specifically for a neko rig.
Once you got your nail weight
and the nose section of the bait,
take a O-ring tool, slide the rubber O-ring onto the bait.
And unlike a wacky rig where the O-ring
and the hook is in the center of the bait,
on the neko rig,
you want that O-ring to be slightly forward of center,
you know, maybe right at the one third mark or so.
And you can experiment with the position of that O-ring
because that's gonna influence the way the bait acts
in the water.
But, you know, one third,
the first third of the bait's a good place to start.
In that O-ring,
hook a hook that you would use for a wacky style rig.
And you hook it pretty much the same way
except that you want the hook to be oriented
toward the front of the bait
as opposed to the back or sideways across the bait.
You want that hook point to be toward the front of the bait.
That is the neko rig.
You could tell just with it hanging here
how much action that plastic is gonna have in the water.
And the key is, this is gonna stand up on the bottom.
And if you hop it across the bottom,
that tail is just gonna wiggle around and dance.
And I tell you, when fish are being finicky,
a lot of times they just can't resist that action
of the neko rig.
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(speaking indistinctly)
- One pass to catch a fish. - Yep, that's right.
On that shanko.
- On that same worm, that I've used that nail wave.
You can't even put the nail wave on the nail.
- Oh yeah? - Yeah.
- Did he hit it on the ball? - Yes, sir.
- When you need a finesse bait to cover various water depths
turn to the neko rig,
a soft stick bait slowly hopped along the bottom,
often looks too good for even the most stubborn fish
to pass up.
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