Keri: There you go.
Glenn: All right, buddy. Oh, he fell victim to my Jika Rig. I stung him good, too. Love it. Awesome. All right, buddy. I'll let you go. Woo!
Hey folks, Glenn May here with BassResource.com and today, I want to talk to you about the Jika Rig. Yeah, the Jika Rig. Now this is a, you know, a rig that you may not have heard of before, it has been out for more than a decade, and it came from Asia, specifically Japan, where the fish are heavily pressured, the lakes are heavily pressured, and those bass, they see the same lures and the same presentations day in and day out, so the Japanese need to come up with new and innovative ways to present lures in a manner that the fish haven't seen before, and that's going to get them to bite. And that's where the Jika Rig came from. It actually does that.
So, today, I want to talk to you a little bit about this, because this is a really successful way of fishing. I want to talk about the rig itself, some of the key advantages, I want to talk about how to rig it, and different ways you can use that. And also I want to talk about how to fish it. Okay, there's several different ways you can fish it. So let's talk about it here.
This is the Jika Rig, see that? It's kind of odd looking. You got this weird dangly weight and you have the hook here, if you look at little bit closer you'll notice there's a split ring right there, can you see that? I know it's kind of hard to tell in this light, but there's a split ring. So, the hook is not attached to the weight, rather the split ring is attached to the hook, and the split ring is attached to the weight. And you notice also the weight has got this nice split ring, this snap hook, sorry, this snap which you can attach to the hook, that enables you to swap this weight out without having to rerig the whole thing like you would a Texas rig.
Okay, so now I wouldn't say that this replaces a Texas rig or a jig, but it augments it. This really works well in those heavily pressured situations, or when the bass, when they are just not biting. You know, the bite's off, that's where this shines.
So, let's talk about some of the key advantages to this, first of all, as you can see the hook, it dangles from the weight. It's loose. So that enables whatever bait you have tied on here to move freely about. It falls more naturally, it pendulums and swings and undulates and it looks more natural, and it looks more lively, so the bass are more apt to bite it. Also, with this weight hanging down here, so you tie it to the split ring, not the hook but the split ring. So that also enables the weight, you know, the bait to move around more. But it also means that this weight hangs below the line, the line attaches here.
So what that does is it falls straight down. And that enables a couple of things, first of all, when you're flipping and pitching for example, it goes through cover a bit better. It can get through those branches and stuff with a weight that normally if you got the line tied in the front here, the line can wrap on something and pull it and now you got the...it's hanging upside down in the branches or something. Well, this makes its way down through that cover a little bit easier, through the weeds, that sort of thing.
But also because it falls straight down, you can target things better. For example, when you cast out, especially deeper water, to like say five to ten feet or deeper, with a Texas rig or jig, it tends to pendulum down a little bit, particularly if you don't have slack line, but even with slack line, it will pendulum a little bit towards you. With this, it falls straight down. So that enables you to target things that are butted up against something, say for example a bridge piling or a seawall or a dock piling or something like that, you can get to them easier with a rig like this.
So another key advantage is that you have better hook-ups. If you guys ever had this happen to you before, you are fishing a Texas rig bait, you get a bite and set the hook. Got that fish on, you're reeling him in, get him in and it's like boink, it comes off. You reel that bait in, and you take a look at it, and that hook has barely even come out of the bait if at all. What happened?
Well, what happened is that the weight got in the way of the hook set. You see, sometimes what happens is you know these fishes, the bass's jaw is a lot stronger than what people think, and it will clamp down on that lure. Sometimes it sucks the whole bait in, clamps down on that lure, now you've got the weight that's this close to the fish's mouth. You know, an eighth of an inch or so. And you set the hook, well the weight hits his lip, the inner lip, inner mouth. And as long as that fish has that mouth closed you have him, but that bait barely moved inside his mouth. So the hook didn't have a chance to pop out, let alone get into his jaw. So literally you're fighting the fish back as long as he has his mouth closed and as soon as he opens his mouth, well, out comes the lure. And now you get this Texas rig plastic that comes back where you don't even have to rerig it and you can just start casting again. I guess that's an advantage, right?
Well, the Jika Rig, see the weight swings back. So when you set the hook, it's nothing but hook. So you get better hook-ups. It's much, much better hook-up ratio with this, so if you're getting fish that aren't maybe biting very well, holding on it for very long, or you are missing hook sets, you might want to switch over to this and give it a try.
One other key thing about this rig that's really cool is you can use it for punching. You can heavy up, get a heavier weight here, and what happens is when you throw it over that thick matted vegetation because the shape of this is more of a cylinder, it has got a point on it, it goes through that cover really well, and once it punches through, it pulls the weight and the line through. So what that means is that you can use lighter weight than you would use for traditional punching. And what that equates to is once it gets through that cover, it falls at a slower rate and a more tantalizing rate. And that often triggers more bites. Got one.
Keri: Got one!
Nice.
Keri: Throw it out there to the bushes!
Glenn: A little bit deeper, okay. Nice.
Keri: Come here. Oh, you've been caught. You've got a big old hole in your mouth there, buddy. A little buck bass. Bye-bye.
Glenn: So as you can imagine, with a bare hook like this, you can rig pretty much any plastic bait you want on it. Right, this happens to be a three ought, EWG hook. Actually this whole set up here, it's from Gamakatsu and they call it the Gika Rig, I think you can buy a similar set up from Bass Pro Shops called the Zika Rig, I don't know why marketers do this. Jika Rig, Zika Rig, Gika Rig. It's like the Alabama Rig all over again, right? A-Rig, Alabama Rig, Umbrella Rig, it's all the same thing. Why do they do that? I don't know. Anyway, sorry, side note.
But anyway, you can have any kind of hook you want. So you can go to a larger size hook and use a larger size bait, or downsize to say a one ought. And use like a three-inch Finesse bait or Finesse worm or maybe a grub, something along those lines. So it's very, very versatile, you can use it in a variety of conditions. I like this Gamakatsu one because it's a stout hook, and I use it for pitching and throwing around, heavy cover and heavy weeds.
Now, that changes though kind of what rod and reel you would use depending on the size of hook you're using, and where you're throwing it. So for something like this, I got a stout hook, three-ought hook, I am throwing it around heavy cover. So in this instance, I am going to throw it with heavier equipment. I'm going to use braid in this instance, because it is vegetation and wood, so I'll pick 50-pound braid, say for example Seaguar Smackdown braid on a heavy power and a seven foot to seven four foot rod, fast action rod, with a reel, that, you know, speed isn't the essence of this rig here, so I can go like a six-one, to 6:6.1 gear ratio. 6:1.1, I'll be specific guys, I had someone yell at me on Facebook or on YouTube, 6:1.1 gear ratio, or up to a 6:6.1 gear ratio.
And that would be great for throwing around on heavy cover, but now if I don't have cover as thick or maybe I'm throwing lily pads, sparser vegetation, throwing around docks, then I can lighten up, maybe use not so much of a flipping hook here, but just this regular three-ought hook, or four hook, or even a two-ought hook, and use like 15-pound fluorocarbon line for example, like Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon, throw that around those areas with a seven foot, seven-one medium heavy power rod with a fast action tip. And I'd use the same reel, same sort of thing.
Now if you want to go a smaller size hook, and do more Finesse presentation, like a one-ought, use like a sixteenth ounce weight here. You can use that, and throw it in, you know, clear water, not a whole lot of obstructions, probably more rocky. There I would lighten up, I would use six-pound line, fluorocarbon line, maybe Seaguar Tatsu line. Throw that with a spinning outfit, like a medium power and a seven-foot fast action rod with a spinning reel that is in the 2000-2500 range.
Glenn: There you go.
Keri: Just like that. Got you right in the nose, little guy. Okay, quit, quit, quit, quit, quit and I'll let you go. Got you right in the nose again. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
Glenn: Nice hook. You got it right in the roof of the mouth. Nice.
Keri: Here you go little guy.
Glenn: Nice.
Keri: Another little buck bass.
Glenn: All right, on the Jika Rig.
Keri: Another little buck bass.
Glenn: Now, let's talk a little bit about fishing it. Now, of course I have talked about pitching, and flipping and throwing it around heavy cover, and I think this works really well around that, you don't get as much gunk and junk wadded up around, you're not picking up you a lot of weeds and stuff on this rig. So it works really well in those situations.
All need to do is when you throw it out, there's two things. If you get it into a bush, and the line goes down and you drape it over say a little twig or a branch, once it gets down there, just lift it up a little bit off the bottom, just enough so the weight's maybe just barely touching or dangling on the bottom.
What happens is your line is attached here, right, on the split ring, the bait sits horizontally now, whereas if you are on a Texas rig and the line was attached here, you would sit like that. You'd lift it up. But instead, it's now horizontal, and you can just jig that line just a little bit on a branch or a twig and hold it in place, and this bait is going to dangle and dance and move around. It's going to look really lively, it is a different look, a different presentation than what the fish are used to seeing, and that can trigger a bite.
Another way to fish it is say you've got it on a long lead line, or next to a bush or shrub or you don't have the line draped over anything, once you get it to land, lift up a little bit and here, instead of don't lift and hop. This is what we're used to doing with Texas rigs and with jigs. Don't do that with this rig, instead lift it up and let it glide, maybe pop the rod tip just so it quivers just a little bit, but just lift it up a little bit and let it glide.
So what happens is the bait comes up and now it glides along the bottom, and then lands. It looks like something swimming along the bottom now. It's got a horizontal presentation. I like that a lot. That really looks like something that's feeding off the bottom, moving up and coming back down, it comes up and moves back down, just feeds.
So it is a different kind of look, and a lot of times you get a lot of bites that way because the fish aren't accustomed to seeing that presentation, there's no warning bells that go off to make them think it is artificial. It looks normal like something swimming along the bottom. So you get a lot of bites and that's a lot of where my bites are coming from, I don't get it on the initial fall, I get it when I am gliding it along the bottom like that.
Come here, buddy. Come here, buddy. Come here.
Keri: Nice fish.
Glenn: There we go.
Keri: And that's better. Look how white he is.
Glenn: Yeah, he's...
Keri: He's light.
Glenn: Yeah, he's light color all right.
Keri: He's eating.
Glenn: Yeah, he is.
Keri: Nice.
Glenn: Good fish.
Keri: It looks bigger.
Glenn: Boy. That works.
Keri: That works.
Glenn: The Jika Rig. All right, let's let you go.
Along those lines, one of the things I've been experimenting with is using swimming worms. A swimming worm like eight inches or longer, big worms. And I found that it works a little bit better than a Texas rig, because with a Texas rig you got that nose up presentation, you're bringing along especially with those longer worms, they kind of swim through the water like this.
Well, with the Jika Rig, because the weight is down below, and holds it down, kinds of offsets the pull on the line, they balance each other out and guess what? Your worm swims horizontally. Okay, it looks normal, it looks like something that would normally swim in the water. And that could be the difference between getting bites, guys.
It is just a little subtle thing, it is not a major difference, but it's those subtle things, especially when the bite is tough, that's when the Jika Rig shines. So give it a shot guys, I think you're going to really like it, I don't think it replaces a Texas rig or replaces a jig, but it's something to pull out when the bite is really super tough, this can save the day. I hope that helps, for more tips and tricks like this, visit BassResource.com.
