We've been fishing a Neko rig since I was a teenager. It was just called a wacky rig with a nail weight in it, I mean. And then, you know, when the Neko come out, I was like, "What the heck are they talking about Neko rig," you know, "what is a Neko rig?" And I mean, I Googled it and I watched a video and I'm like, "Man, we've been doing that for 20 years. We just put a nail and we just call it a wacky rig with a nail in it, you know?
Hey, everybody. Todd Faircloth here, we wanna talk to you about how to fish a Neko rig during the fall time of year. A lot of times in the fall time of year, the fish are chasing bait. So I wanna use a little bit different approach with the Neko rig during the fall time of year than most would fish it.
I'll put a real lightweight on the head of my Neko rig and cast it to targets, and actually, cast it past the target, twitch it a little bit, let it fall, twitch it a little bit, let it fall. I get pretty aggressive with it in the fall because I'm looking for active fish. Fall time of year, fish are up chasing bait around and almost work it like you would like a soft stick bait or something like that. But it's a very productive lure.
I'll show you all...you know, how I rig it, is I put a light weight in it. I've got a light one here. You can even go lighter than this. This is a five-inch Strike King Ocho here. And I like to rig it with the hook point towards the head because this bait falls like this. And when the fish grabs it, he gets this part of the hook rather than fishing it the other way.
And we've got the swivel on there that lessens your line memory and keeps the line from getting real twisted. But your hookup ratio when you rig it this way, as opposed to the other way, will increase because when this bait's falling down, the fish is gonna grab it and you're wanting him to grab this part of the hook instead of the reverse part of the hook. So that's a little tip that will help you with your hookup ratio as well.
Again, I like to use a seven-foot-four medium heavy spinning rod. I like to use braided line as my main and a fluorocarbon leader. And the reason why I choose a spinning rod and a braid the fluorocarbon leader is you're doing with casting a fairly light bait usually. I mean, you can put a, you know, like we had rigged up here, a soft stick worm on it, a trick worm like this one or a soft stick bait. You can even go smaller than that with a super, super finesse worm. And I like to use a spinning rod because I can make a long cast with it. I'm not, you know, worried about overruns and stuff like that with it.
The reason for braid to fluorocarbon is, generally, when you're fishing this technique, you're fishing kind of a finesse technique. It's clear water situation. It might be a little tough bite. So I wanna go with the light line.
And another reason I wanna go with the light line is if you put this bait or these baits on a really heavy line, it really affects the way the bait falls naturally. And it's not so much about fishing, I'm worried about breaking off or something like that, it's more about the lighter the line, the more natural your baits look in the water and the more life-like it looks and the more bites you're gonna get with this technique. So that's why I choose, you know, a light fluorocarbon leader going to a fairly light braided line.
And the hookup ratio on it is great. This is a technique that works really, really well for beginners. It's a good way to teach a kid how to fish or maybe your wife or girlfriend or whatever. It's just a technique that catches fish any time of the year, pretty much in all situations. You can fish it on lakes, rivers, ponds, streams. It's user-friendly and one that will put a lot of fish in your boat.
