The versatility and simplicity of the Neko rig makes it a great bass catcher for anglers of all ages.
The rig is simple enough for a 5-year-old to catch bass, yet the pros also depend on it to catch both numbers of bass and big fish everywhere they compete on the tournament trail.
When my 5-year-old grandson Eli went bass fishing with me for the first time, I had him throw a Neko rig because I knew no matter what he did with it, he would catch a bass. Sure enough, on his first cast he caught a keeper 13-inch spotted bass.
Major League Fishing (MLF) pro Terry Scroggins believes the Neko rig has been the number one technique used by the pros on the tournament trail for the last three or four years. “It is just so versatile,” he says. “It is a unique technique that gives you a lot of action on your worm and a lot of action that many local fishermen don’t use.”
The basic Neko rig features a Senko or other stick-shaped worms hooked wacky style near the center of the worm with a nail weight stuck in the head or tail of the lure.
Scroggins’ Neko rig consists of a Yamamoto Senko or a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm that he rigs wacky style with an O-ring located more towards the head rather than the center of the bait. He favors a number 1, 2, or 1/0 Kahle-style Owner wacky rig hook for his Neko rig and adds a 1/32- or 1/16-ounce Nako tungsten nail weight or lead nail weight he can pinch off in increments to make different weights. Inserting the weight in the head of the lure works best for Scroggins, but he suggests tail-weighting the lure is also effective. “I don’t think it matters too much, especially on a Senko,” he says.
The light weight of the Neko rig makes it necessary to use light line and tackle. Scroggins presents his Neko rig with a 7-foot medium-action Duckett Fishing spinning rod and Lew’s spinning reel spooled with a main line of 10-pound braid and 10 to 15 feet of a 6-pound test leader line.
The various ways they can present the Neko rig has made it a favorite tactic of the pros. The rig is ideal for tempting smallmouth, largemouth, and spotted bass suspended over offshore structure. It is also effective for sight fishing in clear shallow water.
Scroggins dotes on the Neko rig because he can employ it effectively in a wide range of depths. “You can fish that bait from 2 feet to 40 or 50 feet of water,” he says. “It generates a lot of bites on the fall, and then once it does get to the bottom, you have the very lifelike action of a wacky rigged worm.”
Whether casting a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm in open water or skipping a Senko, Scroggins works these Neko-rigged lures the same way. He lets the lure descend on a slack line and keeps a close vigil on his line because he believes 75 percent of his bites occur on the rig’s initial fall. If the rig hits bottom, Scroggins shakes his rig on a slack line in the same fashion he moves a shaky head worm, then lets it sit for a while on the bottom before shaking it again.
“I just shake it hard enough to make the worm collapse in the middle and act like it is alive,” Scroggins says. “So you don’t have to shake it very hard to do that.” Sometimes he will quickly crank his reel to make the rig rise into the water column, then stop reeling and let it fall to the bottom again.
“When using this technique, you need to be a line watcher,” Scroggins says. “A lot of times, your bites will come on the way to the bottom before it ever reaches the bottom.”
The buoyancy of the braided line allows it to float on the surface longer and helps Scroggins detect bites. “So when you make your cast, if you watch that braid floating on top a lot of times, you will just see it jump, and then you can just start cranking (to set the hook),” he says. His hook-setting tactic of reeling in the line quickly and leaning into the fish usually catches every fish that bites his rig.
Scroggins suggests the Neko rig is excellent for presenting vertically to bass in deep water. He suggests you can watch your electronics and fish the Neko rig, similar to a drop shot to catch deep bass.
The Florida pro claims the Neko rig produces both quantity and quality catches. He has caught numbers of keeper bass on Neko-rigged Senkos or stick worms, and the Neko-rigged Zoom Magnum Trick worm has produced quality fish for him on big bass waters such as Guntersville and Kentucky Lake.
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