* Notes WACKY RIG ACTION AT DEPTH • VERTICAL PRESENTATION
exas , Carolina , Alabama , wacky – when it comes to “ rigs ,” these are the staples . You can throw in a drop-shot , too , though most have dropped the “ rig ” part of the name .
Five “ rigs ” that probably account for more the 95 percent of the ways anglers fish soft plastics day in and day out . That ’ s it . But why is that ? The obvious answer is because even after decades , they ’ re still so damn effective .
But are they ? Or are they effective simply because it ’ s mostly all we throw ? And what if by switching things up , we might unlock something far more effective ?
These are good questions to ask , as we all know that utilizing something that ’ s even a little different from the rest can have huge returns . They ’ re questions
“ Imagine a wacky rig , but with the ability to be fished at any depth .”
pros ask all the time , and the answers have changed how we fish . Just look at pros like the late Aaron Martens ( an early adopter of the drop-shot ) and Brent Ehrler ( an early adopter of the Neko rig ; more on him in a bit ), who both rode new rigs to ultimate success .
With that same curiosity in mind , we talked to a few pros about various “ rigs ” that are by no means new but are overlooked in various scenarios for the more-familiar “ rigs .”
Neko Rig
Imagine a wacky rig , but with the ability to be fished at any depth . That ’ s what Japanese anglers did when they came up with the Neko rig , and it ’ s all Ehrler could imagine the first time he saw it .
While practicing for an event with long-time co-angler Hideki Maeda , Ehrler noticed his partner throwing something different . Knowing Maeda ’ s abilities for designing lures – he ’ s unofficially credited with designing the Reaction Innovations Vixen and Boze Sumo Frog , among others – Ehrler immediately took noticed and closely observed the new rig .
“ I immediately liked that it fell like a shaky head , spiraling to the bottom when it falls , but once on bottom , it was a completely different action ,” Ehrler says . “ It was like a wacky rig on bottom . A shaky head you have to move forward to have any action . The Neko could stay in one spot and have a ton of action .”
That was all Ehrler needed to see , as he quickly adopted the rig , perfected
JUNE-JULY 2022 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 63