Weedless neko rig

A nose-weighted neko rig on a weed-guarded hook, built to punch a vertical, headstanding stickbait through grass and wood.

Also known as: Weedless neko rig · weedless neko · neko EWG rig · grass neko rig · punch neko

The rigs that catch bass when nothing else will — a straight worm doing almost nothing.

• Hook through the middle (wacky) or nail-weight the head (Neko): both ends flutter on the fall
• O-rings save baits; a weedguard hook saves the rig in wood
• Fish it on slack line — the bite is a line jump, not a pull
• Spinning gear, PE main line, fluoro leader: this is finesse

The weedless neko rig combines the nose weight and vertical fall of the standard neko rig with a weed-guarded EWG or straight-shank hook, so the bait can be pitched into heavier cover than a light wire neko hook could handle. The nose weight helps it punch through thin mats and knife down into brush and timber, then stand up nose-down once it lands — a distinct look from a Texas-rigged bait in the same cover.

It shines in matted vegetation with sparse holes, brush piles, and standing timber where you need the bait to get down fast and stay vertical once it arrives, rather than glide away from the target like an unweighted wacky rig would. Because it's fishing thicker cover than the open-hook versions of this family, it tends to produce a higher percentage of larger, cover-oriented fish, making it more of a kicker tool than the finesse open-water neko rig.

It fails in sparse or open cover where its heavier hook and added weight are unnecessary and a lighter open-hook wacky or neko rig will out-perform it on subtlety. It also loses some of the delicate tail-quiver action of the standard neko rig because the bulkier hook and weed guard stiffen the presentation slightly.

Gear scales with cover density: a medium-heavy to heavy casting rod for pitching accuracy and hook-setting power, 15-25 lb braid in matted vegetation or 10-15 lb fluorocarbon in cleaner wood and timber, and nail weights sized up (1/8-3/16 oz) compared to open-water neko rigs to punch through cover reliably.