A Neko rig’s profile promotes casting distance and accuracy. (Photo courtesy of Strike King/Lew’s)
April 01, 2025
By David A. Brown
What’s great about a wacky rig — the slow, undulating fall — also defines what’s challenging with a wacky rig. Not a big deal in, say, 2-3 feet of water, but when you need to get that wiggling stick worm or finesse worm down 10 feet or more without breaking out a sandwich, you simply modify your presentation with a Neko rig.
In simplest terms, a wacky rig positions a hook just about dead center on the worm, either impaled through the body, or tucked under an O-ring (or a piece of surgical tubing). This fulcrum leaves both ends wiggling on the glacial descent.
While some like to keep the wacky rig’s hook placement and simply add a weight, a true Neko rig moves the hook forward and positions it about 1/3 the way up from the head. Like the wacky rig, you can run the hook through the bait, or set it under an O-ring, but it’s typically aligned parallel to the body, as opposed to the wacky rig’s perpendicular arrangement.
“When you throw that wacky rig, it falls horizontally, but when you use a Neko rig, it falls vertically and that’s a totally different presentation,” said Bassmaster Elite pro Brandon Lester. “It even looks different on the bottom.”
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Some say the Neko resembles a minnow or bream tilting downward to feed, while Lester feels this rig also looks like a small lamprey, eel or worm — all of which may end up on the bass diet.
Head Games The Neko rig owes that vertical fall to its most distinguishing characteristic — the weight stuck in the worm’s nose. Nail weights, as they’re known, literally spawned from the old-school practice of sticking finishing nails in a worm’s noggin.
Today, task-specific tackle includes slender nails with gripping ridges to hold them in place, as well as broader football or half-moon-shaped heads with insertable sections that make your Neko better at hopping across rock or shell bottom. VMC offers a whiskered version, the NKS Neko Skirt , which combines living rubber and silicone material for a flaring look under water.
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The Neko’s weighted form also improves casting distance and accuracy — especially on windy days, which tend to limit aerodynamics and slow a bait’s fall in choppy conditions. It’s a matter of time efficiency, so the less time waiting, the more time fishing.
The versatile Neko rig can be fished at a variety of depths. (Photo courtesy of Strike King/Lew’s) Presentation Preference Given its vertical drop, the Neko excels around dock pilings, bridge pilings, sea walls, cypress trees and standing timber. Pretty much a year-round tool for open-water fishing, the Neko rig excels during pre and postspawn periods, often as a followup to missed bites or a deal closer for “followers."
“I like to throw it out and let it go all the way to the bottom and, a lot of times, when you pick up on it that first time, that fish will have it,” Lester said. “I’d say, 65-70 percent of your bites will happen on that first fall — especially if you’re casting to cover.
“I like to pull my line tight and give that worm four short hops. All I’m trying to do is make that worm pulsate and then fall back to the bottom.”
Maryland’s Bryan Schmitt likes the Neko’s versatility, as he can be fishing a nearshore break or channel edge where he’s casting into maybe 4-6 feet on one side of the boat and then rotating the other direction to drop that Neko into 20-plus.
“I’m also able to keep my bait in the strike zone a lot longer with a slow shake, because of that weight,” Schmitt said.
To that point, don’t overlook the bed fishing potential. While bass see a lot of Texas-rigged craws, creature baits and worms, a Neko rig gives them a different look.
Florida pro Scott Martin notes that, while the Neko typically sees fewer repetitions than the Sunshine State’s flipping/pitching, frogging and bladed jigging techniques, it definitely has it’s place in spawning and fry guarding periods. Residential canals offer lots of Neko rig opportunities, while nearshore shell beds offer prime targets amid main lake vegetation.
“You can actually make that rig weedless by running the hook through the bait and then turning the hook around and push it inside the worm,” Martin said. “That’s a great rig to pitch inside the cattail holes.”
Weight a Minute Even if you know the precise depth you’ll be fishing, keeping several nail weight sizes handy enables you to quickly adapt to changing conditions and/or fish behavior. For example, Easton Fothergill recently demonstrated this during his recent Bassmaster Classic win at Lake Ray Roberts when calmer conditions found the bass holding higher in the water column than they had been during the previous day’s wind. Switching from a 3/32-ounce Neko weight to a 1/32-ounce yielded a slower fall and kept his bait from flying past fish that were closer to the surface.
Placement Particulars Schmitt occasionally moves the Neko’s nail weight from the head to the mid-body section. He does this with a Missile Baits 48 , which is made with two equal ends. That center weighting gets both ends wiggling like a wacky rig, with the Neko’s faster sink rate.
Color Code Jazz up your Neko worm by dipping the tail in an eye-catching dye. Considering the instinctual aggression bass display toward bluegill, matching those fin tips with chartreuse dye makes sense.
Sometimes, your sunfish have orange tips, so keep that one, along with red, and blue handy.
Blade Runner Insert VMC’s self-centering spring keeper into the worm’s tail, add your favorite willow-leaf or Colorado blade and instantly increase your Neko rig’s visual appeal. With that blade spinning, flashing or thumping on the drop, as well as any hops and the retrieve, you’re more likely to attract attention during low light and/or decreased clarity scenarios.
Rise and Shine Schmitt also jazzes up his Neko presentation by adding a FloatZilla Tail . This buoyant chamber attaches to the Neko bait’s tail with a screw-in wire and floats it up for a more taunting look.
“When that fish follows it to the bottom but doesn’t commit, then the one tail floats up, that can draw a strike. Plus, when you’re shaking your Neko rig, it’s a whole other action with that Floatzilla in one end.”
