How To Fish A Tokyo Rig
Only recently being brought to light in the USA fishing world is the Tokyo Rig. You may have never heard of it, but it's making it's way into many tackle boxes in the bass fishing community. You should absolutely make it part of your next fishing trip.
The Tokyo Rig is a fairly simple set up that consists of a large worm hook and a metal wire with a weight attached to a swivel. You can compare it to a drop shot, but with a short rigid drop.
The weight sits below the hook which results in a virtually snag free set up. The swivel feature creates a massive amount in whatever soft plastic you choose to attach.
Flipping And Pitching
If you are a Texas Rig guy or gal you have more than likely ran into some limitations when flipping or pitching into heavy cover. Although the Texas Rig works great in heavy cover, you tend to have to shake the rig to get it to fall to the bottom. And once its on the bottom....well...its just laying on the bottom. If you have scum down there the lure just disappears. so you then have to yo-yo to get the lure in the strike zone.
But, with the Tokyo Rig, the lure sits above the bottom a few inches, making it more effective in staying in that strike zone. All you need is a few wiggles and the bass cant resist.
Swimming
A swimming lure must be able to display the illusion of swimming. You need to be able to cast a good distance for this action to last long enough to get a bass to strike.
With a Tokyo Rig, you can cover a massive amount of water with a large swim lure and keep the action going when on a hard bottom.
The best way to swim a Tokyo Rig is to cast it as far as you can down current. The wire below the lure will keep the swim lure off of the bottom and the current will create that swimming action the bass long for. All you need to do is slowly drag it back to the boat.
Gear
You do not need anything fancy here. A medium to medium-heavy 7 ft rod with a higher gear ratio bait caster is the go to as you will be fishing this in deeper water so you want to get the fish to the boat as fast as possible.
You want to try and stay away from mono line as it's a little too stretchy for this application and will mess with the lures action on longer casts.
Get Creative
There is no law stating what type of lure you need to attach to the Tokyo Rig. Thats the beauty! You can throw on a crawfish, a wacky rigged sinko or a 10 inch worm. The world is your oyster!
