What are the specs of your Neko rig when fishing it around weed cover... rod specs, reel, line type and hook size?
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What are the specs of your Neko rig when fishing it around weed cover... rod specs, reel, line type and hook size?
oe
1/0 VMC weedless Neko or Gamy Weedless Stinger (the latter is awesome, but spendy!), braid of choice to a 7 lb Sniper leader on a ML to M spinning rod. If I'm throwing it around docks or into thick weeds I'll step up to a 12 lb leader, but fishing weed edges that 7 lb Sniper is plenty and you get more bites.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I use a 2/0 wacky hook. Rod is a St Croix Tournament bass 6'8" spinning rod coupled with a Shimano CI4 3000 reel. I use 15# Power Pro Super 8 slick V2 braid no leader. I use the VMC Neko weights. I use the 1/32 oz version the most.
I don't use a weedless hook. I like using a 5" Berkeley The General. I like throwing Neko rigs along sea walls and in Weed holes. Every year I fish this rig more.
'14 Triton 18XS 150 Optimax Pro XS Fortrex 80
Kropf Park model on Chautauqua Lake
Fish Chautauqua Lake and Lake Erie
Love bass and fly fishing for Trout and Steelhead
Thanks. What are the rod lure weight specs and do you feel they are very stiff or more parabolic in their actions?
My 7' Aetos spinning rod rated for 1/16 -3/4oz baits seems far too whimpy. I bought it for 1/8oz hair jigs, but also use if for light weight exposed hook grubs and beetlespins. My older 7' Techna spinning rod rated for 1/4 - 3/4oz baits (quite stiff) feels better but still leaves me wanting a little more power fish around weeds. I'm guessing a soft tipped med-heavy spinning rod (6 1/2' HMG rated 1/4 - 1oz) currently used for t-rigged flukes would be considered by most to over-kill.
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Chautauquanuy... Am I correct in guessing your rod is a stiffer med power with lure weight rage around 1/4 - 3/4oz?
oe
'14 Triton 18XS 150 Optimax Pro XS Fortrex 80
Kropf Park model on Chautauqua Lake
Fish Chautauqua Lake and Lake Erie
Love bass and fly fishing for Trout and Steelhead
I recently purchased a shimano curado spinning rod 7'4" medium 3/16 to 5/8 10 to 30# for stouter/longer spinning rod for neko around grass, tubes, and topwater. Pleased with it so far. Also recently did well using 7 foot a MH 3/8 to 1 oz rod for 5 inch general with a one inch #10 brass screw and 1/0 VMC seedless Neko hook fishing shallow docks.
#1 Weedless neko vmc, 7' medium spinning legend elite, 20lb p line tcb
The one I throw it on most often is rated 1/8 to 1/2 oz...I built it myself from a Phenix Feather medium powered blank, but its rating is slightly different than the completed Feather spinning rod that carries a medium rating. Action is rated "extra fast," but as I've mentioned a few times on this board there's not a lot of agreement as to what "extra fast" means. If you look at deflection charts, XF really should be a broomstick (relatively speaking - for a given power rating). This rod's action is much more in line with what I think people mean when they say it has a "fast tip," again whatever that really means. I guess a more...precise? way of saying it is that it has a soft tip that reaches the backbone probably 6-8" down. From there, t loads fairly evenly about halfway down the blank when put under heavier pressure.
If your rod is rated to as light as 1/16, that's probably a little too light...though having a rating of 1/16 to 3/4 (was that a typo?) seems like an insanely wide range anyhow. I figured my 1/8 to 1/2 was a pretty wide range, though admittedly the 1/2 oz is probably heavier than I'd want to throw on it. It's just slightly heavier powered than my drop shot rod. Your fluke rod sounds too powerful to me...I think being able to impart subtle movements on a Neko rig is pretty important. How soft the tip of that rod really is will go a long way in determining how it would do there.
For whatever it's worth, I did a lot of thinking and learning about leverage last offseason when it comes to fighting fish (specifically I'm concerned with doing so around weeds) and really tried to put it to use this past season. It paid off a lot in that I feel I was able to keep more fish from burying up in the shit. What I learned from that is that I never understood how much leverage lighter powered rods actually can have as we tend to fight fish with the tip more up in the air, particularly on spinning gear You're not using the blank as efficiently as possible then. If you get the tip down towards the water with the main part of the rod basically parallel, it allows you to exert quite a bit more force on a fish for a given rod than having the main part at some upward angle. Obviously consider the implications of this if needing a get/keep a fish caught up in the water column from going down, and choose rod powers accordingly.
I think related to that is the (subconscious) concern of breaking off...there have been times where I've felt that my rod was too light when really I was just not putting enough pressure on a fish for fear of breaking it off. Confidence in your knots and line choices as well as knowing how much they can take under normal circumstances is something I've worked on and I've found has helped with dealing with fish around weeds, but it's still something I need to improve on. Generally speaking, I've found that my line is stronger on a straight pull (after the "shock" of the hookset and any initial run are gone) than I've given it credit for in the past, assuming good condition of course.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I would add confidence in your drag, so important in light line spinning applications. Recently I used the wrong drag grease in a Daiwa spinner...it's just a tad too sticky and I broke off thrice in one day with 6lb leader.
Drew, can you expound on that Phenix blank? What did you do to make it different from stock? I'm looking at the 7'1M spinner...would you bomb 3/8 oz with it?
That #1 vmc Neko hook is amazing. Use it for all wacky and neko rigging. I caught nearly 100 fish before I lost one on it. I throw it on 15 lb braid to 10 lb leader in dense weeds. 7ft dobyns medium fury with revo sx. It feels underpowered too but I just take my time and reel them slowly or go after them with the trolling motor. In my experience the big ones bury themselves in the grass and chill out anyway, because that hook does not let go.
Sorry for the delayed response. It's the Feather 7'1" medium. They rate the finished rod 1/8-3/4 oz, different than the 1/8-1/2 oz on the blank. You could probably bomb 3/8 with it and I've fished a 3/8 oz baits on the one I've built a fair amount, but if you're buying it with the goal for it being to fish 3/8 oz I'd try to get something a bit heavier. Its sweet spot is really right around 1/4 oz of weight, plus whatever the plastic or what have you weighs. Then again, the factory finished version may some how be different...any dealers around you where you could handle one, or even better, test cast one? That series does tend to feel more "fragile" than it is in practice just because they're so lightweight - they have more power than you'd think just picking it up off the rack.
The one complaint I have with the Feather line of rods is they don't sell a MH finished spinning rod (their ratings, of course....the H will fish like most MH) . If you're building one or having one built, I'd grab the 7'1" MH blank and build it as a spinning rod (the finished rod they sell that's built on that blank is a casting rod). I built my dad a 6'9" spinning rod on the MH for use in accurate casting scenarios with lighter jigs and Senkos, and probably my favorite factory-built rod in my whole arsenal is the 7'1" MH casting rod. I fish stuff as small as 3/16 Texas rigs on that (aided by the weight of the hook and soft plastic in casting it, of course) up to 3/4 oz Dark Sleepers, though the latter is pushing it a bit. On my winter to-do list is to build a spinning rod for myself on the 7'1" MH with plans for it being my tube rod. I think something like that would make one hell of a rod for bombing 3/8 oz stuff in general, including finesse swimbaits.
This all should come with the caveat that I haven't fished the rod that I built on the 7'1" M blank in a while...my last couple tourneys really didn't set up for it, after tourney season I've been super busy with work, and the weather this fall has absolutely sucked on top of that to where I've fished very little. Given the extended forecast it wouldn't surprise me to see people ice fishing small lakes around here in the next 10 days. Anyhow, I digress....I still need to clean out my boat, and I'm hoping to get after it tonight. I'll tie on a 3/8 oz jighead and stick a tube on it and test cast it just to make sure I'm not mis-remembering the power that the blank has and get back to you.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
Didn't have the chance to try it last night. I'll definitely report back when I have the chance to do so.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
Thanks Drew!
I had the 7'1 Light spinner, that was ridiculously rated to 3/8oz. Great rod but 1/4 total package was pushing it.
Honestly 1/2oz total payload (jig + plastic) would probably be the heaviest I'm looking to throw. More often 3/16 - 5/16 + plastic.
It really comes down to one of the Phenix Feathers or the Levante Shaky Heads, if they ever come back in stock lol.
Dobyns 732 or 742 depending on the product line. 15lb braid to 6-8lb leader. Never had an issues.
So I finally got a chance to try it out last night. Stuck a tube on a 3/8 oz head and let 'er rip. It had more power than I remembered, I was able to absolutely bomb it. It loaded the rod just a little more than I would like, probably could've bombed a 1/4 or 5/16 a little more comfortably, but if the 3/8 (+ plastic) the heaviest you'll throw that 7'1" M should be the ticket. The snow and frozen ground meant I didn't even have to worry about "snagging" up reeling it in...
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
Funny I just got my 71M Feather last week, took it out for the first time couple days ago...def 3/8 is max, much happier throwing 1/4 + 2.8 keitechs. They are out of their mind labeling that rod to 3/4oz...it's 5/16 - 3/8 MAX at best.
It did flick 1/16 neds out there, as well as weightless shad impacts. Very fun rod to fish, caught a few and it loaded up nicely. Thanks for taking the time Drew, much appreciated.
Been throwing zoom swamp crawlers Dobyns 702 spinning rod, 12lb sunline braid to 8lb flouro leader, #2 Owner mosquito hook but have also used the modified circle Yamamoto split shot hook with great results also.
Last summer I bought a Lew's MHTGR 7'0" Medium power, Action fast taper, 6-14 lb line, 3/16 -5/8 oz lure weight. It has Winn Grips (I like!) and the handle is relatively short for a 7' rod. This is an awesome rod for Neko rig and some other weird chit I do with spinning tackle. It's got PLENTY of power, AND you can currently buy TWO for $80 from Land Big Fish tackle store online. I'm not buying (74 years old) anymore rods, but I'd highly recommend them...it appears that they are being discontinued, for some reason I can't fathom.
So far, I've only used this rod for Neko rig, with a Stradic 2500 and 8 lb copolymer line. For some of the other stuff I do, I might change to a Stradic 2000 with 15 lb or 20 lb braid, a tiny crane swivel, a short 10 lb copolymer leader, 3/0 EWG and a 4" or 5" Dinger or 6" Zoom lizard...and I put a fly fishing Palsa strike indicator on just above the swivel. Works great in reedbeds. The strike indicator helps float the swivel as well as be a strike indicator. The rod has plenty of power for this silliness.
Last edited by Walkabout7781; 11-29-2019 at 08:54 PM.
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