wacky rig, neko rig question

[fishingonthemind]

When using an O ring on a wacky rig senko and a neko rig, does it matter if you rig with the hook toward the head or tail? Thanks

[B.Combs]

Have hook point towards tail, better hook up ratio.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

[ECobb91]

Wacky rig is best if you cross the O rings like in the picture above. For neko just use one and have the hook point towards the tail otherwise you’ll lose a ton of fish on the neko rigs

[DrewFlu33]

Towards the tail also keeps it from getting snagged up on the Neko, similar to how a jig head, spinnerbait, buzzbait, whatever riding point up stays out of the snags. On regular wacky rigs it doesn't matter which way it faces, but getting the point perpendicular will increase your hookups a bunch. Leave the point parallel with the worm to make it more weedless.

I've given this advice what seems like a million times, but I personally suggest forgetting about the o-rings and using heat shrink. 1/4" for finesse and trick worms, 3/8" for senkos. Cut a small length, slide it to where you want it, hit it with a lighter if you want, then stick a hook on the bait and go fishing. You can stick it straight through the heat shrink with the point perpendicular to the worm for regular wacky rigging and best hookups, or under the heat shrink with the point parallel to the worm for Neko rigging / more weedless wacky rigging. Makes a worm last orders of magnitude longer than an o-ring, is much harder for a fighting fish to sling off, can be had in a ton of colors including clear, doesn't crease and fold the worm in half like an o-ring, and is useful for other things like nose-hooked dropshot baits.

[fishingonthemind]

Thanks, going to try the heat shrink tricks.

[fisheye216]

Towards the tail also keeps it from getting snagged up on the Neko, similar to how a jig head, spinnerbait, buzzbait, whatever riding point up stays out of the snags. On regular wacky rigs it doesn't matter which way it faces, but getting the point perpendicular will increase your hookups a bunch. Leave the point parallel with the worm to make it more weedless.

I've given this advice what seems like a million times, but I personally suggest forgetting about the o-rings and using heat shrink. 1/4" for finesse and trick worms, 3/8" for senkos. Cut a small length, slide it to where you want it, hit it with a lighter if you want, then stick a hook on the bait and go fishing. You can stick it straight through the heat shrink with the point perpendicular to the worm for regular wacky rigging and best hookups, or under the heat shrink with the point parallel to the worm for Neko rigging / more weedless wacky rigging. Makes a worm last orders of magnitude longer than an o-ring, is much harder for a fighting fish to sling off, can be had in a ton of colors including clear, doesn't crease and fold the worm in half like an o-ring, and is useful for other things like nose-hooked dropshot baits.

Do you use shrink tubing with a specific wall thickness? I see that you can get 1/4" I.D. with as low as a .25mm wall thickness. Thanks.

[DrewFlu33]

I honestly never even looked at the wall thickness. I just bought 10 feet of each size off in a 3:1 shrink ratio from Amazon after I figured out how well it works.

To whatever extent it really does make a difference, I suppose a thinner wall thickness could yield the action closest to using no shrink tube or o-ring. The flip side of that is that, at the extreme, it might tear up more quickly and not be as durable as a thicker walled variety. If I'm being honest, I really don't think different wall thickness makes a difference at all and I'd just grab what ever you can find that's the cheapest.

One thing I didn't think to mention that is maybe worth mentioning: I make it a point not to stick the hook through the worm at the thickest point, as this puts more of the meat in the worm in the middle of your hook gap. In my mind this is a benefit to the heat shrink in that you can put the hook through only a small chunk of the soft plastic (or none at all, if you like) and not worry about it tearing. However, this positioning is maybe more important when using heat shrink over a plain worm as the heat shrink may be formidable in getting out of the way when you pull into a fish, while a plain worm would just rip out of the way. I honestly think the worm filling up the hook gap is why you see so many having a ton more success with the shiner or almost-kahle style hooks like the VMC Neko hooks in these applications. They've got a wider gap that doesn't get filled up as much when you hook the worm right through the middle when compared to say, a drop shot/split shot hook. My $0.02 anyhow.

[fisheye216]

Good information. Thanks.

[bob o]

just bought some heat shrink, it sounds like a great idea

[FlipSide]

Towards the tail also keeps it from getting snagged up on the Neko, similar to how a jig head, spinnerbait, buzzbait, whatever riding point up stays out of the snags. On regular wacky rigs it doesn't matter which way it faces, but getting the point perpendicular will increase your hookups a bunch. Leave the point parallel with the worm to make it more weedless.

I've given this advice what seems like a million times, but I personally suggest forgetting about the o-rings and using heat shrink. 1/4" for finesse and trick worms, 3/8" for senkos. Cut a small length, slide it to where you want it, hit it with a lighter if you want, then stick a hook on the bait and go fishing. You can stick it straight through the heat shrink with the point perpendicular to the worm for regular wacky rigging and best hookups, or under the heat shrink with the point parallel to the worm for Neko rigging / more weedless wacky rigging. Makes a worm last orders of magnitude longer than an o-ring, is much harder for a fighting fish to sling off, can be had in a ton of colors including clear, doesn't crease and fold the worm in half like an o-ring, and is useful for other things like nose-hooked dropshot baits.

This right here