Tokyo Rig for Bass Fishing
The Tokyo Rig has come on the scene for bass fishing in recent years and it got its origins in Japan. Japan is notorious for bringing outside-the-box ideas for fishing for bass in highly pressured waters. One of the earliest adopters of this rig in the United States was VMC. One of the first times I saw it being used was when Mike Iconelli brought it back after a trip to Japan where he fished in some highly pressured waters.
Ever since then, the Tokyo Rig has been interesting to me. So much that I had to check it out.
At first, it looked like a clucky version of the drop shot rig to me, but when I started fishing it, it all came together. It is so versatile. The Tokyo rig can be used for punching as a lot of weight can be added to the bait. This way it all collapses together on the fall making for an excellent punching rig that won’t blow the bass’ mouth open on a hard hookset like some of the traditional texas rig punching setups can.
One of my Tokyo Rig setups for Bass Fishing
While this is what I initially saw the rig for, it can do so much more. The Tokyo rig can be fished just like a texas rig and is extremely weedless. It is amazing how well the Tokyo rig comes through the cover. Just the other day I was fishing the finesse Tokyo rig with a Zoom c-tail worm and it outperformed the texas rig in the same situation.
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Just being dragged on the bottom it is deadly effective (on a side note: long skinny profiles, like a worm, seem to do really well in the hot summer months). I never lost a bait, while fishing from shore. Every time I snagged up, I gave my rod a couple of pops and it came unsnagged.
Even yesterday, my cousin and our kids went fishing in a lake that has been amazing for frog fishing over heavy grass and duckweed. After 30 minutes of not much action, I switched to the Tokyo rig, punched through the weeds, and caught two bass in 15 minutes. This allowed me to punch efficiently when I didn’t have the big weights I needed to punch through the mats with a texas rig.
The Tokyo rig is even more versatile than that. I remember watching a special where the Linders fished the Tokyo rig with a swimbait and I was hooked. If you have never tried it, rig up a swimbait on one and see how well it bounces off of the bottom and comes through the cover. Chances are it will blow your mind. It provides the free motion to wobble, while still providing any amount of weight needed to fish a specific situation.
How To Rig The Tokyo Rig For Bass Fishing
The images above illustrate how to rig a soft plastic on a Tokyo Rig for Bass Fishing.
I have also included a video by one of my favorite fishermen explaining the Tokyo rig. Seth is a hammer when it comes to bass fishing.
If you haven’t yet, I would encourage you to grab a couple packs of Tokyo rigs and add your favorite soft plastic. I think you’ll be happy with the results.
To Your Bass Fishing Success,
Jonathan Burke