summer patterns

Michael Best wrote:

Fishthumper,
what is your preferred plastic for a Neko rig?
It has been my presentation of choice this summer as well. For plastic I have been using yum dingers. For weight I have been using a 3/4” tech screw. Been wondering if I should drop down in weight. Not sure how much they weight.

Last year I found a great deal on Berkley General on closeout at Scheels. I purchased all they had remaining. This has been my #1 Neko choice this year. I also fish the Yum dinger a fair amount. Was always more of a fan of natural colors but the Generals I’ve been doing well on are Green pumpkin with a chartreuse Tail this year ( about all I got in that closeout ) My supply is starting to get rather low. Those berkley baits are soft and dont hold up real well. A O-ring really helps but when it gets worn I tend to remove so I don’t lose the Weight and o-ring.

Michael Best wrote:

Fishthumper,
what is your preferred plastic for a Neko rig?
It has been my presentation of choice this summer as well. For plastic I have been using yum dingers. For weight I have been using a 3/4” tech screw. Been wondering if I should drop down in weight. Not sure how much they weight.

As far as weight goes, I fish the 1/16oz probably 90 % of the time. If really windy I may step up to the a 1/8 oz. as others said, I fish as light as possible. I fish mine on a braided line with a fluro leader so the wind tends to catch that braided line and puts a big bow in the line. I use that to my advantage as my strike indicator. Watch the bow. When the fish picks up and moves off the bow with become way less.

I will say I do believe I catch way more fish on the berkley bait than the Yum dinger. Just something about that scent. I just wish they were more durable and less expensive. I should keep my broken or worn ones and use the tail section for Ned rigs. I just have not started fishing those yet. I would have a pile of them to use after a long day of Neko rigging.

Where do you get your o rings for neko and other rigs? Do you buy specialized fishing ones or is there a way to save a bit buying some from Menards?

Lots of options on that.

Single or double-lapped o rings, VMC crossover rings, wack-o rings, or do the heat shrink plastic thing on your own. I haven’t gone down the heat shrink rabbit hole just yet.

I’ve been using these from amazon.

Apparently it won’t let me post the link. They’re called sink-o-rings.

FinickyFish wrote:

Where do you get your o rings for neko and other rigs? Do you buy specialized fishing ones or is there a way to save a bit buying some from Menards?

Amazon or ebay. You can buy a bulk pack for a few bucks. Just look up wacky worm o ring

Thanks. I thought I was seeing 3 or 6 packs for like $3 but now realize that was the thumbnail and the packs really contained 30 or so. Wouldn’t put it past a company to try that though… Don’t bass fish much but thinking about throwing those nekos this weekend and thought maybe ‘fishing’ o rings may be made if a different material for whatever reason.

FinickyFish wrote:

Where do you get your o rings for neko and other rigs? Do you buy specialized fishing ones or is there a way to save a bit buying some from Menards?

I have used many different brands of them. They all are about the same. Just be careful on size. Better to small than to large. If they are loose on the bait they will slip off and cost you baits and nail weights. I want them to fit real snug on the baits. Also do yourself a favor and get a o-ring tool. Makes getting them positioned on baits much easier.

Thanks I’ll probably try to get by this one trip with a pliers and using screws around the garage as weights. Then I’ll stock up on proper equipment during the shoulder season.

I like the Gulp sinking minnows. They aren’t tough, but I like ‘em because they sink pretty fast. The peanut butter color works for me. Good luck.

Did pretty good this morning. Went with my Father for about 5 hours and caught 22 largemouth and 17 pike. The pike were on a freaking rampage. They were super aggressive with the low cloud deck and choppy water from the wind. They bit us off twice and ruined lures all morning. At one point I caught three on three consecutive casts – 28, 29, and 31 inches.

Did manage several nice largies including a pair of 4 pounders about 10 minutes apart. Water temp is 76.5 degrees, north metro.

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Made it out midday yesterday in the heat. Boated 5 largemouth with either Nekos or Texas rigs on deep weed lines. Not ideal conditions so the fact we boated anything on new-to-me techniques was a confidence builder.

Haven’t had the time this summer to fish hardly at all and it’s starting to get to me. I have gotten into a wobble head jig and found some nice success with it in the very hot days on deep rocks and weed edges. Very fun when it’s on. You basically crawl it along the bottom deflecting off things. Tactical Bassin goes over it in this video as well as some other ideas to catch fish in hot weather. I’ve found some success with some of these.

Had been a week or so since I was last out. Got out yesterday. The lake we fished was crazy High after the weekend rains. Like really high. It was about 1/2 way up into the landing and the dock was about 2 Ft underwater. My buddy said in the 50+ years he’s fished that lake he has never seen it that high. Since there is both a inlet and a outlet on this lake we decided to try and fish the flow in both those area 1st. The outlet flow had fish stacked up all along the bank near it. Lots of extra tree cover was now in play. Tossed weightless stickworms up near the bank and just let the current pull pull the baits along the shoreline and tree cover. Caught a ton of really nice fat fish doing this. I actually thought the area where there was a flow into the lake was going to be great as well. that area only held a few fish and not near as big. We checked several of the normal spots with almost 0 luck. With high water always check new cover that was not previously there. ALWAYS check any flows into or out of a lake. These area draw a lot of baitfish and thus the bass as well. Might as well use all this recent rain to your advantage.

What are you seeing for water temps out there? I haven’t been out since before the heat wave last week. Hopefully its going down this week after all the rain and some cooler temps.

gimruis wrote:

What are you seeing for water temps out there? I haven’t been out since before the heat wave last week. Hopefully its going down this week after all the rain and some cooler temps.

To he honest, I did not even notice the water temps yesterday. This is the lake that is normally really warm. With all the new fresh water running in my guess is it was down a little.

Summer pattern for me:
Wife has knee surgery, I’m the stay at home helper.
Surgery went well, I’ll be out there soon enough.

tim hurley wrote:

Summer pattern for me:
Wife has knee surgery, I’m the stay at home helper.
Surgery went well, I’ll be out there soon enough.

Bummer. Hope she gets better soon and you can get back out on the water.

tim hurley wrote:

Summer pattern for me:
Wife has knee surgery, I’m the stay at home helper.
Surgery went well, I’ll be out there soon enough.

Nothing to fun there. My old man had that done 5 weeks ago, 3 weeks ago he was hit by a illegal immigrant without a license and rolled his truck 4 times. His knee has been clunking since the accident and they have to wait to go back in.
Good luck on her healing.

I’m back to pretty much full health for me as far as that goes. I’m getting a hip replacement in November. I’ve fished every day in August so far. Until a couple of days ago I was pretty much only throwing a hollow body frog or ToadZ. The past couple of trips I have also had some success pitching a jig and around docks. Skipping under most docks isn’t a thing right now because the water is too high.

Bass Pundit wrote:

Skipping under most docks isn’t a thing right now because the water is too high

High is a understatement. The lake I last fished most of the docks were underwater. or floating out in the middle of the lake. Including the landing one. I did see a few bass cruising over the top of docks

I fished in a 3 boat derby this morning for 4 hours with a friend and we did very good. We beat out the other two boats for free beer and lunch afterwards.

All the fish were stacked up where the waves were blowing in. Almost no bites on the calm side of the lake.

Water temp was 70 degrees. Here is my partner with a couple of good ones from our weigh in.

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Got out on Sunday for as few Hours. After 2 rather cool nights in a row the water temps were way down. water Temps started the morning right at 69 Deg. and only got to 70 before we headed home. As expected with the quickly falling water temps the bite was a little off and got slightly better as the day warmed up some. That is a 8-9 degree fall in water temps in about a week. Seemed like I had to really show down the working of the Neko rig to get the bites. most bites came after a fairly long pause.

I’m a bit slow to this technique, I’m sure. Fished with guys that can skip docks with jigs and baitcasters. I’m not good at this. I usually skip with a senko-style bait. Today, I split the difference and skipped a Ned rig. It worked really well. You can teach an old dog new tricks. Good luck. Best fishing is ahead.

The prolonged high water has made for a great smallie bite on the river all summer. Been targeting the larger fish suspended in current seams with cranks and swimbaits. Very aggressive and erratic retrieves have been the kit to getting bit. The small bass have been tight to shore away from the current. If you’re catching little ones you’re not doing it right. As a bonus you hook into some pretty nice eyes as well.

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Sam-you can also T rig a stick bait, those guys who skip well are amazing, with a jig I’m always afraid I’m going to clank on a pontoon.
H-good tips, like the dog.
Got a few and found some new spots trolling-you don’t hear too much about trolling for bass because the media is so driven by the pros and trolling is not allowed in tournaments. BTW its banned in tournaments for a reason: it works!

tim hurley wrote:

BTW its banned in tournaments for a reason: it works!

That’s actually not the reason. Its banned because they go from state to state and every state is different on the number of lines that can be used. Some states have no limit. With such varying rules, a universal requirement doesn’t exist, sort of like an Alabama Rig, which is also banned.

Bass boats also aren’t great as trolling setups either.

Unfortunately haven’t been out a whole lot this summer chasing bass. But, we had our final night of league last night on Clearwater. Fish were definitely in a biting mood though. We focused on the deep weed edges and anywhere with baitfish were loaded with bass. We did well with dropshots and ned rigs, but others had luck on chatterbaits, cranks, spinnerbaits, etc. Was a fun evening. Water temp in the mid 70s.

Joe Jarl wrote:

Unfortunately haven’t been out a whole lot this summer chasing bass. But, we had our final night of league last night on Clearwater. Fish were definitely in a biting mood though. We focused on the deep weed edges and anywhere with baitfish were loaded with bass. We did well with dropshots and ned rigs, but others had luck on chatterbaits, cranks, spinnerbaits, etc. Was a fun evening. Water temp in the mid 70s.

What weight did it take to win out there. We use to fish Clearwater ( I assume you are talking the one near Annandale ) a lot. One weekends as well as often on weekday evenings, It seems like there is ALWAY a tourney or club event going on out there. I can not tell you how many times we have got there early on a Sat. morning excited for a morning of fishing only to find the landing loaded with tourney fishermen. I just hate to fish a lake while a tourney is going on. I think we have only fished Clearwater twice this year. We normally fish it more in the Fall anyway once the tourney and club season are done.

G-Don’t bother me with facts & details!