Danny Brozowski recommends the Tokyo Rig to broaden your bottom-fishing options for bass.

I’m a sucker for a new paint job on a crankbait! Give me a topwater that spits and churns, pops or plops, or throws water like a Water Willie and I’m adding at least a handful to my cart. But for some reason, with certain new baits—especially rigs—I’m as sluggish to respond as a full-bellied largemouth during the dog days of summer.

A Wacky Rig? “What 4-year-old came up with that hooking arrangement?” Or how about the introduction of the Senko. “That thing will have the action of a cocktail wiener on a hook!” I’ll admit, I can be a little slow to set the hook on some new introductions. And here’s another one!

Far from new to the bass fishing scene, the Tokyo Rig made its debut several years ago. My first thoughts were, that’s way too much hardware; it will either spook bass or you won’t be able to get a good hookset due to dangling wires, weights, hook and bait taking up residence in the bass’ mouth, right? Besides, the design elements limit it to a vertical jigging technique—great for boating bassers, not so much for the bank bass anglers. Well, with my tail between my legs, I admit to being wrong on all accounts!

While it’s easier to see in the picture, the Tokyo Rig is made up of a worm hook (in various styles), a welded ring, a drop wire for the weight, and a swivel to attach your line. The setup is simple Thread on whatever type of plastic you choose, Texas rigged. Then slide the wire through a weight of some type, bend the very tip of the wire to hold the weight on, and attach your main line to the swivel. You’re ready!

So, what’s the point or attraction to the bait using this bottom tactic? You can hold a bait in place with a shaking action—actually more like a very short drop-shot rig. But it also allows an enticing action when reeled across the bottom on a tight line. It’s more compact than a Carolina rig but can rile up the bottom with the weight dragging below the bait, kicking up debris or making a clacking sound when bouncing off hard bottoms.

My biggest beef with rig originally concerned hook-up ratio because of the wire and dropped weight. Actually, when the rig is fished on bottom on a tight line, the hooked bait is few inches above the weight. So, when a bass picks up the plastic, the hook and bait enter its mouth only, and hook-ups seem to always be right on the roof of the mouth, with no weight interference. I have yet to have a deeply hooked bass, but still very positive hooksets.

You can get Tokyo rigs with several hook styles to ft your approach, from heavy-duty to finesse-style hooks. So far, I’ve used the VMC brand Tokyo Rig; there are other brands, but the VMCs have been the choice so far, so can only speak for these. As far as weights, anglers normally use bullet-style worm weights in various sizes to fit the circumstances. I’ve been using cylinder-style waits with great success. Experiment with the rig, I’m just throwing out the basics.

Use whatever plastics you desire for the Tokyo Rig. I’ve found these rigs to be a very special niche rig for my creature baits. Of course, worms work well, but I prefer heavier types of plastics for this rig. Creatures and craws seem to draw ferocious strikes from bottom-hunting bass. Beaver-type baits or brush-hog-style plastics seem produce well with this rigging. Even swimbaits work exceptionally well when used like a bottom-crawling crankbait and draw lots attention, especially in areas with abundant gobies.

I’d like to give you the perfect retrieve, but there doesn’t seem to be one! Holding in one spot and shaking, slow-crawling or slow-cranking all have their place depending on bass mood and bottom conditions. Get creative; just keep the bait in contact with the bottom and let the bass determine the retrieve of the day.

So, you can either spend time pondering the worth of the Tokyo Rig, or just give the rig a try. I certainly regret the “holdout” as long as I did. So, as summer winds to an end, break out this “not so new” rig and give at least a toss or two in your favorite waters!

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