RRocket

It's definitely not a fast or efficient process...but I wanted to put the work in.

I'd say close to 100 percent. But I'm a devoted minimalist influenced heavily by Okappari style fishing. (And I only have 4 rods, total. And I'm also a JDM enthusiast. So I'd say I'm a definite minority in these regards. I established my baits and gear by first doing a "world series of bass rigs" to determine which rigs best suit my fishing style, conditions, etc etc. This took several seasons to accomplish, as I insisted every rig a minimum of 40 hours but most were fished for about 100 hours in real time. Some much more. Once my preferred rigs were chosen, for baits I always sought out those regarded as "the best" for that particular rig. For example, for the Free Rig, the Dolive Beaver is considered the "best" in its creature/craw class. I start there. Then I test others as I go along or as they're introduced to see if it can dethrone my current "best". And so it goes. Even this process can take a long, long time. I'm currently testing worms for the Neko Rig, so this is proving extremely time consuming as the are probably several hundred worms on the market. But I persist.. Once you have all of the "best in class" baits determined, those are what I stock (and only in a few colors). All other baits that didn't make the cut get donated to members here, local kids clubs, friends, etc .. This system allows me to keep tackle and baits at a minimum while still fishing the absolute best baits and best rigs available to me. I feel if I can't catch fish with 4 rods rigged with the best techniques using the best baits....the fish aren't going to be caught that day on anything. Here's my current stock boxes and rods.

I've used these and on the days when the solunar had the worst numbers, I had some of my best days. I'm inclined to believe they don't work..at least for me. The only app I consistently use is Windfinder when I'm using the boat.

Ned Rig

Ryugi R Snap. Size 0, 41lbs.

Yep. Nothing wrong with snaps. Or rather I don't understand the aversion to them. There's been tons of videos done that show snaps don't alter bait movement (for most lures) if that's the worry. A great number of Japanese hard baits have no split ring because everyone uses snaps there. On everything. Soft baits included. I use a TINY snap with a 40lb strength and it doesn't impede anything I do...even finesse stuff.

Has anyone tried the new Berkeley Triple Minnow Rig? Seems like this is a type of A Rig.

I'm really keen to try it! Looks fantastic Neko rigged. Berkeley Japan just dropped this...

This might help? This was my first minimalist bag.

Also a different view of baits there. One fish per bait is an acceptable trade off when fishing one of the most pressured areas for bass in the world. I think if our waters were similarly pressured, we'd be thrilled with one bait per fish! LOL 😆

That's always been the knock against the JDM baits...Not terribly durable, unfortunately.

Re-organized my Neko tackle today. This thing is tiny...but holds plenty.

Neko is great fun to fish!! I re-organized my Neko terminal today! Fun fact: the guy who "invented" the Neko Rig (Haruhiko Murakami) also invented the Drop Shot (aka Down Shot in Japan) and the rubber finesse jig! You'd be a fishing legend if you merely invented one of those things...and he did 3.

I've mostly fished it Free Rig, but weightless would certainly work! As would a belly weighted swim bait hook. The Gimmy is excellent as you point out. I also have the Dolive SS Gill, which you supposedly can't get any more. When fished, you could get it to do an awesome spiral on the drop on slack line....or with a bit of tension, a nice S glide. Very unique bait. Have oily 2-3 bags left in spectacularly hard to get Vitamin Gill. Allegedly it had to be pulled from market due to lawsuit? If true, I'd love to hear that story!

If you're going to try the Bellows Gill I'd suggest you give the Raid Hira Tailor a try too if you can! I think it collapses better for more positive hookups. The tall flaps on the drop. Great colors that seem to change depending on light/angle and overall more durable. Winner. But they are both great baits! And as mentioned earlier, I still use the 3.8" Bellows Shad. Quite a spectacular Neko bait! Overall, these gill baits can be lots of fun to fish! I'm keen to fish the new Berkeley Flux Gill.

They look to be nice size, too!

I prefer the Bellows Shad over the Gill due to the thinner profile. Both of these also crush them on a Neko

My fav was red....

That's a clawless crawdad...

You'd lose 'em all here to Pike, Bowfin or Gar unless you ran wire...

Congrats!! Such a fun, effective bait to fish! I'm a huge enthusiast of these and poop-bug hybrids ups. Like @softwateronly , I too like a firm double twitch off the bottom. Reason? Cover Scat walks the dog underwater!! Research has shown that bass prefer crawfish with no claws. And the Cover Scat mimics this. And the dogwalking mimics the erratic movement of a fleeing crawfish. That's the theory, anyways. Who knows. So cast, let sink to bottom, count to 5-10, firmly JERK, JERK, let sink to bottom, repeat. It's also great in cover. Think of it as an underwater weedless walking frog. Use your imagination here. Or, the drag. Poop and poop-bug (mushi) baits work very well being dragged. So much so the technique has its own name among enthusiasts: HDD (High Density Dragging). I generally use a mushi bait for this technique but I've caught loads with a CoverScat doing this. Again..is this the clawless craw thing in action again? Or is it a fat leach? Bug? Not sure..but it works! The strangest lure I've used recently for this was the Issei AK Punch. Totally bonkers!! In Japan, they fish them deep! I've seen guys fishing them in 30 feet plus with sink times of 30-60 seconds! That's too slow for me! So I free rig it when going deep. Now in this case since there's no appendages, I don't really need a heavy weight to activate them. So all I care about here is weight to bait separation once on the bottom. I'll often use a lighter weight with a slick, unobtanium Fuji ceramic weight slide so the weight REALLY separates fast without needing extra weight to do so. Oh..and these things skip for miles! Congrats on the great day of fishing! Karashi is a blast! And here's a video asking whether poop baits are still relevant

Thanks for the kind words. But it sounds like you know how to fish them too!!

You must be very popular with the Northern Pike! LOL 😆 They like that color here too..I'm guessing due to perch.

Walleye guys love clown!! I'd like a white bladed jig with a red blade.

This is great stuff.