Wire for DIY Tokyo rig?

[MickD]

Bubba shot is nothing more than a heavy duty drop shot, so how it got into the discussion, I don't know.  The Jika rig is fine, but it too is different from and has different attributes than the Tokyo rig.  How I use the Tokyo is not punching, is not flipping, is not used in heavy weeds.  It is used to retrieve swim baits along the bottom in rocks and along edges.  Jika will not do this as well.  The hook is too close to the bottom.  Bubba is irrelevant. 

 

And the formed wire products mentioned early on are cheap and make it a piece of cake to make a Tokyo for about 1/5 the price of buying a finished Tokyo rig.

[Happybeerbuzz]

6 minutes ago, J Francho said:

One point I should make.  Sometime around 12 years ago when I first tried Jika rigs in a casting pool at a show, I was putting a small fluke on the hook, and retrieving it with a darting action.  Both myself and the crowd thought it was pretty sweet, and I probably sold a bunch of Jika rigs that day.  I tried this many times in many waters, all with biting fish present, and did not get a bite.  I did hang up quite a bit, though, and anywhere there were weeds, it was a not so weedless as the usual vertical penetration approach that the Jika is so good at.  Not sure if that adds to this.

 

 

I bought into this exact same thing only with creature baits.  I still have 4 jika rigs assembled in a graveyard 3700 box.  I should probably just get the hooks and sinkers back in the terminal box.  

 

I admit, this might not work either, but I am going to give it a try this year.  I am hoping to consolidate two or more of my T-Rig, punch rig, and bubbashot setups. I sometimes have all three rods on my deck when I go to the California Delta along with others until the sun gets high in the sky and the top water gets put away. 

 

The weight should keep the rig anchored to the same spot while I shake the bait with the rod tip, but I will be giving up about a foot of leader (action) vs the bubbashot.  What I am most curious about is how punching will work.  Typically, punch baits get thrown in a hole in the mat and yo-yoed a few times.  I am hoping the shaking lure will be something the fish do not see as often as compared to yo-yoing.  

 

The weight is easy to change.  Just kut off the 1/16" to 1/8" you bent slightly to hold the weigh on, and put on a new weight.  I was told not to curl a loop at the bottom.  It catches debris.  Also, rigging it this way, you can sometimes manage to pull off the lead and leave you the rest of the rig.  

 

I also saw a video of texas rigging a paddle tail on it and dragging the weight on the bottom in 30' feet of water while the bait swims inches off the bottom.  It seems like this would work to me. 

 

Sure, there are various rigs that can do all these things.  They might even do it better.  However, if I can get away with one setup to do all of this, it would be convenient.  

 

 

 

 

[J Francho]

If it helps, a Jika has pretty much replaced T-Rigs, except for when I want that sliding sinker slowish fall. That is only super prevalent in spring and early summer. I don't think I've actually bubba shot in a couple years either. Jika Rigs plus my Jika Punch rigs above cover most of what I come across cover wise. If not, a jig usually works, and I prefer them anyway. 

35 minutes ago, MickD said:

Bubba shot is nothing more than a heavy duty drop shot, so how it got into the discussion, I don't know.  The Jika rig is fine, but it too is different from and has different attributes than the Tokyo rig.  How I use the Tokyo is not punching, is not flipping, is not used in heavy weeds.  It is used to retrieve swim baits along the bottom in rocks and along edges.  Jika will not do this as well.  The hook is too close to the bottom.  Bubba is irrelevant. 

 

And the formed wire products mentioned early on are cheap and make it a piece of cake to make a Tokyo for about 1/5 the price of buying a finished Tokyo rig.

 

 

The bubba shot was in reference to heavy cover, and totally relevant to which is better at punching through cover. 
 

I get the idea of suspending a bait above the bottom, but why is a fixed length of wire with a weight better than a drop shot?  

[Sam]

I used piano wire but now you can buy the rig ready to go.

[MickD]

3 hours ago, J Francho said:

I get the idea of suspending a bait above the bottom, but why is a fixed length of wire with a weight better than a drop shot?

It works much better with a moving lure like a swimbait than trying to swim a swimbait from a drop shot hook, won't get tangled on the cast, more snag resistant (sort of like a bottom bouncer), hook can be fastened to a conventional hook keeper without a length of line below it getting messed up.  Trying to retrieve a swimbait at a reasonable speed with a drop shot will end up with the sinker line most likely trailing the lure through the water.  I think there is confusion in that I'm talking about using a Tokyo rig not to punch through thick cover and not to work finesse lures, but to swim a 4-5 inch swimbait just off the bottom, or even up off the bottom.  At least that 36 inch pike I nailed about 10 days ago liked it.  I would not use it for normal finesse fishing lures like worms or tubes.

[J Francho]

That makes sense.  Is that a weighted swimbait or a like a plastic paddle tail? 

[MickD]

On 5/13/2021 at 10:15 PM, J Francho said:

weighted swimbait or a like a plastic paddle tail? 

I like the Strike King 5 inch swim baits and the 3.8 fat Keitechs on a size 4/0 Gama worm hook, no weight on the hook.  The slim cylindrical worm weights work well and clear in rocks better than the fatter worm weights.