Tokyo Rig?

[MichaelN]

I'm sure some of you have used the Tokyo Rig with plastics.  Any luck? Advice? Thanks for your input.

 

Just noticed someone posted more or less the same question a year or so ago. Sorry about that.

Edited December 10, 2024 by MichaelN
My Bad

[casts_by_fly]

If you do a search on here there was a lot of talk about it last year and expecially the year before.  Then it kinda died off in favor of the free rig and the jika rig.  Each has its benefits.  The tokyo is nice if you want to present a plastic nearly horizontal but 3" off the bottom.  if you have a soft bottom it will hold it out of the muck.  if you have a hard bottom it will present just off of it.  In both cases you can swim the bait and it just kinda floats over the bottom.  It's also useful for punching down into heavier cover where a texas rig might hang up.  Thicker grass and pads are a good option.  The weight goes first and the weight/rig/bait all line up linearly to slide down into grass just a little easier at times.

[Glenn]

 

[Hogs_n_Logs]

The Tokyo Rig(aka "cherry rig") is another Japanese technique that was developed for a very specific situational reason in Japanese bass fishing that was later hyped and pushed in the US market but in reality is somewhat limited. It was developed by anglers in the greater Tokyo area because in the urban and semi urban rivers in that locale there is often this rope mesh/netting stuff they cover large swathes of rock/cement bottom presumably as an anti-erosion measure. The Tokyo rig was developed because while this mesh netting on the hard bottom attracts huge amounts of freshwater shrimp and crawfish that the bass love, regular t-rigs, drop shots and power shots would get stuck in it and snag. It is seldom used outside of this scenario/region in the country of its origin.

 

That isnt to say it has zero utility outside of that situation, @casts_by_fly mentions some, but in most scenarios a power shot will do the same thing.

[RRocket]

I still use it quite a bit in the spring at a location I fish.

 

I typically use a Free Rig but for a period the bottom gets REALLY slimy and fouls the tiny eyelet of my Free Rig weight rendering it a bit useless. My baits also get fouled.

 

So during this time I use a Tokyo to keep my baits off the slimy bottom.

 

As has been mentioned this drops extremely vertical so you can really target areas knowing it will drop straight down exactly where it hits the water.

[webertime]

Great for flipping in thick stuff with a soft bottom.

[MichaelN]

6 hours ago, Hogs_n_Logs said:

The Tokyo Rig(aka "cherry rig") is another Japanese technique that was developed for a very specific situational reason in Japanese bass fishing...

 

Thanks. That's interesting. 👍

 

[Choporoz]

I bought Tokyo and Jika rigs years ago.  Liked Jika and totally forgot about the Tokyos.  Don't think I ever threw one, because I couldn't fathom how it might be better than jika

[Dan N]

Big fan of the Tokyo rig , used it a lot this spring, pretty much replaced the Texas rig for me. I used rage bug or bandito bug pretty much all the time.  A lot of areas I fish are a mud bottom, so I feel it helps keep bait up out of it a little. Also where we have rocks in Lake Winnebago, they are covered with zebra muscles, that wreck line in a hurry, I feel it helps with that.

[woolleyfooley]

This is something I want to learn more about. What is the reason to use a Tokyo rig over a Texas rig and vice versa? 

[casts_by_fly]

3 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

This is something I want to learn more about. What is the reason to use a Tokyo rig over a Texas rig and vice versa? 

the reasons listed in this thread. Keeping your bait off the bottom, your line off the bottom, and the easier linear drop of the bait either through cover or just vertically. 

[bartnc37]

I like it for fishing chunk rock and boulders in the river.  Jigs and trigs get hung up , but a 3.5" tube on vmc Tokyo rig comes through great, bouncing over the rocks with the current,  and hammers the smallies

[MichaelN]

2 hours ago, bartnc37 said:

I like it for fishing chunk rock and boulders in the river...

 

This is exactly why I was asking. All the rivers/creeks I fish have rocky bottoms. No doubt your weighted Tokyo rig might still wedge itself in the rocks occasionally. Also might use it fishing Lilly pads for that vertical drop. I'm sure my go to technique with plastics will always be the Texas. I'll try anything though. Part of the fun.

[RRocket]

On 12/12/2024 at 9:37 PM, MichaelN said:

 

This is exactly why I was asking. All the rivers/creeks I fish have rocky bottoms. No doubt your weighted Tokyo rig might still wedge itself in the rocks occasionally. Also might use it fishing Lilly pads for that vertical drop. I'm sure my go to technique with plastics will always be the Texas. I'll try anything though. Part of the fun.

Ya. I had a "World series of  fishing rigs" I did over the course of several seasons. My "winner" ended up being the Jika Rig which is essentially a leaderless Tokyo. I really enjoyed fishing the Tokyo but preferred the Jika for my purposes. 

 

It's still a popular rig in Japan (often called a Punchshot Rig) and there's some specialized tackle that's truly great. Varivas Rock Gritter ringed hooks are great. Just clip a weight on and go with a Jika. Want a Tokyo? Clip on the dropper line. Want a Dropshot to punch into cover? Add on the LONG leader. It's just a great system if a bit specialized.

 

I ended up making my own hybrid system where I could do fast hook/weight changes without reties for my Jika. And I kept a metal dropper handy "just in case" I wanted a Tokyo.

 

Please let us know how you make out. I think you'll enjoy fishing the Tokyo. I did! 

 

https://www.varivas.fishing/product/rock_on-ring-gritter-hook/

 

https://www.varivas.fishing/product/through-down-drop-shot-leader/#:~:text=The VARIVAS Through-Down Drop,with less problem with tangling.

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

I threw a Tokyo rig a little bit last season for the first time. It caught fish but I don’t think any better or worse than a good ol t-rig, maybe something new if the fish are pressured a bunch. 

[RRocket]

6 minutes ago, August said:

I threw a Tokyo rig a little bit last season for the first time. It caught fish but I don’t think any better or worse than a good ol t-rig, maybe something new if the fish are pressured a bunch. 

It punches cover significantly better than a T-Rig IMO.

[MichaelN]

On 12/15/2024 at 10:05 PM, RRocket said:

Ya. I had a "World series of  fishing rigs" I did over the course of several seasons. My "winner" ended up being the Jika Rig which is essentially a leaderless Tokyo...

 

Cool. Thanks for the info and links. Looks interesting. 👍

[10,000 lakes Bassin]

On 12/15/2024 at 10:31 PM, RRocket said:

It punches cover significantly better than a T-Rig IMO.

Do you use the flipping hook version? I never like punching with an EWG

[RRocket]

9 hours ago, August said:

Do you use the flipping hook version? I never like punching with an EWG

I only use EWG.

 

It makes a really compact footprint on the way down.

 

Some people can explain it get better than I.  I predominantly used it as a "beefy drop shot" but I did throw it in some cover that I'd otherwise not even dare and it worked as advertised. It drops straight down in a very compact manner.

 

If you look in this video around the 4min mark, you can see it on the drop. Good video in general, BTW. There's also a fantastic video of Seth Fieder fishing it for the first time. Some really good insights there too.

 

 

[woolleyfooley]

22 hours ago, RRocket said:

I only use EWG.

 

It makes a really compact footprint on the way down.

 

Some people can explain it get better than I.  I predominantly used it as a "beefy drop shot" but I did throw it in some cover that I'd otherwise not even dare and it worked as advertised. It drops straight down in a very compact manner.

 

If you look in this video around the 4min mark, you can see it on the drop. Good video in general, BTW. There's also a fantastic video of Seth Fieder fishing it for the first time. Some really good insights there too.

 

 

From that thumbnail, I don’t see how that would punch through cover easier than a pegged Texas rig. The line tie sticking out looks like it would easily hang up. 
 

Never tried it myself, so obviously I’m just going off of looks. 

[FryDog62]

#1 most over-rated and useless lure of all time in my humble opinion.  Tell me what it’s used for and I already have something else that works better for that technique.
 

I had a friend insist it was great flipping into the weeds. He eventually hooked a few but when they went aerial with all that sinker weight as leverage, he got spit out every time. No thanks - 

 

I would honestly rather use a Banjo Minnow or Helicopter Lure…

[MichaelN]

2 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

...but when they went aerial with all that sinker weight as leverage, he got spit out every time.

 

I was wondering about that.

[Glenn]

I've used it quite a bit, and haven't lost any fish. You can see in my video the fish jumping too. I really doubt it was the rig's fault. More like a dull hook or poor hookset.

 

Overall, I like the rig. It gives a different look to the bait particularly where T-rigging has, up until now, been the only option for flipping/pitching.

[RRocket]

1 hour ago, Glenn said:

I I really doubt it was the rig's fault. More like a dull hook or poor hookset.

 

 

Agreed.

 

Fieder claimed better hookup than pegged T-Rig due to weight being out of the way..

[Dan N]

I’ve never had an issue losing fish with it.