In his years as a professional angler, Cody Meyer has gained a well-deserved reputation as a finesse expert. He's proficient with every technique, but those with spinning gear involved are right in his wheelhouse and he's sure to catch 'em in those situations. During the fall months, he utilizes finesse techniques and relies heavily on the Neko rig, wacky rig, and drop-shot.
Meyer shared his fall finesse setups from the rod, reel, and line, all the way down to the hooks and baits he uses and, most importantly, why each makes a difference.
Neko and Wacky Rigs
These two techniques are pretty much the same, just insert a weight to a wacky rig and you have a Neko Rig. But, when and where Meyer fishes them is very different.
"The wacky rig works shallow everywhere in all seasons if the fish are there," said Meyer. "I fish it around laydowns, docks, and any shallow cover. The Neko is great in a little deeper water late fall and into winter and all the way to pre-spawn and then shuts off during the spawn. Then it's really good again in the post-spawn, but it's deadly in the middle of winter in places like Clear Lake and Shasta because it just generates bites."
For both ways to rig a bait, he likes to fish a rod he designed, a 7'4" Daiwa Tatula Elite Cody Meyer Versatile rod.
"It's a little longer than the standard seven-foot spinning rod and you can fish it out deep for spotted bass or for largemouth, whatever you are doing," he said. "It has a soft tip but plenty of backbone."
He pairs it with a 3000-sized Daiwa Spinning reel, everything from the Exist, Certate to the Tatula LT.
"I was always a 2500 guy and the 3000 sizes always seemed so big," he said. "Now, I like the bigger reels because they have a higher gear ratio."
He spools his reels with 10-pound Daiwa J-Braid in the chartreuse color and connects it to a leader of six to ten-pound Daiwa J-Fluoro Samurai fluorocarbon.
"I really like the chartreuse color for detecting bites," said Meyer. "It's rare that I go higher or lower with my leader."
For baits and hooks, he keeps it simple with a Yamamoto Senko or Kut Tail. He rigs it with an O-Rig for the Neko Rig and inserts a First Contact Tungsten nail weight and just hooks it through for the wacky rig.
"90-percent of the time, I'm using a Senko," said Meyer. "The other times, I'm using a Kut Tail. I use some sort of O-Ring for the Neko Rig but usually don't use it for the wacky rig. I know you lose some Senkos, but I've never liked the way the hook sits, and I think you lose some fish with it rigged that way."
When it comes to hooks, he uses several from Owner, either a Jungle Wacky Weedless Hook or Sniper Finesse Neko, both in size 2.
"I've been fishing a Neko Rig since 2004, so I've had a lot of times perfecting it," he said. "I started off using a small Mosquito hook, which still works, but the Jungle hook is weedless and great for reducing snags. I like the Sniper hook for open water because it is a straight shank and will hook fish better at times."
Drop-Shotting
For drop-shot fishing, Meyer utilizes just about all of the same setup as he does for the Neko and Wacky Rig. His reel and line selection are identical, but he changes rods.
"I use a Tatula Elite 7' medium-light Cody Meyer drop-shot rod which some guys say feels really light," he said. "I like a lighter rod because you don't lose as many fish, which is obviously a big deal. With light line and small hooks, it helps you land more fish, even if you just skin hook them."
Meyer will fish his drop-shot three ways during the fall. He'll nose hook it, Texas-rig it, and also fish it wacky-rigged on a drop-shot.
"I think the nose hook is your best way to get the most action since the hook does not restrict the bait," he said. "That's how I fish small baits like the Yamamoto Shad Shape worm. I'm always going to fish it that way if I can."
For fishing around cover, he goes with a Texas-rig in most instances.
"When I'm fishing around wood, rocks and stuff like that, I Texas-rig baits like the Daiwa Yamamoto Neko Straight worms," he said. "I've gotten into those 5.8 and 6.8 baits because they have a thin profile and when you pause it, it shimmies down. It also works great when fished on a wacky rig on the drop-shot."
Daiwa pro Cody Meyer is on the shortlist of top finesse anglers in the world, and his setups for light line are dialed in after years of trial and error. For everything from drop-shot rigs to Neko and wacky rigs, he's put plenty of thought into finding the right gear to maximize his success on the water.
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