Introducing Fat Ika
Above all, the Fat Ika has a distinctive shape in two distinct parts, the body and the "skirt". The body is chunky and dense, enabling us to achieve very good casting distances, even weightless. The "skirt", which could be found on "tubes", is simply a row of very fine 360-degree appendages around one end of the lure. The Fat Ika measures 10 cm, weighs 14 grams and comes in 8 different colors. It's a type of lure that doesn't really make sense when it comes to rigging, as you can use the skirt as a head or tail, allowing you to practice some very special techniques.
Fat Ika assembly
The Fat Ika is a lure that can be used in a multitude of ways. The most popular is the reverse rig, which consists of fishing weightless on a Texas hook, with the skirt towards the hook ring. Once in the water, this rig sinks away from us thanks to its weight distribution. It's a formidable rig, offering the possibility of casting before an obstacle and letting the lure sink below, where the fish are usually found. This rig can also replace the action of a rubber jig, as the skirt closely resembles that of the latter.
For this type of rig, I recommend a 5/0 Texan hook, or a 4/0 if you wish to add a lead insert to further enhance the effect of the reverse rig. However, the Texan rig requires a very strong strike to ensure the lure glides over the hook. To overcome this problem, you can create a notch in the lure that will allow it to easily clear the hook point.
Other rigs include the Ned rig and the Neko rig for deeper fishing, or simply as a trailer for a jig. Drop-shot, Carolina and Texas rigs are also very effective for slowing down our fishing action or getting through a cover too thick for weightlessness.
When to use Fat Ika
The Fat Ika can be used in all seasons for black-bass fishing. However, it will particularly stand out in late winter and summer. During prespawn, fish gather in shallow areas that can be very crowded. This is when the Fat Ika is perfect, set up as a reverse rig, to reach the fish in ambush. In summer, it's the weedbeds that attract most of the fish, which can easily be fished with a texas rig or even a weightless rig if you're fishing for water lilies.
