The secret is finally out, Kyoya Fujita is using a technique known as Hover Strolling to catch his fish this week. This is an extremely finesse tactic using a soft plastic jerkbait or forked tail swimbait to offer a horizontal presentation to suspended fish. Fujita is able to couple this technique with his forward-facing sonar to actively stalk bass and snipe them.
There are a few different ways to rig a bait for Hover Strolling. The basic method uses a hook with a 90-degree bend that turns the hook eye straight up and away from the hook shaft. Taking the hook in one hand and the soft plastic jerkbait in the other, you insert the hook point into the top of the soft plastic, about a half inch behind the nose, depending on the size of the bait. Thread the bait up onto the hook, bringing the point back out of the back of the bait with the goal of having a straight bait in the end with a line tie eye coming straight up out of the head of the bait.
Then take a Neko weight and put it in the nose of the soft plastic. Now you have a balanced lure that can be reeled horizontally throw the water column, much slower and stealthier than other tactics, like a swimbait on a jighead for example.
