Team9nine

Yes, the Ned Rig is typically fished with an exposed jighead. However, it's not like we're flipping matted vegetation with it. It is used to fish sparse patches and edges of weedlines and weed clumps. Think old school Minnesota jig-worming. The 1/32-oz and 1/16-oz heads are so light that the bait never bogs down in the weeds, but instead settles lightly on top of any vegetation, where a slight snap or pull to free it from such will actually help trigger a bite many times. Also remember that Ned uses small #8 and #6 hooks much of the time, so there is very little hook exposed to snag. Where Ned fishes, most of that vegetation is coontail and cabbage, which are "crisper" type weeds and can easily be worked with an exposed jighead. Hope that answers your question. -T9

There are numerous bank fishing tourneys and clubs in my area. Very common around the large metropolitan areas such as Philadelphia, Washington DC, New York, and Chicago. They typically break down into two groups, one being carp only targeted events, and the other being "all species" bank angling. The carp only events tend to utilize the Euro style of carp angling to a large degree (buzzers, long rods with reels, specialized gear, etc,), and the bank angler clubs use the long fixed poles and floats like in the video. There is also some crossover between the two. Then there is the whole pay lake fishing atmosphere which is pretty big in the Southeast part of the US. I actually find that the degree of technology/precision used in these events matches or rivals that of bass angling. Rather interesting, whether you would ever fish that way or not. -T9

Here is what Ned has said about the mushroom head jig use in the Ned Rig: Just my opinion, but in shallow water (<10'), it does make a difference. Part of the Midwest Finesse concept is the "no feel" retrieve. Ball heads and aspirin heads of the same weight fall faster through the water than a mushroom head, and you will likely get snagged more often, and/or not be able to execute the swimming "no feel" retrieve to its optimum by using them instead. In deeper water, it probably doesn't matter near as much. From my own experience, it is best to at least use the exact product recommendations initially (Z-Man baits, Gopher mushroom head, small hooks, line, etc.), and then use them as the baseline to compare and try other options and setups. To not do so means you haven't properly attempted to learn/duplicate the technique. -T9

Thanks for the heads up, tcbass. Gonna' give 'em a try. Just picked up 3 at that price with the free shipping, though they did add an $8 surcharge to each rod due to length. Have some old (20+ years) rods that have served me well, but that I think it's finally time to try and replace. Hopefully these will serve the purpose, and I'll like them as much as you do. -T9

What they said ^^^ I make a lot of trips throughout the year where I just don't feel like, or have the time to, take the boat. When I do, I pretty much tie one bait on and throw a few others in an old lure box along with a pair of snips, and put it all in my pocket and go. Only one rod and reel, too. For me, bank fishing is all about ease of mobility. Any more tackle than the above hinders that. -T9

Best thing you could do right now if you haven't before is to drive out to Raccoon and walk the banks, taking pictures and notes. The lake is down 20' or more for winter, and all the exposed stumps, laydowns, points and rock banks are easily seen. A great chance to learn a bit about what is under the water in the areas of the lake you'd like to fish. -T9

Another vote for sub 12," regardless of what the lake or state limit might be. That said, I don't complain about catching "dinks," because without them, you'd never catch big fish. Everybody's personal best bass lived life as a "dink" at some point -T9

Mostly 8# fluorocarbon, usually InvisX, unless I'm around heavier cover (usually not). Did play around this weekend with braid using a fluoro leader while jerkbaiting - worked better than I expected, but need to test a lot more before I would consider switching from fluoro. -T9

Everything just depends. I have a good friend on one of the pro Tours who will flat tell you the differences between various high dollar baits (which ones "work" and which ones "suck"), as well as low cost ones. There's good and bad in both categories. Do you or I need to worry about why he says one $20 bait is good and another similarly priced bait is junk? Only you can make that call. Similarly, and has been mentioned, while a lot of baits might look similar on the outside (high vs. low/knock-off), it is components and internal quality that is often the difference maker. Another friend of mine was a custom crankbait maker who used to take great pride in taking his giant sanding belt to off-the-shelf baits, including things like LuckyCraft, etc, as well as the cheaper knock-offs. He'd be the first to tell you that there is a reason why most of the cheap knock-offs are priced the way they are. Oftentimes, very obvious when you have two baits sliced in half sitting next to each other to compare. Again, you just have to decide for yourself what is or is not worth your time and money. That decision will be different for all of us. Personally, I have no problem spending money on solid baits that I know work well and catch fish. Earlier this week I just dropped $100 on 4 more Megabass 110s because I love the way they perform (and look). But they'll be sitting in my jerkbait box next to some old suspending Rogues and some newer RC STX baits that have also caught me plenty of fish. -T9

^^ We have a winner ^^ If your weed guards fall out before your jig skirt isn't totally trashed or your hook ends up breaking from too many fish, you have the wrong jig. Thinning certain weedguards is a good tip, but be careful with trimming. The shorter you trim the guard, the stiffer the remaining fibers get (oops; C&G beat me by 2 mins. on this one). About all I do any more is lightly trim the squared off top/end (if there is one). I'd rather thin than shorten. -T9

Seems like using enamel just so it will more likely peel off would be a huge waste of time compared to just not painting them in the first place. The day the bass get so smart in my waters that they'll only hit jigs with certain colored paint designs on their head is the day I'll stop throwing jigs -T9

You really don't hear that many complaints about mono, hybrid/copoly or braid on these boards. But if you've spent any time hanging out in this section of the forums, you sure as heck have heard all the complaints and gripes about fluorocarbon. Of all the possible line options, it is probably the one that you really need to splurge a bit on to at least say you've tried one of the best out there before totally discounting it and not using it. At that price, for what many consider to be one of the top fluoro lines on the market, you can't go wrong, IMO. Plus, being 200 yd spools, you'll get you 2 spool fill-ups for that price -T9

Joe's Magic Shad has always produced best for me, but I also like Table Rock Shad a bunch. -T9

The initial hit is one heck of a 'pop' on the line, yet there is about a 3-4 second period where you're not certain exactly what you've hooked, and the fish doesn't even realize he's hooked - then all hell breaks loose once he takes off on his first drag sizzling run. If the hooks hold on that run and you can get him stopped, you usually end up landing them as long as you take your time. The only thing similar I've caught before is large carp. Once you've whipped a couple of these guys, largemouth are rather anticlimatic -T9

Thanks for the heads up RW! Just picked up 3 spools at that price. I'm used to paying $35+ for only 164 yds. of TORAY, so that's a steal (relatively speaking - LOL). Can't wait to try it. Heard nothing but good about it. -T9

Wipers are a blast. You are lucky to have such a prolific wiper fishery near you, Bluebasser86. Here in Indiana, they used to stock them pretty regularly in our flood control reservoirs, and the populations on some lakes got pretty good. However, about 10 or 12 years ago, they found out that hybrids can backcross with white bass, so the state stopped stocking them in all waters that held any naturally occurring whites. Only a couple waters left that they continue to stock, and all more than a 90 minute drive or greater. You still get a few big ones every now and then from those waters though. I've only caught four this year, but they were all double digit fish, the largest at just under 15 pounds. A private lake near me just stocked another 1,000 this year, so hoping that they grow big and fat over the next few years, though it will never be anything like what you guys are experiencing right now.

This one is easy Florida is the best, and Indiana is the worst. OK, so it's not quite that easy, and obviously this is a pretty subjective subject, as every state has its share of good waters and bad. However, I did run an analysis a couple years back where I tried to determine this exact thing. It's not perfect, but it at least puts some factual numbers out there for discussion. What I did was use the FLW Outdoors BFL divisions from across the country to help eliminate variability and be able to compare "apples to apples" as best I could. One organization with 24 tournament divisions all being run under the same set of rules. I used the full field from each of the first 4 events (excluded the Super Tournament since it was a 2-day event with a cut that eliminated much of the field of anglers), and then calculated the percent of each field that weighed in a 5-fish limit for that event. Did that for all 4 events, then average across those events to get a ranking of the overall "best" fishing waters (by state), and the worst. Here is how they all shook out when done. Just for kicks, I even went so far as to compare the percentage of the field in the Elite Series events (same year) over the first two days (previous to any cuts). I figured if they were Elites, they should have better percentages overall than the lower BFL divisions. Sure enough, they topped all BFL divisions pretty easily. You could argue that they should though, because they intentionally try and put them on the best waters at the best times. Again, not a perfect way to compare, but a fun set of numbers to play with and argue over - LOL. -T9

Contacted Terry over at BFA and they're going to dig into it and see what the oldest reference of "power fishing" in an article they can find is. Terry was thinking late 90s. Looks like it either developed with KVD in the East, or with the one ton jig in the West. Your timing seems to be very close. Curious to see what BFA comes up with... -T9

So "murky" is clearer than "stained" and one step below "clear" itself??? I'm not buying it And Hootie, throw a decent sized willow blade in the mud and hold on. They'll hit it at times. Those fish don't sit down there analyzing, and let a passing spinnerbait go by, just because it has the "wrong" blade configuration according to some. I've seen it work first hand in the Ohio R. tributaries, which is about as muddy as we get here in Indiana. Then again, maybe our bass are just dumber than everybody else's -T9

Something in the chub family, or related minnow species. -T9

As Megastink mentioned, we can argue all day about what is or isn't considered "power fishing" and how long it has been practiced, but in regards to the term itself, the earliest article/story I've been able to find which used the term as applied to bass fishing and bass pros dates back to very early 2001. Would be curious to see if anyone can document its use previous to that in any similar story, article, book, etc. -T9

Yep - While any Senko-like bait will work, the Z-Man is better from a price and efficiency standpoint. My average when I tested them was 64 bass per Z-Man bait (includes both worm and Senko styled baits). The Strike King Ocho is made by Z-Man also, so that would work fine, too. As for heads, mushroom heads really do seem to work better with this presentation versus other styles, unless you're trying to fish deep, but the original intent was as a shallow water presentation. Might be able to get away with a swimming head of some sort - haven't tried. -T9

No, but I do think it's a pretty big stretch to assume the many posting members here will somehow definitively answer the question before this forum discussion ends -T9

I've used it rather extensively for bass the past couple years and it works as well as Ned says. I've also proven to myself that the ZinkerZ he recommends (or the SK Zero...same bait) is the best way to go, though other baits will work fine, also. Just not as efficient IMO. I use the Gopher heads with them (makes a difference vs. regular jighead), but am wanting to try the new heads from Z-Man designed for the technique. -T9

I use the features in a lake or reservoir (structure, breaks, breaklines, deep water, etc.) as my basic guide to where the majority of the fish might be found. Mapping of these features comes first (maps, sonar, etc.), because once you have them mapped down, they rarely change much, and then interpretation of water and conditions. These are the key starting points in my mind. These features are used at all times, regardless of the weather, season, lake type, or mood of the fish. Beyond that, you then simply use your 'tools' (lures or bait) to eliminate water and arrive at the fish. It's a pretty straight-forward process the majority of the time once you understand it. As for O2, it's fun to use an oxygen meter at times to correlate with thermoclines, which tends to be pretty strong on many of my waters. But once you've understood that, your depthfinder can give you the same basic information most times. O2 itself is rarely a limiting factor on most waters, and then usually only seasonally. -T9