frogflogger

I like to use those clear plastic screw on nose cones for skinny dippers and stuff of that sort - they don't add appreciable weight and keep the bait on the hook. I wish I could remember who makes them.

I fish jigs from 1/32nd oz. to 1 1/2oz. hair, plastic, rubber, adorned with everything from grubs, craws, creatures, swimbaits, etc. - you can fish a jig anywhere with some sensible adaptations.

Ned didn't name the rig.

fish arrow jack - good bait

The 1/16 oz. mushroom head with a cut off zman finesse worm (3") is very effective for river smallmouth as is the t.r.d. and the scented leechz. We fished spinners and rapalas against the rig and the rig won by a 12 to 1 margin.

Pieces of worm on a jighead have been around a long time - Chuck Woods' original beetle was cut from a plastic worm - the ned rig is a refinement - the mushroom head combined with the attributes of the elaztech products make for subtle yet very effective changes in the set up.

Don't over think this rig - just fish it -

Big topwater bait can sometimes get a bite in hard fished water - small finesse baits (ned rig - etc.) fished subtly - these are the two techniques that I try when the place has been pounded hard.

Doesn't matter about the lack of trout - might consider the weedless hudds in some of your lakes

tough fishing - ned rig - very tough fishing - dead stick a ned rig

I learned about it from snook fishermen in south Florida - they use it around bridges which is a tough proving ground. I find it to be the most abrasion resistant line I've experimented with - I just got a spool of 21 but haven't used it long enough to know if it is near as tough as the tritanium. You want a tough line tri is it.

We had 25'+ fluctuations in March - very confusing for me

It will catch bass - never saw a wart of any mfr. that doesn't catch fish.

Look up the ned rig - you can catch dozens and dozens of bass on one bait

Have a 250 that still casts a mile - as far as I can tell they never wear out with min. servicing - I do have big hands

The mushroom heads give a particular action that regular jig heads don't - I've tried quite a few different heads and the mushroom is the most effective for me - also - I've always liked to use bigger hooks on light jig heads for bass but with this rig the smaller hooks allow for a more seductive action. They still hook and land large bass and even if they take it deep it is usually easy to extract.

beetle spin will catch any game fish that swims - you'll be surprised how big bass will eat this little bait

You'll catch more fish

I agree - I've read in several articles and books that a certain percentage of a given bass population are never caught -

They've been indispensable for me in the windy midwest and Florida

Just keep on fishing - don't quit - don't get angry - just smile and go catch some bass

windy day - furbit - furbit - furbit any of the other frogs I've tried have worked well enough in fairly calm conditions - I do have a soft spot for snag proof in Tweety color. I had many clients catch their personal best on the furbit - expensive, fragile, needs tweaking and repairing often but an amazinly effective bait. Well worth the expense and hassle, nothing else really performs as it does. We've fished it from Florida to mid south highland resevoirs and northern natural lakes, if you have the patience you may well catch a big bass if you stick with it.

Terminator inline with a swimbait is a big bass bait that can be thrown anywhere you would a safety pin and it is very snag resistant.

Keep changing angles to you find the one that works for the situation.

Stick your head underwater and listen to a trolling motor operate - another is listen to a "silent" crankbait - a bagley balsa bait sounds like a mariachi band - we make a lot of noise - the bass hear it - really giant trophy bass (for a given area) are much more easily spooked by noise than the average bass, that said I like to be quiet - very quiet - But years of guiding taught me some folks are incapable of being quiet yet still catch some fish..