ChrisD46

What is your favorite way to fish a Ned Rig ? ... Do you fish it on the bottom like a shakey head by dragging or hopping it ? ... Or do you swim it ? ... Another method ? ... Thanks in advance !

Quick Drop makes a quality DS weight - what do readers think about tungsten DS weights which seem to be on the rise in popularity ?

Valid , practical replies Tom & Dink - just what I'm looking for ! I'm would be more in the camp of the "cast and retrieve" drop shot approach blind casting in shallower water less than 15 foot deep ...

Siebert Outdoors newer designed football jigs (also a sponsor) - once you try there is little reason to use anything else !

Good points Tom ! ... Just trying to stimulate conversation for cold water bass fishing - as always , keep your comments coming !

Only just a few years ago it seems the norm was to throw lighter drop shot weights (down in the 1/16th oz. , 3/32nd oz. & 1/8th oz. range) for various small worms and shad type soft plastics . Now I see the trend is to often use heavier drop shot weights of 3/16th oz. , 1/4 oz. , 3/8th oz. and above with the same baits - even in shallower water . I'm not sure I understand the theory behind the move to heavier drop shot weights - unless we are talking deeper water tactics ? Is it a case of absolutely making sure that drop shot weight does NOT come up off of the bottom while working a drop shot soft plastic ? Previously you would see guys using the lighter 1/8th oz. drop shot weights and it would be ok to more often come up off the bottom a bit as they are working the drop shot baits . *With the above said , what determines the drop shot weight you use with soft plastics (outside of water depth) ? Is it just enough drop shot weight to work a drop shot bait without the weight coming up off the bottom OR are you in the newer camp of: "I want that drop shot weight more firmly planted on the bottom while working a drop shot bait" thus moving to the heavier drop shot weights of 1/4th oz. and above ? Lastly , if you have moved to heavier drop shot weights in general - have you noticed any difference in hook up percentage ? ... Thanks in advance !

As the title states - today (Dec. 21st.) is the first day of Winter ... *What are your favorite Winter baits you will be throwing this year ?

I should have refined my post to say water above 50° degrees is Winter here in Georgia , certainly above the Mason Dixon line is another story as smalljaw67 was nice enough to point out .

Good suggestions Flatcreek ! ... A ball head jig , under spin and probably even a scrounger near the bottom could prove deadly !

You hear a lot about fishing hard bodied jerk baits in the winter (or cold water conditions ) - but what about a soft plastic jerk bait such as a Zoom Super Fluke (or similar) ? The disadvantage of the soft plastic jerk bait is it won't suspend like a hard bodied jerk bait and it contains no rattles for attracting bass . However , you can kill a soft plastic jerk bait and let it spiral down through the water column like a dying shad which a hard bodied jerk bait can't duplicate ... So , for you soft plastic jerk bait lovers - do you put your super flukes , etc. away for the winter or continue fishing them (perhaps just more slowly) ?

+1 ... Watch the C-XX line diameters - Big Game Mono readily available , great value with very good performance .

+1 , a 1/4th oz. football jig is a little light - go with 3/8th or 1/2 oz. models instead to better maintain bottom contact .

Mike = #awesomesponsor !!

Adding Zoom Magnum Finesse Worm too - very good also !

Pitching into grass or weeds = straight braid . Everything else = braid + leader.

Color suggestions above are good - for Fall it's all about the shad bite so go with white and I suggest Zoom The Fluke (regular or Super Fluke Jr. ) in Pearl or Albino colors . I believe a boot tail trailer competes with the action of the chatterbait too much , so I tend to stay away from those .

About as good as it gets - a true main stay ...

Worth while advice ...

The last 3 months at the assisted living facility (Pleasant Meadows ) I have made great progress where I have under gone intensive one-on-one and group therapy sessions daily which has worked wonders warding off the bait monkey ... Unbeknownst to me involved a final test celebration cake and buried inside were a burner phone , a catalog of new arrivals from TW and a 15% off coupon ... In less than 10 minutes I racked up over $1,400 with TW and that was just for soft plastics !! ... I have now been transferred to: Secondary Point Maximum Security Prison for repeat bait monkey offenders where I have been given a six month sentence to think about my transgressions - the bait monkey continues to be crafty and oh so powerful !!

Lots of good answers here , whether you call it a nail rig or Neko rig - the absolute best I have found is a Zoom Magnum Finesse Worm in Watermelon Candy color , VMC 1/0 Neko hook and a VMC 1/16th oz. VMC Half Moon Wacky Weight , #8 lb. FC leader , #15 lb. braid main line ... I would enter this set up on: "Dancing With The Stars" !

Thanks - bills are all pushed forward but still a little off ... No worries now - if they don't fish right I will try Tom "The Spoon Man" idea which should get them right ... Note to self : Buy the TN. Trembler jig head and I won't have to make a post like this .

Thanks Tom & A-Jay ... Good Advice - love the history stories too Tom !! For these 1/4th oz. scroungers I plan to use them with Zoom "The Fluke" trailer with a 6:3:1 bait cast reel , 6"10" spinner bait rod and #12 LB. FC . *To your technique point A-Jay , those with experience say "low & slow" yet you see ads with Rick Clunn showing scroungers run fast in higher water columns ? To each their own I suppose - see what works . **Lastly , my next purchase will be the Tennessee River Tremor Head - the experts must use them for a reason and the company put a lot of thought into what they are doing versus just buying the rights to something to produce without the expertise to back it up ...

For A-Jay and others with scrounger experience : Out of the box the sroungers I purchaced (Medium & Long Bill Luck-E-Strike) had the bills slightly off center, so I carefully bent the clear plastic bills back to 12 o'clock perfectly in line with the hook . *Upon examination I noticed the "u shape" cup is not uniform in that one side protrudes slightly forward towards the jig head versus the other side of the bill cup which is slightly recessed back . Will this slightly non-uniform cup affect the action / retrieve of the crounger - even if the bill itself is lined up perfect at 12 o'clock ? I was thinking to try and heat up the bill by dipping it in hot water for 20 seconds and then see if I can work the one side the bill with my fingers to create a more uniform cup then see if it will cool in place . Then again for all I know - perhaps the bill cup is not supposed to be perfectly uniform ? ... Thank you in advance for replies scrounger experts !!

Thanks for the reply - after much reading to try and answer my own question I am going to focus on just two scrounger sizes : The 1/4 oz. in medium and long bill length and maybe the 3/8th oz. long bill if windy , trouble keeping 1/4th oz. down or it washes out . The medium bill 1/4th oz. will be used like a lipless crank bait with a Zoom Fluke 4" and the long bill 1/4th oz. will be used very slow on the bottom with the same Zoom Fluke . I might try a Berkley 4" Power Minnow as it is very close to a Zoom Fluke in size . *My reading has indicated that the weight of the scrounger chosen and the shape / length of the soft plastic trailer need to be matched carefully along with retrieve speed or else the action suffers greatly (Smalljaw 67 indicated exactly the same thing as well) . Nothing against the LFLMS but A-Mart is such a freak in the way he studies the scrounger jig / trailer relationship , I believe it wise to start with what he recommends and that is the Zoom 'The Fluke" in Pearl White or Albino at 3/16th to 1/4th oz. scrounger size. Lastly , I'm targeting spotted bass in a reservoir that favor shad and in the Fall the shad tend to be smaller thus an over all smaller profile would appear the smart move (i.e. match the hatch) .

I'm new to scrounger fishing for bass - it looks like the long bill length version is most popular followed by the medium length bill version . I understand the long bill version is best for a slow , bottom retrieve while the medium length bill version could work at various water column depths . I plan to throw the scrounger shallow (most bass I target are in 12 ft. or less water depth) and believe the 1/4oz. or possibly a 3/8th oz. will work best with THE one bait I want to throw it on : Zoom "The Fluke" 4 inch minnow . * Please comment on the above proposed weights , as well as , any advise tactics between the long length bill and medium length bill versions using the Zoom Fluke . Thanks in advance !