So not to hijack the Pro Ned Rig topic.

 

I was all in for 4 or 5 years on the Ned rig, tossed that the most by far, but last year I barely threw it, because I always found more traditional plastics to put more fish in the boat or along the bank. Is the rig being over fished and the fish have wised up, or is it not as effective as we thought?

 

As far as the Z man stuff goes I am on the fence of what I do with my back stock. I may use it again, but just hate that it can't be mixed with other stuff. Sell or trade value is low so I will hold on to it and slowly use it over time.

 

Am I the only one seeing this trend on their local waters?

Before I ever heard of a Ned Rig I was fishing one  but only in rivers for smallmouths . Now that the river has lost its smallmouth population , I dont throw them . In the lakes I fish , its just not a technique that I employ . I'm not a finesse guy .

The Ned Rig for me is like any other presentation - situation specific.

Often thought of as attracting bites from smaller fish, and there may be some truth to that,

it's not always the case. 

The bait shines for me in the flattest (often the toughest) conditions.

And with results like this, in these situations, I'll always have one rigged on deck.

A-Jay

I bring a rod rigged with a ned every trip I take. Most of the lakes and rivers around my area are very pressured. It's nice having something that I have a chance of catching something when nothing else works.

I only really use the Ned in the creek I kayak fish.

Never used it and never felt that I was missing out on something by not doing so. 
 

 

 

 

Mike
 

It's not a preferred method for what I'm doing this time of year but don't see myself abandoning the Ned for what it does when I do throw it.

I don't know if it's overfished, I would put it in the same category as the Senko-it works great for newer fishermen.  That's why it gets so much internet love.

I'll always have a Ned rod in the boat, its a good fit for the types of lakes I fish. That being said, its usually a last resort technique for me. If I can't catch fish on a ned rig, I go home.

I landed a few hundred fish on it last year.  I have fished a similar rig though for 20 some years...a ball head jig and a grub.  To me the ned rig wasn't all that different.

A ned style with a crawdad or hellgramite plastic will be with me for life! I never had any trouble catching creek and river Smallies on 6" lizards but the ned increased the numbers and I still catch the biggest fish in the waters as before. I have probably 10 packs of trd's but can't get away from the CrawZ and hellgramite styles. I don't get to lakes often but last year when I did the deadly Nedly caught there as well. So to answer your subject post... Not I sir

Apparently everyone gets likes today:)

 

I also mostly fished the Ned on a local river, but found it effective on lakes when the wind didn't push the bait off target, had to go to a heavier head at that point and fish it as a jigworm.  I do always have one rigged in my box, it just rarely got the water time last year.

 

I wonder if it is human nature to, at least for me. I have caught a ton of brown bass on a small yum crawbug and have a deep 3700 box half full of them. Most times it was on a slider, sometimes on a jig head. I haven't thrown that for a few years now either. The Rage Menace and Baby Menace are my magic baits now. Thankfully I don't go through marriages like I do baits.

 

It sucks too cause about the time the Ned fell out of my rotation I had bought a couple hundred Producto tourney grubs for Ned rigging that are just sitting in a box right now. Maybe this year should be the year I bring the Ned and the Crawbug back. I was smart and asked for and got the 2/0 hooked sliders that fit the crawbug for christmas. On some levels it goes to show that a lot of baits will catch em, sometimes I think we make it harder than it is;)

 

Like many most of my early bass fishing was what one would call midwest finesse, Ned rigging, etc. The only thing I really never have tried is the true slider retrieve just steadily pulling the bait back. Love the heads, just never tried the technique.

 

Too much time to think nowadays, gets me into trouble;)

3 minutes ago, Smells like fish said:

A ned style with a crawdad or hellgramite plastic will be with me for life! I never had any trouble catching creek and river Smallies on 6" lizards but the ned increased the numbers and I still catch the biggest fish in the waters as before. I have probably 10 packs of trd's but can't get away from the CrawZ and hellgramite styles. I don't get to lakes often but last year when I did the deadly Nedly caught there as well. So to answer your subject post... Not I sir

The Ned definitely catches the big girls. My PB smallie came on the Ned. To be fair I lost a giant at the net on a RES, but biggest landed goes to the Ned. A 20.5" on a river system where a 16 to 17" fish is big. Never understood the small bait small fish thing. I guess living in WI though are bass are pretty small compared to out west and down south.

11 minutes ago, cgolf said:

Apparently everyone gets likes today:)

 

I also mostly fished the Ned on a local river, but found it effective on lakes when the wind didn't push the bait off target, had to go to a heavier head at that point and fish it as a jigworm.  I do always have one rigged in my box, it just rarely got the water time last year.

 

I wonder if it is human nature to, at least for me. I have caught a ton of brown bass on a small yum crawbug and have a deep 3700 box half full of them. Most times it was on a slider, sometimes on a jig head. I haven't thrown that for a few years now either. The Rage Menace and Baby Menace are my magic baits now. Thankfully I don't go through marriages like I do baits.

 

It sucks too cause about the time the Ned fell out of my rotation I had bought a couple hundred Producto tourney grubs for Ned rigging that are just sitting in a box right now. Maybe this year should be the year I bring the Ned and the Crawbug back. I was smart and asked for and got the 2/0 hooked sliders that fit the crawbug for christmas. On some levels it goes to show that a lot of baits will catch em, sometimes I think we make it harder than it is;)

 

Like many most of my early bass fishing was what one would call midwest finesse, Ned rigging, etc. The only thing I really never have tried is the true slider retrieve just steadily pulling the bait back. Love the heads, just never tried the technique.

 

Too much time to think nowadays, gets me into trouble;)

The Ned definitely catches the big girls. My PB smallie came on the Ned. To be fair I lost a giant at the net on a RES, but biggest landed goes to the Ned. A 20.5" on a river system where a 16 to 17" fish is big. Never understood the small bait small fish thing. I guess living in WI though are bass are pretty small compared to out west and down south.

Awesome fish! I fish similar water and pb's of 19" and 20" for me. Creeks are great though are they not? Was you using the red eye shad in the creek or a lake? If you haven't already tried them look at the FYAO DevilBug and the Tackle HD Hellgramite. They give lots of action to the ned compared to the do nothing trd 

Still quite heavy in my rotation through last year (going on close to 10 years now). Still works great on most waters I fish, especially smaller ones. Not seeing any big drop off from pressure, but I attribute a bunch of that to most people not fishing it "correctly"    

I always have one on deck, but it usually the bait of last resort.  it catches fish and sometimes it is the only way in very calm conditions......It just isn't as fun for me

31 minutes ago, Smells like fish said:

Awesome fish! I fish similar water and pb's of 19" and 20" for me. Creeks are great though are they not? Was you using the red eye shad in the creek or a lake? If you haven't already tried them look at the FYAO DevilBug and the Tackle HD Hellgramite. They give lots of action to the ned compared to the do nothing trd 

The big girl was on a large lake in N WI. I swear the mouth was a beer can and a half wide and she was heavy and long. guessing she was a solid 22"+ fish. Problem was just as her mouth hit the top of the water and the net was just underneath, the bait popped out. Guessing a slight flinch with the net and she was gone. Serious heartbreak on that one.

I have given the Ned more than its fair shake and will continue to use it from time to time...but for me a shaky head, senko and even a Texas rigged finesse worm have far outfished a Ned rig. 

This is a bass fishing forum.  If you guys are going to discuss artificials for panfish, there's an other species subforum here as well.

I bought TRD plastics, and shroom heads probably 5 yrs ago. I've still got 3 or 4 bags of TRDs and heads left. One spring morning I caught 14 bass on the 1/20 oz head and orange TRD. I kept trying it, but as the weeds and moss became thicker, it wasn't working nearly as well. I switched to a light T rig, and kept catching bass through the summer. I may give it a shot this year. I don't think it will lose popularity, or that the bass have seen it too much. It still works for many folks. All the fish I caught were smaller, around 12- 14" inches.

Just now, Mobasser said:

I bought TRD plastics, and shroom heads probably 5 yrs ago. I've still got 3 or 4 bags of TRDs and heads left. One spring morning I caught 14 bass on the 1/20 oz head and orange TRD. I kept trying it, but as the weeds and moss became thicker, it wasn't working nearly as well. I switched to a light T rig, and kept catching bass through the summer. I may give it a shot this year. I don't think it will lose popularity, or that the bass have seen it too much. It still works for many folks. All the fish I caught were smaller, around 12- 14" inches.

I have used the TRD's and half Zinkerz with the 2/0 slider spider head and had pretty good luck. I called it the Sled rig.

7 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

 . I kept trying it, but as the weeds and moss became thicker, it wasn't working nearly as well. I switched to a light T rig, and kept catching bass through the summer.  

 Thats me .  I dont fish areas where I think they will work . I dont want to throw it in weeds , or brush or a stump filled point . The places I fish I dont feel are suitable for it .  

1 minute ago, scaleface said:

 Thats me .  I dont fish areas where I think they will work . I dont want to throw it in weeds , or brush or a stump filled point . The places I fish I dont feel are suitable for it .  

I have too much milfoil, and some chara also. I can fish a t rig through and around this stuff, so it works much better for me also

For those of you saying you can’t fish it around weeds why don’t you try it weedless? I use the owner ultra finesse ball head for weedless applications and it works great. 

A TRD is always rigged up for me.  Depending on conditions, there are times when other baits will outfish it.  Over the long haul however, it is no contest.   The Ned Rig is king on my lake.

 

Last week, I had a Covid-19 inspired guy pull in front of me as I was coming out of a cove.  I have never seen him on the lake before.  Rather than say anything, I just followed behind him for about 200 yards.  Whatever he was throwing didn't produce a bite, while the TRD I was throwing behind him caught 6 bass.  Probably the most enjoyable part of that trip.

I fish smallies in a river and for the 2017 and 2018 seasons I couldn't catch a fish on a Ned rig. Last year I made a more conscious effort to fish only a Ned rig on most outings and started catching fish. I just bought more heads and plastics to use for Ned rigs this season so my Ned rig usage is going up not down.

I have quit using the ned rig. I used to fish it in a creek but I never caught anything with it. I got frustrated by getting hung up and losing the bait every time I used it. I would much rather throw a shaky head or small Texas rigged soft plastic.