I really only got serious about smallmouth fishing over the last year, and started learning to use lures last summer.
 

Up until very recently, I almost exclusively threw moving baits. Specifically, paddle tails and whopper ploppers. I had seen and heard all of the incessant hype about the Ned but it just always seemed so slow and boring to me, I could not abandon my comfort zone and the action involved in cast and retrieve lures covering as much water as possible as I floated downstream. 
 

I finally committed myself to mastering the Ned rig, and holy smokes! I am consistently catching trophy fish now.  Before I did well, got numbers and an occasional 18-19 on the whopper plopper.  Now I can reliably get at least one 18+ every trip.
 

It probably helps that I’ve patterned them and learned quite a bit about their habits and seasonal behavior, but it was incredible to me how there were so many giant fish right under my nose that I had floated over dozens of times, simply too lethargic or big and wise to chase a moving bait.  What was your initial experience like with discovering the power of this presentation?

 

Absolutely it did

 

I don't use the ned much while fishing in the river.  But I will comment on my first experience using it in a lake for both largemouth and smallmouth.

 

I was skeptical too at first but it caught a lot of fish the first year I used it regularly.  Some big, some small.  Ok, mostly small.  But a few sizable fish.

 

The fish wised up to it though, just like any other over fished lure.  So now I don't use it nearly as much.

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

I don't use the ned much while fishing in the river.  But I will comment on my first experience using it in a lake for both largemouth and smallmouth.

 

I was skeptical too at first but it caught a lot of fish the first year I used it regularly.  Some big, some small.  Ok, mostly small.  But a few sizable fish.

 

The fish wised up to it though, just like any other over fished lure.  So now I don't use it nearly as much.

What is your go to for river smallies?

Caffeine Shads

Tubes

Wacky Worms

VMC Rugby head + Hula Grub

Hair Jigs

29 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

What is your go to for river smallies?

A storm subwart.  Its a discontinued lure and the closest resemblance I have found is the Bass Pro XPS Super Shallow Crank.

 

When they miss that (which happens fairly often), I pitch right back in with a plastic.  Usually a tube, but sometimes a ned or a wacky.  My last outing which was about 8 days ago, this 1-2 punch caught all 15 fish.  I didn't get anything real big.  17 inches was my biggest that day.

 

I have been river fishing for smallmouth for almost 20 years in this specific river.  My PB out there is 20.5 inches that weighed about 5 1/2 pounds.  Both my Brother and Father have 21 inch replicas from fish they have caught on this river.

No

3 minutes ago, Columbia Craw said:

No

^ because I don't have smallmouth where I live, or many

11 hours ago, gimruis said:

Ok, mostly small. 

 

No, I don't fish the Ned rig.

52 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

 

No, I don't fish the Ned rig.

Me neither 

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Me neither 

Too slow/boring?

3 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

 

No, I don't fish the Ned rig.

Why?

I've fished it before and it catches fish but I've always avoided it in the river. Mainly because my shallow river is rocky and fast and they just get hung up every other cast. I also really, really, don't like spinning gear because my accuracy is terrible. 

No, I don't fish the Ned rig.

Why?

 

Hangs up too easily and only attracts small fish.

For years and years my go to bait river fishing smallmouth was a curl tail grub on a ball headed jig.  It caught literally thousands of fish. As with most lures, we get drawn away by the latest and greatest just for something different.  I would hazard a guess that I have progressed through probably 20-30 new baits with the Ned being one of them.  

Not just river anglers, I have been doing very will with it in on lakes.  For those that say it catches small fish, it does but the amount of 2-5lbers I have caught the last 2 years is impressive.  Sure, if I throw a Football jig with a large trailer, I'm almost guaranteed that the fish I catch will be larger than 2lbs but hour for hour, I don't know that I would do any better with one or the other on size.  The Ned however, keeps me busier.

16 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

For years and years my go to bait river fishing smallmouth was a curl tail grub on a ball headed jig.  It caught literally thousands of fish. As with most lures, we get drawn away by the latest and greatest just for something different.  I would hazard a guess that I have progressed through probably 20-30 new baits with the Ned being one of them.  

Can catch nearly anything in N America with those small ball jigs + grubs.

1 hour ago, Ohioguy25 said:

Too slow/boring?

Why?

Overpriced and always stuck on a rock 

 

not at all too slow or boring, dragging worms on bottom is my jam 

Yes but it also opened my eyes to how many snags I come across fishing the thing lol. 

When the Ned Rig became popular I was one of the people who couldn’t catch a cold with the darn thing! Now for the past two seasons I rarely throw anything else for river smallmouth. 
 

I haven’t noticed an increase in the size of the fish but for sheer numbers it’s hard to beat!

41 minutes ago, Steveo-1969 said:

When the Ned Rig became popular I was one of the people who couldn’t catch a cold with the darn thing! Now for the past two seasons I rarely throw anything else for river smallmouth. 
 

I haven’t noticed an increase in the size of the fish but for sheer numbers it’s hard to beat!

I get way more size. The biggest fish are usually the least active in summer. I find them laying dormant on the bottom.

2 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

 The biggest fish are usually the least active in summer.

I’ve never encountered that. Warmer water= increased metabolism 

Nerd rig!  I've tried and have caught a few fish on a Ned, but just can't get myself to commit to it.  I like covering water and finding active fish, so it's mostly top water and jerk baits for me.  Although I've decided to give wacky rigs a try for tomorrow, we'll see how that goes.

I have to say "No." also...

Because I was already finesse fishing with a Slider. The two techniques are similar.

I like the Ned rig and make my own heads and worms.

It's a fish catcher for sure.

 

47 minutes ago, Ohioguy25 said:

I get way more size. The biggest fish are usually the least active in summer. I find them laying dormant on the bottom.

I think its probably because its something new they haven't seen yet.  Give it some time and they'll figure it out.

 

Here is my PB river brownie I mentioned earlier.  I had to dig around for the photo.  Its from 2014.

Well, it used to be my go to secret weapon. Like 5, 6 years ago, when not many knew about the Ned rig, it works like magic. No matter the smallies were active or not, it would pull fish out of holes that no other lures could, big and small.  If some of my friends were new to fishing, I'd tie on a Ned rig for them, and watch them catching their first smallie in minutes. 

 

But nowadays, it has become the No.1 most popular lure here. Everyone is using it, especially newbies. At my local BPS, the Ned rig stuff were placed at the entrance, the most obvious shelves. You almost can't find one angler who hasn't used it. So inevitably, it becomes less and less effective. Now I mostly used finesse jigs for tough situations, not Ned rigs anymore.