I picked fishing back up this summer after a 25 year hiatus.. had some pretty good success fishing familiar techniques from my youth, mainly Texas rigged stick baits. I picked up the Ned Rig about 2 months ago and have been on a major tear, catching fish constantly(I found an amazing spot). I’ve enjoyed a very high hookup ratio but for every 10-20 fish I catch I lose a rig, so I bought a pack of inexpensive heads and my hookup ratio dropped a lot. I went back to my Zman heads but my ratio is still 50% or less. I’m not sure if I forgot how to set the hook or maybe the fish just aren’t committing to the bite due to the cold.

 

Any tips to get my hookup ratio back to acceptable levels? I have already changed up baits a little (different colors,profiles) to see if I could get a more committed bite from the fish.

When fishing a Ned rig, I wait until I feel line pressure before I set the hook.  If I feel a strike and set the hook I miss a lot of fish.

Define your hook set technique.

1. Sharpen the hook using a diamond hook hone. Finesse jig hooks must be very sharp.

2. Don’t swing for the fences using light wire jig hooks. Simple reel and firm rod sweep works great. 

3. Make sure your drag is set at 1/3rd the mono/FC line strength; 6 lb test set at 2 lbs.

 

Tom

The fish may be on to a different pattern than they were previously. They may be feeding differently too.

If you're going to the same spot repeatedly and using the same bait and colors every time, maybe they're becoming conditioned to it and not eating it well. It might take a very small tweak in color or bait profile to get them eating it well again. 

If the bass bit your lure it’s in it’s mouth they don’t have hands! Dull hooks from use or your hook set technique is my  thought and “sticking” to it!

Tom

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

If you're going to the same spot repeatedly and using the same bait and colors every time, maybe they're becoming conditioned to it and not eating it well. It might take a very small tweak in color or bait profile to get them eating it well again. 

One of the most overlooked “solutions”

to a lot of struggles on the water. 
 

It’s also one of the easiest to remedy.  
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

With that exposed hook, Ned rigs don't require much of a hookset.  Are you breaking your line?  Are the fish jumping and coming off?  Is it small fish just grabbing the tail?

Thanks for all the help everyone.. I had a good morning on the ned rig. I catch a lot of perch and bass with it so I think maybe my misses were mostly perch or non commited bass just bumping it. They were smacking it hard today and I was landing them. That all said most of the fish I’ve caught are in the same spot using an identical or very similar presentation so perhaps that’s why the bumps and not bites.