So over the winter. I’ve been thinking about alternatives to show my bass something different this year. And I’ve been wondering does anyone throw a zoom fat Albert or the like on a Ned head?

( this thought was long before Hank cherry just won on a grub lol)

I’ve tried single tail grubs, twin tail grubs, hula grubs, sliders, swim baits and split tail trailers that I can think of. I have never found anything that is even close to the production that I get from a Zman TRD. The color definitely makes a difference much of the time. That is why I carry over 20 colors and often have as many as 5 setups rigged for Ned fishing.

I’ve never found the shape of a soft plastic to make much of a difference. But, what it’s made from does make a difference. Floating plastics when put on a light jig head, slows the fall which to me, makes it more of a trigger than a heavier, sinking plastic on an even a very light weight jig. That floating plastic will also cause the bait to stand up when sitting on the bottom, another trigger.

1 hour ago, Jig Man said:

I’ve tried single tail grubs, twin tail grubs, hula grubs, sliders, swim baits and split tail trailers that I can think of. I have never found anything that is even close to the production that I get from a Zman TRD. The color definitely makes a difference much of the time. That is why I carry over 20 colors and often have as many as 5 setups rigged for Ned fishing.

I got 2 packs of trd to try this year and a pack of jula sticks. I’ve used them in the past a few times. Man they produce so well you keep that many rigged up?

About 15 years ago (maybe 20?), well before we heard of the Ned Rig, my buddy and I were just SLAYING the fish on Kalin's grubs. I mean every other cast if not every cast. It was nuts.

Well, those grubs were losing their tails after so many fish, and pretty soon we had dead soldiers all over the floor of the boat. Grub bodies with missing tails.

We began to run low on grubs, so I thought "What the heck" and tried fishing just a grub body on a small jighead.

The fish loved it! My buddy started doing it, and we caught a ton of fish on them. We called them "nubbins". LOL

We fished that rig for several years. It was our "secret" bait. We thought we came up with something original.... and then the Ned Rig hit the headlines. We were like, "Heeyyyyy! That's the nubbin rig!"

Point is, you don't need a Z-Man plastic to catch fish on it, despite what the prostaffers and marketing would like you to think. Z-Man didn't invent the Ned Rig. Mid-westeners were using 4" worms and other small plastics LONG before Z-Man came along. There are plenty of other brands with their own Ned Rig style baits now, and they all work (and they don't melt!). And as I found out, grubs and grub bodies work fantastic.

So don't lock yourself into one brand. Expand your options and you might find something that works for you.

8 minutes ago, Glenn said:

About 15 years ago (maybe 20?), well before we heard of the Ned Rig, my buddy and I were just SLAYING the fish on Kalin's grubs. I mean every other cast if not every cast. It was nuts.

Well, those grubs were losing their tails after so many fish, and pretty soon we had dead soldiers all over the floor of the boat. Grub bodies with missing tails.

We began to run low on grubs, so I thought "What the heck" and tried fishing just a grub body on a small jighead.

The fish loved it! My buddy started doing it, and we caught a ton of fish on them. We called them "nubbins". LOL

We fished that rig for several years. It was our "secret" bait. We thought we came up with something original.... and then the Ned Rig hit the headlines. We were like, "Heeyyyyy! That's the nubbin rig!"

Point is, you don't need a Z-Man plastic to catch fish on it, despite what the prostaffers and marketing would like you to think. Z-Man didn't invent the Ned Rig. Mid-westeners were using 4" worms and other small plastics LONG before Z-Man came along. There are plenty of other brands with their own Ned Rig style baits now, and they all work (and they don't melt!). And as I found out, grubs and grub bodies work fantastic.

So don't lock yourself into one brand. Expand your options and you might find something that works for you.

That’s an awesome story Glenn!! Thank you

Ned, himself, does. It is one of the original Midwest Finesse baits he used when first writing about the technique. It gets overshadowed a lot by the traditional straight grubs more commonly utilized, and the media’s focus on them, so you just don’t hear as much about it.

9 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

Ned, himself, does. It is one of the original Midwest Finesse baits he used when first writing about the technique. It gets overshadowed a lot by the traditional straight grubs more commonly utilized, and the media’s focus on them, so you just don’t hear as much about it.

That was my thinking. I was just thinking finesse and outside the box for this year. The places I did get hammered with pressure. I catch fish with lures or hooks in there mouth all summer. And wanted a little different presentation for them

If you want something a little different, I’ll give you two to try.

1- rage tail Ned cut-r worm. Basically a TRD body with a rage patented flapper of a tail. You can fish it on the bottom like a TRD, but a slow swim or a lift and drop retrieve keep that tail wiggling. Also makes a heck of a trailer for a little finesse jig.

2- Missile baits Ned bomb. Similar basic body with just a little flat tail. The tail flaps really well when you give a little jerk if you rig it horizontal. Vertical just kinda wiggles a little. It’s just a touch more than a TRD.

12 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

If you want something a little different, I’ll give you two to try.

1- rage tail Ned cut-r worm. Basically a TRD body with a rage patented flapper of a tail. You can fish it on the bottom like a TRD, but a slow swim or a lift and drop retrieve keep that tail wiggling. Also makes a heck of a trailer for a little finesse jig.

2- Missile baits Ned bomb. Similar basic body with just a little flat tail. The tail flaps really well when you give a little jerk if you rig it horizontal. Vertical just kinda wiggles a little. It’s just a touch more than a TRD.

Thank you! I have a pack of cutR worms I could cut down and try. Duhhhh I never thought of that. I’ve seen the Ned bomb! But never ordered any. I gotta give them a try!

Two that I found effective are Mr. Twister Ned Ringer and Zoom Tiny Brush Hog.

I’ve never been a brush hog fan for whatever reason, but the rage Ned bug is a similar profile and great on a Ned head or tiny jig trailer. The body is really thing though so a bitsy bug hook is too thick. Something like a siebert lil man is perfect.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Strike_King_Rage_Ned_Bug/descpage-SKRNB.html

I make these for a Ned changeup, and they are great as trailers on my finesse jigs too.

Epic Ned Crawler

The Zman tubez are pretty similar to a grub. They are very small in comparison to normal sized tubes and being made of elaztech, they tend to last forever.

1 minute ago, PourMyOwn said:

I make these for a Ned changeup, and they are great as trailers on my finesse jigs too.

Epic Ned Crawler

That spade tail grub was a heck of a winter smallmouth bait on Bull Shoals long before any of this other stuff came along.

34 minutes ago, gim said:

The Zman tubez

I started using those last year. They look all stuck together until submerged then those legs seperate and float. Then they catch bass after bass . I caught a couple dozen bass on one and its still tied on waiting for this season to catch more.

49 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

I’ve never been a brush hog fan for whatever reason

For me it's more about the affordability - $8 for 9 Rage Bugs or $5 for 15 Tiny Brush Hogs....no contest.

10 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

For me it's more about the affordability - $8 for 9 Rage Bugs or $5 for 15 Tiny Brush Hogs....no contest.

I agree with that with the cost of everything going up

@Jig Man , I used to have aot of success with those on smallmouth here in NH in the 90s, ran out and forgot about them. When I saw this mold I had to have it.

1 hour ago, casts_by_fly said:

If you want something a little different, I’ll give you two to try.

2- Missile baits Ned bomb. Similar basic body with just a little flat tail. The tail flaps really well when you give a little jerk if you rig it horizontal. Vertical just kinda wiggles a little. It’s just a touch more than a TRD.

I just sat in on a seminar given by Violetta Talley at the Tinley Park Fishing show where she spoke of and showed underwater footage of the NedBomb. It definitely made me feel like I need to try them this upcoming season.

4” zoom dead ringer does pretty well fished like a ned

Grubs have been super effective forever; the only reason they aren't pushed hard is because they aren't a sexy new bait and most grubs don't have a high profit margin.

A buddy of mine has just about exclusively been throwing 2 and 3" pearl grubs since the 60s.

Theres a period of time, about 4, maybe 5 weeks in the late winter, sometimes into very early spring when the fish key on small craws, and soaking a TRD can match or exceed the numbers produced by even the 2" grub. The rest of the year, the grub will come out on top numbers wise.

I think a grub can cover water faster than a TRD and match or exceed the high bite %. The tail on a grub makes them easy to bottom trace with and slows the fall, all with a subtle action.

Much like a swimbait, the shape of the grub, size, plastic formula, durometer and tail style, all have an effect on how the grub fishes.

A real sleeper that many people dont even know exists are the Z man grubz. They're unsalted, like the curly tail/streaks, which results in an incredibly buoyant bait. The lack of salt makes them incredibly resilient. I've literally caught hundreds of snappers, with some cocktail blues mixed in less than a full tide cycle. Without bigger blues cutting you off or snags a few packs will literally.

The buoyancy of elastomer has to be taken into consideration when choosing jigheads. A 1/8oz head on a GYCB 4" grub will have a much faster ROF when comared to the elastomer grubz on a 1/8oz.

1 hour ago, gim said:

The Zman tubez are pretty similar to a grub. They are very small in comparison to normal sized tubes and being made of elaztech, they tend to last forever.

I like the EZ tubes, but the problem with them has always been the skirt. The thin tentacles want to kink and set crooked. They're really hard to straighten. If you dip in them in hot water, the skirt stretches under its own weight. Even if the skirts are straight, they're so thin they want to stick to each other in the water. The TRD grubs saw some improvement. They got a solid head shorter skirt relative to overall length and strands were thicker which helped with the clumping issue, as well as adding salt, which helped the sink rate.

The tube is in a similar situation as the grub. Tubes and grubs were both hot baits at one time, and obviously still produce well. Tubes are still popular up north, but the once extremely popular flippin tube don't have the buzz they once did.

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Zoom Tiny Brush Hog.

Zoom should have been prosecuted for axing all but 2 base colors in the TBH. Rootbeer pepper grn and bluegill were killers on the keitech mono jig in GP and bluegill respectively.

48 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

Grubs have been super effective forever; the only reason they aren't pushed hard is because they aren't a sexy new bait and most grubs don't have a high profit margin.

A buddy of mine has just about exclusively been throwing 2 and 3" pearl grubs since the 60s.

Theres a period of time, about 4, maybe 5 weeks in the late winter, sometimes into very early spring when the fish key on small craws, and soaking a TRD can match or exceed the numbers produced by even the 2" grub. The rest of the year, the grub will come out on top numbers wise.

I think a grub can cover water faster than a TRD and match or exceed the high bite %. The tail on a grub makes them easy to bottom trace with and slows the fall, all with a subtle action.

Much like a swimbait, the shape of the grub, size, plastic formula, durometer and tail style, all have an effect on how the grub fishes.

A real sleeper that many people dont even know exists are the Z man grubz. They're unsalted, like the curly tail/streaks, which results in an incredibly buoyant bait. The lack of salt makes them incredibly resilient. I've literally caught hundreds of snappers, with some cocktail blues mixed in less than a full tide cycle. Without bigger blues cutting you off or snags a few packs will literally.

The buoyancy of elastomer has to be taken into consideration when choosing jigheads. A 1/8oz head on a GYCB 4" grub will have a much faster ROF when comared to the elastomer grubz on a 1/8oz.

I like the EZ tubes, but the problem with them has always been the skirt. The thin tentacles want to kink and set crooked. They're really hard to straighten. If you dip in them in hot water, the skirt stretches under its own weight. Even if the skirts are straight, they're so thin they want to stick to each other in the water. The TRD grubs saw some improvement. They got a solid head shorter skirt relative to overall length and strands were thicker which helped with the clumping issue, as well as adding salt, which helped the sink rate.

The tube is in a similar situation as the grub. Tubes and grubs were both hot baits at one time, and obviously still produce well. Tubes are still popular up north, but the once extremely popular flippin tube don't have the buzz they once did.

Zoom should have been prosecuted for axing all but 2 base colors in the TBH. Rootbeer pepper grn and bluegill were killers on the keitech mono jig in GP and bluegill respectively.

Wow what a post! Thank you that’s a lot of info and insight

6 hours ago, STPC said:

4” zoom dead ringer does pretty well fished like a ned

The 4" sickle tails are great on 1/16oz light wire #1 darter head fished in grass.

I have always kept the unused portion of a torn up worm for use on a jighead. I have a whole bag of half Yum Dingers that are my Neds. In the past I had a sack full of jelly worm tails or whatever else i happened to use. Fliptail worms cut down real nicely. Craws become trailers. Lizards usually get chucked but I have used them as trailers too.