Ron's Catch - Ned Rigging
Every year, new lures are introduced to the market and new fishing techniques are discovered. Although some are trends that come and go, every so often there is a new technique that really changes the game. A few years back the Ned Rig was discovered, and it has developed into one of the hottest finesse techniques used by anglers today.
The Ned Rig especially excels when fishing for smallmouth bass, as anything bite size is easy pickins for these usually aggressive brownbacks. The Ned Rig is also a great technique for cold water situations when bass are less active, for highly pressured bodies of water, or when you just need to match the hatch.
The Ned Rig is comprised of a mushroom style jighead, tipped with a smaller 3″ soft plastic. When you look at this setup, you may be less than impressed with its lack of flare, but the simple presentation proves otherwise when catching fish.
The best way to fish the Ned Rig is on a spinning gear paired with a 4lb to 8lb fluorocarbon line. I like to use a 7″ medium fishing rod with a fast action tip. This allows for long casts yet is sensitive enough to detect the slightest strike and keep the fish hooked up.
The retrieve is a simple cast followed by short drags and a small short snap of the rod allowing the bait to fall to bottom each time. Most strikes occur on the fall but remember to change up from a short drag and shake to quick snaps or pumps of the rod as part of your experiment when searching for the most productive retrieve.
Spend some time learning the Ned Rig and gaining confidence as it will be one of your favorite go-to techniques when searching for the next big one!