The most popular plastic associated with the ned rig is the TRD. Its puny. That’s probably why its a dink magnet. But you can upsize it to a bigger plastic too. The magic of the ned is that it can sometimes catch a fish when nothing else will. In other words, its my last resort.
Gimruis said it perfectly do not buy the Z man brand one touch with a pliers and the soldered barb snaps off. I prefer Eagle Claw brand sharp and the barb is good. I prefer a 5 inch senko worm trimmed to 4 inches roughly. My favorite is a 3 inch Berkley chigger craw in pumpkin or blue. You need to pop this one more if I try it on a regular ballhead jig I get nothing with the Ned jig head it really works for me. Have not had the best luck with wispy finesse style baits. I think it is the Z man bang stick looks like a turd worm but has small tentacles on it works well. If you try a minnow style bait it tends to catch panfish and walleyes as well. Gimruis is correct it really seems to add good numbers of fish but usually not the biggest.
will have to get on the Ned rig bandwagon. May rig one up and give it a try this holiday weekend. Hopefully the weather forecast changes. Right now it has rain on Thur, Fri, Sat, and Sunday. Figures, a long holiday weekend and mother nature does not want to play nice. May just have to try and dodge some of the rain and get a few short outings in.
My youngest decided he was going to give the high school bass fishing thing a try this summer so we’ve been doing more bass fishing this year than usual. So far practice days have been pretty good and tournament days have been tough, but that’s the nature of the weather! Just have to keep grinding.
Outside of what the other haves shared (neko, ned & jig worm) we’ve had pretty good luck slow rolling big swim baits around, through and over the weed edges. 5-6″ baits but the way some of these fish have attacked it I don’t think 7-8″ would be out of the question either. I’ll warn you though, this also seems to be a recipe for catching nice pike and musky!
Ozark Rig with a Berkley Creature Hawg has been productive. So has a texas rigged 5″ stick bait on a drop shot. Just another way to fish it deep in the weeds without getting hung up.
The 13 year old and I made it out this morning, seemed to be everything I threw they wanted. He stuck with the neko and caught a 20, and 21 back to back. Followed by a 9 for 9 on casts. Bite was pretty fire for the first couple hours this morning
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The 13 year old and I made it out this morning, seemed to be everything I threw they wanted. He stuck with the neko and caught a 20, and 21 back to back. Followed by a 9 for 9 on casts. Bite was pretty fire for the first couple hours this morning
Very cool, that’ll keep him coming back.. good job dad!
I did pretty good this morning too. On and off rain for 4 hours. Only 1 other boat out there the whole time. Been a while since I caught some sizable largemouth.
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Today I threw a jig with craw trailer, Texas rigged worm, Texas rigged creature, tube jigs, nekos, swim baits and and a handful of other baits. I caught fish on all of them. We focused on a hard bottom spot around weeds in 12 to 14 ft. We fished 3 spots like this and caught fish on all spots. But the best bite was 530 to 7 for sure. Then it was random fish here and there. We attempted some dock bites but the weeds were so thick it was tough. We left the lake at 9
Bear, am or pm?
Today-must of been a.m.!
Bear, am or pm?
Am, this morning. We launched at 5, and we’re on a good bite at about 520
5AM … those are walleye hours.
This morning was one for the ages. We found a few shallow early but then worked an outside weed edge. We boated close to 20 LM that were 18″ plus (largest was just a bit over 20″) in about 60 – 75 minutes. My wife was along fishing a big leech and caught plenty of bass and four keeper sunfish.
I have fished that edge before and thought 3 was a good number on that stretch.
I thought wow if you stepped out of your boat with over 50 pounds of bass … crazy.
I love fishing at 5, beautiful, usually have the lake to yourself-too bad the lakes i fish are an hour away, I end up getting up around 3!
I love fishing at 5, beautiful, usually have the lake to yourself-too bad the lakes i fish are an hour away, I end up getting up around 3!
Most all bass fishing starts rather early in the morning. Even on heavy pleasure boat lakes I find I can get in 3-4 hrs of peaceful fishing before all the pleasure boaters start showing up.it rare to find a wake boat or jet skier on a lake before 9:00 am. One lake I like to fish, there is one local resident who is an early starter but he is real good about it and always stays a decent distance away. He must like the lake to himself as much as I do. I’ve had him out there as early as 5:30 a few mornings.
Those pleasure boats keep fishing pressure down, they will go until sunset, but as thump says they are not early risers, they also get going when the weather is hot-metro has not had a single 90 degree day yet. Nice summer so far except for all the rain.
they also get going when the weather is hot-metro has not had a single 90 degree day yet. Nice summer so far except for all the rain.
There has been a noticeable lack of recreational boating so far where I fish. Lack of warmth, plus rain every few days I’m sure has played a role in that. I love it. It keeps virtually every other person off the lake. And the fishing is often better too.
Keep it coming
The wife and I are going to try and get in a few hours of fishing before the rain in the morning. Going to try a lake I’ve not been on yet this summer. It normally gets going good about this time each summer. Heavy pleasure boat lake but with an early start and rain forecasted maybe it will not be as bad as usual.
Fished the lake my parents live on last night. It rained most of the time out but we sure did catch the fish.
I was fishing a Neko rig. My go to plastic is a Yum dinger.
My dad was fishing a creature bait Texas rigged.
Biggest fish was around 4 lbs.
We fished points in around 15’ of water. The thick weeds end about that depth.
We did find a small rock pile in 18 fow. There were about 5 good sized rocks there. We caught 6 largemouth off those rocks with the biggest going 4 lbs.
Fished another lake this morning. Lots of little ones scattered everywhere in the reeds. Found a really good school in about a 40’ stretch of reeds. We caught over 20 fish in that area ranging 2 to 4 lbs.
First fish of the morning was this smallie my dad caught in the reeds.
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Coming back hot. Getting hogs again today. Fishing very slow.
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I went again this morning too. All my fish came from around and under docks with the sun out. They were all in the shade. By 10:30am it was pretty toasty under that sun and the recreational boats were getting started so I bailed.
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Well my streak of good outing came to. End today. It figures because my wife was with and even was willing to get up early to go. Got to the first lake around 5:30. Driving across the lake to the 1st spot I noticed lots of floating weed mats. Not sure if tore up by pleasure boaters the day prior or if some of the Curly weed is starting to die off. First deep water rock spot was almost covered up by the mats. Every place you tried to cast either you lure landed in a weed clump or your line looped over one. Only caught a few small fish. Bailed on the spot and went to try a weed point that is normally good. Still clumps but less so fishable. Once again on small fish. Tried another deep rock spot and another deeper weedline. Not much to show for it. Bailed on the lake and headed to lake #2. This is a lake with only a few good spots but usually most all the fish are big.got to the landing and already 3 trailers with a 4th Messi g around with his boat in the middle of the landing area. After waiting 10-15 minutes to see if he was leaving or landing I gave up and bailed on this lake. Hit 3rd lake and fished a few deeper weedline sand once again only a few dink fish. Decided it just wasn’t our day and cut our losses and headed home. Oh well. Some days you win and other days the lake wins. This win goes to the lake. May try and get in a quick early morning outing tomorrow. Have another lower # lake but good size fish to give a try. Have not been on this lake yet this year. Trying a few different lakes just to see what lakes are o. And what ones are not.
Our bite off the deep weeds started off great today, but it quickly took a turn for the tougher bite it really was. All our fish were between 515 am and 645. Lots of bigger fish early. Then it just died right off, so luckily we brought crappie gear and beat them up at one of our spots that I noticed them surfacing all over a couple days before.
Not sure if tore up by pleasure boaters the day prior or if some of the Curly weed is starting to die off.
I think it’s the curly weed starting to die off. There hasn’t been much pleasure boating yet. At least by normal standards. That’s about to change in the coming week though with much warmer temps and sunshine forecasted.
I saw some of those mats too. They’re like floating bags of green stringy pasta. Constantly fouling props.
I’m with Fishthumper for some reason Saturday was horrible first lake got 1 pike There was a few “pro Fisherman out there as well” They weren’t catching anything either. Went to another lake not a bite so we decided to try for sunnies got 2 dinky bass on Flu Flu’s then within 5 minutes got dumped on with rain. Was off on Wednesday and went back to a new lake we tried earlier with the wife we got 30 bass all were just nice sized chunks. All on Wacky worms in the pads. Friday was ok got just a hand full of bass but the pleasure boaters got bad and we left. Sunday we went to a clearer lake known for lots of smaller bass. Fished a 20 FOW weed line inside edge did good all on Ned rigs Cutting a 5 inch Senko down to 3.75 was the ticket let it fall hard pop up and then they nailed it. Sure went through the wacky worms that’s OK! Again tried flat tails and Finesse style baits not even a nibble. Does anyone try minnow style baits for Ned? if so what kind/brand works best? Going to try some Zman bang sticks because there more buoyant.
Well after this long holiday weekend I can tell you more about what patterns are not working than those that are. Overall a poor weekend of fishing. Had plans to try and get the wife on some better fishing on Sunday than I did on Sat. Decided I was going to take her to a lake we have done real well on the last few times out. She ended up making plans with a friend for Sunday morning so she was out. I decided to switch gears and fish another lake that has been hit or miss for me the last few years. This is another more of a slop type of a lake. Got to the lake by 5:30 and was already 2 other boats at the landing. Started out fishing a Buzzbait in and around the pads and reeds – Not one blow up. Switched to a swim Jig and keep trying pads and reeds, Both edges and up into them – More Nada. Backed out a little deeper and tried the ton of weeds chumps scattered all around the lake. Tried the swimjig and a texas rigged worm. Managed a few smaller fish but not the quality that I went to this lake for. Other than the weed clumps not any deeper water structure on this lake. Decided to try way up in the pads and under a few tree’s with both a frog and a weightless stickworm. Managed to hook a bigger fish up under a tree. Was rigged up all wrong for that style of fishing. 8 Lb test mono, a way to light of a action of a spinning rod rod and you can guess the outcome – It got into all the shore cover and broke off – Stupid Mistake on my part. After switching to the correct setup I fished a little more similar cover and only caught a few other small fish. I decided since it was only around 7:30 I’d bail and head to the lake I was originally planning to fish. Went I got to the landing there was already 3 parked trailers and 2 people in front of me waiting to land. This lake only had 4-5 parking spots and with a big pile of dirt in the landing area it was already way to full. Decided to call it a day and head home. Oh well, its weekends like this that makes me really enjoy the good outings.
Fishthumper I’m right there with yah it was not the greatest weekend for fishing. To be honest I’m on this site for just this thread for bass. Reason being can’t stand social media and I know just by your names and reputations I can trust you guys/gals and like you it feels good to know when others are doing well and when it’s slow. Thinking outside the box and tactics you may not be thinking of using. Not catching fish can really mess with yah it used to really get me down now after years of fishing. Enjoy the good with the bad. As an old man said to me on a dock once always enjoy the fight of the fish you never know how long it will be till the next.
Ya off days suck, but just part of the sport. I really don’t let it bother me much. As they say a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work any day.
What kind of water temps are all of you seeing lately. Was out yesterday evening and was surprised to see the lake temp at 82.5. That sure seems warm since we have not really even had any real warm days yet. Makes me kind if wonder what the water temps will be like after the upcoming run of rather warm / hot temps we have forecasted. As far as the fishing went, it was another poor outing and this was at a lake we have had 2 of our better outings at not long ago. It almost feels to me like we seem to be getting into those slower dog days of summer a bit earlier than normal this year. Will be getting out again today after work and plan to hit it hard this weekend. Sure hope these last few outings are not normal and we can get things going a little better. Keep posting those successful outings so I can stay positive and keep the excitement level up during this slow period for me.
What kind of water temps are all of you seeing lately.
I was out 3 days in a row last week and the water temps were 72-74 degrees on all 3 lakes in the metro area. I think your temp gauge is a little off.
I would expect them to rise in the coming days but 82.5 already sounds way too high. It hasn’t been warm enough for that yet. Someone recently posted 68 degrees on Mille Lacs.
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