Ned Rigs for Smallmouth Bass and Walleye
by Dave Reed
One of the hottest rigs today for largemouth bass fishing in the US is called the Ned Rig. This same rig can also be adapted to be extremely effective on both smallmouth bass and even walleye. The cool thing about this rig is that it is so simple to rig up yourself in just a couple seconds and you're ready to fish. A little modification here and there and you can target either smallmouth bass or walleye.
The next time you are out fishing on Lady Evelyn, right after lunch when the water has really calmed down and the walleye action has ground to a halt, why not pull out a Ned Rig and start casting? Besides being effective and easy to fish the Ned Rig also makes a fun rig for keeping those younger anglers involved when things slow down because it requires casting and retrieving with light spinning tackle. Young anglers love to cast and watching the excitement of your son or daughter setting the hook into a bulldog smallmouth is a really special memory. While you are preparing your tackle box for the next Lady Evelyn trip you should consider bringing along a few Ned Rigs for some fun change-of-pace action.
Tips on Fishing With Ned Rigs
It doesn't take a lot of fancy gear to make this method work. Here are the components for successfully making and fishing these Ned Rigs.
Fishing Line
I almost exclusively prefer 6# test monofilament for Ned Rig fishing for a few reasons. Monofilament floats or at least has a neutral buoyancy so when fishing artificials you can watch your line for strikes and detect the fish running off with your lure. Monofilament stretches and gives you a measure of forgiveness for any mistakes such as when your reel drag chatters. Monofilament can be broken by hand when a snag just doesn't want to let go. Monofilament casts these lighter weighted Ned Rig lures much further than braided line.
Rod/Reel
For Ned Rigs a medium heavy rod from 6' to 7' length works nicely. I prefer 6' because I have a better control of the cast and also have a better feel of the bait during the retrieve. Since I am using 6# test monofilament line, I prefer a small 1000 series reel with a quality drag like a Shimano Stella if you have deep pockets or a Shimano Stradic if you want a top quality reel with a high quality drag at a fair price.
Ned Rig Heads
This style of fishing has been around for many years but over the last few years it has been refined to be much more species specific. Without going into too much detail you are going to want a Ned Head about 1/8 oz. for most days when fishing down to about 15' to 20'. You'll want a 3/16 oz. or 1/4 oz. for windy days or deeper water from 20' to 30'. Usually a good quality Ned Head has some sort of "keeper" to help keep the body of your bait from pulling down the hook on the cast. If your bait is pulling down and won't hold in place well try turning it 180 degrees on the hook so you are using the opposite end of the lure. If that isn't working bring along some super glue. The ZMan Pro ShroomZ with its lure keeper style makes a good choice if you are not in need of a weedless setup and the XXXX is a great design choice for fishing the Ned Rig weedless
Ned Rig Lures
There are many dozens of potential Ned Rig baits to choose from. It seems like everyone has an opinion of a lure that works better than another so just have fun coming up with your own theories and proving them by catching some fish. I'm going to make a few suggestions of Ned Rig guidelines that have worked for the pros.
- Floating or naturally buoyant bodies made with a durable material like ZTech Elaztech or Strike King's Elastech will stand upright and last through many fish
- 2 inch to 2 1/2 inch chubby profile bait for big smallmouth bass
- 3 1/2 inch chubby profile bait for walleye
- Buoyant baits stand up and look more lifelike on a slow retrieve
- Smallmouth prefer colors of natural creatures like browns, greens and black
- Walleye aren't color conscience and will hit almost any color during the day however in periods of low light white, silver, pink and chartreuse often get more strikes
- Rattling baits work but the difference in number of strikes is not that noticeable
How to Fish using a Ned Rig
The Ned Rig is relatively easy to fish but requires a lot of patience. It is really just a modification of a 40 year old method championed by a great fisherman and lure manufacturer named Charlie Brewer and was called the "do-nothing-method." Charlie used to say to just toss it out and barely crawl it back to the boat. He used to say that any action added to his method was too much action. Back then he used small narrow 4" plastic worms. Now we have almost indestructible salt impregnated plastics of all sizes and shapes that are designed to stand up and wiggle like something alive and feeding on the bottom. One thing that Charlie eventually added to his line of worms was a ringed worms that you could shake before casting and air bubbles would fill the rings and be released slowly during the retrieve. Also a good spray bottle of lure scent would give off oil bubbles at the same time. These methods and modifications were extremely deadly.
A: The Ned Rig works best when the bait is rigged perfectly straight on the hook. It also falls much straighter and more natural looking to a fish. Even the slightest bend in your bait will change the natural look slightly and can turn off wary fish.
B: Lay the hook beside the bait so that you can visually mark exactly where the bend of the hook will exit the bait and then carefully thread the hook exactly through the center of the bait exiting it in the correct spot.
C: Make nice long casts and watch your line closely as the lure sinks to the bottom. Many strikes come just before it reaches the bottom. If you see your line go pop, quickly take up the slack. If you feel any weight or movement set the hook.
D: After the rig settles to the bottom very slowly move the rig steadily along the bottom on the retrieve. Although jigging slightly can produce at times many of the pros that fish this rig claim it works better by not trying to give it a lot of extra action. Experiment with the retrieve until you find the one that works best for you.
E: When you are in an area and know that the area has walleye or smallmouth showing on the fish finder and they just aren't biting on your slow presentation, try "snap jigging" your Ned Rig. Snap jigging plays on the fish's natural instinct to react to an easy meal. I'm not talking about just jigging the Ned Rig. I'm talking about really snapping the rig hard with a quick two or three foot upsweep of the rod. As soon as the rig settles back to the bottom, immediately snap it back up vigorously again and then again. Always keep in mind then when you consider the amount of stretch in monofilament it is pretty hard to actually get it to move that far off the bottom. Also if you are going to try this snapping method you might want to try changing to a slightly heavier head.
Trick to Setting the Hook
Since most all Ned Rig heads require some sort of a bait keeper soldered to them, these hooks tend to be rather stout for fishing with 6# test monofilament! (If anyone ever comes out with a Ned Rig head made with an aberdeene hook I'll be the first to order a bunch) Here is a statement you won't hear often in light tackle fishing. When you feel the bite, set the hook hard because these stout hooks do not penetrate all that well when used with light tackle. One trick I have found works good for me with 6# test mono. When you first suspect a bite slowly crank your line with your rod tip about eye high until you feel the first little bit of resistance on the line. At that point just drop the rod tip to get a small amount of slack into the line and then set the hook hard enough to "cross his eyes." When you jerk hard it will take up the slack first and tends to sling shot the hook into the fish.
There are a lot of advantages when using 6# test mono in Ned Rig fishing but hook sets are a bit more difficult. Just the same, you will get a lot more bites and have a better feel of what's going on when you use a good quality 6# test monofilament.
How To Improve Your Light Tackle Ned Rig!
With a few modifications Ned Rigs can be rigged weedless and cast right into the wood cover or rocks that most lures would get hung up trying to get through. They are a simple rigs but recent lure innovations have made them even more deadly for smallmouth as well as walleye.
Z-Man Texas Eye Finesse Swivel Jig Heads
The new secret to Ned Rig light tackle success is a Z-Man Texas Eye Finesse Swivel Jig Head. On this jig head the hook and the lead head are two pieces so that the hook can swivel without effecting the stand-up attitude of whatever bait you are using. If you are using a buoyant worm, it will stand-up no matter how the jig settles to the bottom. It also allows the lure manufacturer of the jig head to attach a light wire hook. Using a super sharp lighter wire hook is a lot more likely to penetrate and hook up the fish. Lastly, as you'll see, when rigging this way the hook does not need to be embedded into the worm perfectly symmetrical so you can skin hook the worm on one side in order to pull out of the plastic more easily.
BioSpawn PlasmaTail
The 4.5 inch PlasmaTail from BioSpawn is the perfect match to use with a swivel head jig for smallmouth bass. It is thinner and a bit softer material than most plastic worms which makes them ideal for hooking it as a weedless Ned Rig. With a medium strong hookset, even on 6# mono line the light wire hook pulls right through this worm material easily and hooks the fish. Even though this rig is designed for smallmouth bass don't be surprised when you catch walleye with these also.
How to Rig It
Place the hook through the tip of the worm's nose and pull the worm carefully up to the bend near the swivel head jig. Bring the hook over to one side of the worm and bend the worm slightly so that when you place the point into the side of the worm it will hang straight. Skin hook the worm so that only the barb of the hook is lightly inserted and will pull through easily when you set the hook. Don't worry about how it pulls through the water without the hook being dead center. Since it is a swivel jig it always pulls perfectly straight without spinning no matter how the worm has been hooked.
How to Fish It
Cast this rig out and then slowly retrieve it across the bottom allowing it to slither. If it seems like it is starting to hang on a rock, limb or grass just stop reeling. Drop your rod tip a couple inches and just give the lure a slight flick and most times it will fall off the object a couple inches and then jump over it. It may take two or three times but as long as you didn't pull the jig hard into the object you should be ok to flip it over.
There is not a lot of difference between the bite from a large fish and a small one. If it's a tiny smallmouth usually they will grab the tail and shake it then run a few feet and drop it. If it's a big smallmouth that initial bite will feel about the same. Always .... when you feel a tap just drop your rod tip allowing your line to lay slack on the surface. If you see your line going out or moving off to one side .... man your battle stations for hook setting. Slowly and deliberately reel until you feel resistance. When you do feel the slightest pull set the hook. If the fish really feels heavy or you aren't happy with the first setting then strike it again. Hopefully you are using 6# test monofilament and before this hook up you have already loosened your drag because your line, rod and reel's drag are about to get a good test!