Uncle Ned

   

   When I fish for Smallmouth Bass one of my go to lures has always been a grub on a one eighth ounce jighead. I've been using this lure for years. I keep the colors simple and have used Green Pumpkin and the light purple made by Mister Twister. For the last couple decades, I have only fished for Smallmouth a few times a year. Most of the time was spent fishing for stripers (then finding birds) so I really did not attempt to learn new techniques. 

   Since I hadn't really concentrated on freshwater bass for two decades, I actually had to learn about new ways to catch them when I got hired at Bass Pro. Different ways to catch bass had been invented (or become popular) while I was fishing the surf. So at night after work, I would do a lot of research. Besides learning about these new lures, I'd spend time reading product reviews on rods, reels, and rain gear.

   If I didn't have a good excuse (stripers, albies, and birds) I'd be embarrassed to admit I had to learn about Ned Rigs. A Ned Rig is a soft plastic bait on a jighead. It differs from my go to grub on a jighead in two ways. First is the jig itself. A typical round ball jighead will lie flat on the bottom when at rest. A Ned head is top heavy and will stand up when dropped to the bottom. You can already tell that this will appeal to a fish. Since the plastic will not be lying flat on the bottom, instead swaying in the current it would be very enticing for a fish that sees it.

   Secondly, while anything the right size can be put on a jighead such as a grub, shad body, crawfish, fluke...etc, the most common Ned soft plastic has almost no motion. The most popular soft plastics for bait on a Ned head look like half of a straight tail worm such as a Senko. For whatever reason, three inch straight tail worms are the most popular plastics for Ned Rigs by far. Most companies make them from Yum to Bass Pro Shops. The come in many different colors.

 

 Laat year while smallie fishing in New Hampshire I caught my first fish on a Ned Rig. Ironically, my fist fish was a Rock Bass but I did catch a number of Smallmouth. I knew this was something I wanted to get good at so I bought twenty packages of Ned baits from different companies in different colors. Some are even made of different material. While many feel like traditional plastic worms, some brands such as Z man make them with elastic in them. These baits can be stretched like an elastic and are extremely tough.  You can catch dozens of fish on one bait and you are probably going to get it caught on the bottom long before you would have needed to change the plastic. 

   As for the jighead, I decided not to use lead. Since lead is illegal in Mass, NH, and Maine, I figured I may as well start with tungsten from the beginning. Ned heads are expensive anyway (as opposed to traditional round heads) so the extra cost of the tungsten wasn't very much more.

    I bought my heads from a company called Nako. They specialize in non-lead products. I had ordered from them before so I knew that they have a 20% off sale near Christmas along with free shipping over fifty dollars. So, like I did at work with the bodies, I bought a bunch of packages last December. I bought all sizes from one tenth to one quarter ounce. However, if I could only buy one size it would be the one eighth ounce with a 2/0 hook. You can choose the hook size on most weights. I wish I would have bought less of other sizes and more of that size. Despite having ten or so Nako packs in different sizes, I'll probably order more of that one size again in December.

   This year when I did my annual smallmouth trip, I used Ned rigs. I made a point to fish them instead of the traditional grub on a round head. The truth is, I don't know if I caught anymore fish with Ned jigs than I would have with the grubs, but I figured that learning something new was a good idea. At the very least, it was fun getting hits on something I really never used much before.

  I bought Ned plastics from many different companies. Bass Pro made an elastic plastic that for some reason they discontinued. When I realized this, I bought all of them up that we had left in the store. So I got colors of black/blue, Pb&J, brown/orange, and an off white. I bought the Z man green pumpkin and the Yoga Pants. I bought some of the Rapala Ned BLT and the Missile baits Ned Bomb. 

   Obviously, I did not try all of these brands and colors while fishing for a couple of days. However, of the ones that I used my favorite is the Missile Ned Bomb in the Goby color. Ned Bombs are not shaped like the others. Instead of being a half a plastic worm the end is shaped like a beaver tail. So it sways a little in the water. I felt as though this little bit of movement would entice fish. And again, do I know if I caught more fish with this than I would have if I stuck with the Rapala BLT in brown/ orange ( looks a lot like crawfish color)? I don't know. But I do know confidence is key when fishing. and I was confident in this bait. 

   

Rock Bass on a Ned

One thing that surprised me is how many actual hook ups I got with the bait. I missed very few fish that struck  the bait. I can assume it is because of the bait standing on its end. If I fish hits it, the hook is already in its mouth. There were plenty of times that I didn't feel the hit and when I tightened the line, I had a fish on. This is typical of Ned rigs because you will hook fish on the drop or as soon as it hits the bottom. 

  Despite having twenty packs of various Neds, I bought four more packs of the Missile Bait in the Goby color when I got home (with an employee discount and gift cards). Will I ever use all twenty packs of baits sitting in a shoe box...no. Will someone get use out of them when I die someday? I hope so.

   You may be asking why they are named Ned Rig? Why Uncle Ned? Well, the inventor of Ned Rigs actually was a guy named Ned Kehde. He was a midwestern fisherman and he invented this finesse type of fishing in the early 2000's. So, I think we can all call this guy our Uncle Ned (a term first used by my old boss Marc at work). It is a fun, very successful way to catch fish