Cgolf

Ignore the reel, but the fireball jig heads with the short shank hook really allow baits to wiggle a bit more, especially 1/2 of a Zinkerz that has either been soaked and stretched to remove the salt or fished a lot. I know the hook gap bothers Ned purists. Would love to see someone pour mushroom heads with this hook.

Was looking for the bass size of this reel, but figured this would go good on my trout rod and finally allows me to retire my Shakespeare excursion. Thankfully it goes out on a high note catching a brookie on the last cast of the trout season. Probably only means something to me, but I also like to end my vacations with a fish on the last cast, one of my many quirks. The fireball jigs are my alternative Ned heads. I like the short shank because it allows the baits to work more than other Ned heads.

We had flurries in southern WI yesterday so felt like it lol

Probably a medium action spinning rig and either a small 2.5" crawbug or more likely a tube, both rigged on a slider spider head. The crawbug would get the standard spider head with the 2/0 hook and the tube would get the classic pro with the 3/0 beefier hook. While the crawbug has caught me a ton of bass, the tube gets the nod because it has also caught me a ton of bass and can be worked in all parts of the water column so versatility wins. Also the medium action spinning rod could be one of the only combos I carry. I know not part of the question, but this combo has fished spinnerbaits, topwaters, squarebills, plastics, bass jigs, etc for me very successfully. I think some forget that a spinning rod can do many if not most things that a baitcaster can.

Over the years I have found big hook sets to be way over rated and I think folks lose more fish because of them. On some bigger hook sets I have had, mostly because the fish was going the opposite way of a moving bait, if I landed the fish I would find the hook loosely in the mouth with a smallish hole torn and the hook drops right out with no tension. If you lose tension after one of these hook sets the fish could easily toss the bait and maybe even with tension on it is easier for them to shake loose. With a nice easy sweep set the hook is almost always solidly in place and I need a pliers a lot because once the hook is out there is basically no hole in there mouth. guessing this may be easier on the fish to but don’t really know for sure. Only exception to this is Pike and Musky that have tough jaws to penetrate. When I am bass fishing though I would rather miss those.

I have great luck with tubes on the slider spider heads, pro and classic. The hook up rate is really high. Fish the to stay on really well too. Also perfect on Menace, assault bugs, and spicy beavers too.

Been using the slider spider head for 20ish years. Haven't used a worm weight and worm hook since I made that switch.

Yup I do have 4 packs of those and they do work really well. Just wish they had a #2 hook instead of a #1. They look like Morels with smaller hooks. Just wish they had bulk packs and price is lower than most. Might give them a try. I haven’t bought anything on eBay in 15 plus years. With Christmas coming up I could ask the in-laws to grab some for me. They use eBay a fair amount and also use PayPal etc. we are behind the times. For me jigs in bulk are better because the rocks eat em. Any specific eBay users to buy from? Seeing some interesting lead free options.

Now can we get Zman to bring back gophers pricing? In hindsight wish I would have bought more from gopher, the price was amazing for a great jighead.

With the appropriate size hook;) With the demise of gopher tackle proper and reasonable Ned heads are difficult to come by.

I think it really comes down to what the fish are feeding on. For me especially on the river where they are eating craws, if I am not bouncing off the rocks they don't want to eat it. The trick is to always find the weight that bounces of but doesn't hard snag on the rocks breaking me off every other cast. On the lake I fish the most, the plastic bite has always been on the bottom, no idea why they won't chase a plastic but will a spinnerbait. I think where @Bluebasser86 and Ned fish, the fish generally feed up in the water column and not down so swimming makes the most sense. In my case that gets ignored 90% of the time.

I have fished the Ned rig a lot over the years, but there are probably times I haven't fished it properly. I always go out and fish baits with different retrieves and will stick with what the fish want. Many times I won't even realize I am repeating the same pattern for hours as I just get in a zone. The big thing for me is to never go on the water thinking I can fish a rig only 4 ways and get bit, bass don't read the articles in my part of world and I let them tell me what they want. Generally though they want some sort of bottom contact, especially on the river, so that may be the one constant I have in 90% of my ned rig catches. So if I am fishing it wrong, so be it, then it just becomes a small jig worm some days instead of a Ned rig. Sometimes I think we overthink this fishing thing;)

My medium ugly spinning rod has worked well for jerkbaits and spybaits where feel isn’t much of an issue on flat water. The softer action for me really works with those two presentations. on the river I keep the line tight and the bait moving so the lesser sensitivity isn’t the worst thing in the world and when I snag up on rocks every 4th or 5th cast the ugly holds up to whatever I need to do to get unsnagged. But I will admit my Sierras are St Croix rods are way more sensitive.

One thing is to watch for sales too. Not sure your budget, but I have picked up two Dobyns Sierra spinning rods at around 100 apiece on sale the last 2 years. Love those rods.

I know that amongst walleye trollers, I believe the Call 1100 ugly was considered one of the best rods for that technique and I was lucky to get one before it was discontinued. The rods are pretty much bulletproof which makes them a great buy for many anglers. In my early days I broke the tipi on a lot of 10 buck budget rods, then once I stepped up to an ugly for an extra 10 to 15, that rod is still around and used occasionally to this day.

I have upgraded some rods for sure over the years with some in the 150 to 240 range full price, didn’t pay that though as they were on sale for use in the boat. My river rods though are mostly ugly sticks because they sit in my truck at work in the baking heat, ok it’s WI but we do see mid to upper 90s during the summer. Also don’t want high priced gear to get ripped off. I have no clue why that Shakespeare reel has been so good to me, but I will take it. I have a second one of the same vintage that basically was never used, maybe it will get me to 2040 lol. For me though upgrading has been a slow process and honestly I have been fine with it. Since I fish braid a lot, that adds sensitivity to a combo that is lost with flouro or mono. I once fished yo Zuri hybrid on an St Croix avid and the sensitivity felt like an ugly stick with braid. I have a soft spot for ugly sticks because they have been good to me as a budget angler over the years. After getting beat up years ago on another forum for not using high end rods and reels and lucky craft baits to catch smallies, I happy to be budget conscious angler.

So I have fished with an ugly stick and Shakespeare excursion and caught roughly 1000 river smallies over the years. Only thing I can figure is you fished a lure that was heavier than the rod was rated for. I have tossed a lot of bandit 100s and other square bills on a medium ugly for years and they ran just fine. Honestly IMO if you spend more than 50 bucks on a spinning reel you wasted your money. If you can afford it, I am sure there some benefits for the extra money. My most expensive spinning reel is a president, don’t think it is less than the XT but not the base. Baitcasters I realize extra money gets you more so I put my cap at 150. Just wanted to add that Shakespeare excursion is 15 to 20 years old and it was used on my trout rod this year. While it is a bit loose, it still catches fish. Glad you found something that works, just have a hard time believing the cost of the gear was the problem. Heck my largest musky was caught on a Berkeley lightning rod bought in the 90s. I agree with you flouro is over rated, but I know some swear by it. In my youth I fished some of the clearest water out there with solar xt and caught fish. For years I have used fireline only on my spinning rigs, but have recently been using a flouro leader for a bit more abrasion resistance. Fireline will be my main line till they stop making it.

When fishing stained water, even slightly stained water I will rarely change color due to light conditions. Clear water is a different story, depends on sun and the waves, essentially how much light the fish are seeing. High light penetration I use smoke based colors, low light penetration I use watermelon based colors.

Agreed, so essentially whether on a baitcaster, or spinning rod, landing percentage will be higher with the 60 due to the lighter rod that will be used. For a while I used to throw my topwaters on a rick clunn glass square bill rod that worked well when I got lucky and hooked up. On the lake now it is a graphite stick, but the yak I still use a glass stick.

I guess it depends on your spinning rods. I have one or two I would have no issues throwing the 110 on. I started bass fishing with spincast and spinning rods, so I used to throw heavier cranks on spinning gear with no issues. Got into bait casters later and still paying for it;)

I actually agree with you, while they have been ok for me at times, but not a consistent producer like others have seen. For me topawater is just that way though, I haven't learned the right time to throw them, and I generally catch fish at the wrong time, middle of a sunny day in 5 to 6 fow around reeds lol. The only reason I will pick up 2 60's is when I kayak with my wife for fun, we paddle up stream a bit and drift back down and I toss a few casts. While drifting a a good clip a plopper is nice because the only snags are because I can't cast. The 60 will pair really nicely with the 5'6" M Ugly GX2 I use in the yak. May need to upgrade the reel so I don't backlash a lighter lure though. Have a Daiwa Laguna that casts really good for a bargain reel so may go with that. Try to keep the kayak setup cheap because we yak a fairly tight section of river with lots of low hanging branches.

Sorry I had given up checking and now realized so had everyone else Like this and of course that was one of my favorite series ever so I am a bit biased.

For my spare bags of plastics I use what I believe are the sweater size rubbermaid type bins of various depths. If I did a pegboard, my wife would never let me buy anymore tackle. For cranks I just have some plano tool/tackle boxes that I store them in. I have learned to stop buying in bulk regardless of how good the sale is. Only a handful of lures will be bought in bulk now, based on how much I use and lose them.

Since I forgot about some of these baits, I can shop in my back stock and treat it as new and give it a toss. Maybe a workaround for the tackle monkey lol. Could honestly do the same with certain crank baits if I wanted too. I gave away some once and then a few years later said I need this or that bait, but then realized I had given them away. Maybe know that I have more knowledge I can part with some. Heck I still have some Berkeley Squirmer worms.

Or did I blink and miss it;)