Cgolf

I am only 90% sure I can tell a bass from a panfish. What I feel are bass grab on and hang on and fight like a Smallie. I shore fish in the morning on the way to work and have caught smallies anywhere from 4" up to 20", I just take what I can get. Usually panfish will be a machine gun style hit, and the fight will be less than what I am seeing. With the number of smaller fish in the system it is very likely that I will catch smallies in the 7-14" range than a bigger fish, and the mouths on those little smallies are not all that big. I don't want to complain about the little guys too much because the smallies reproduce very well on this system

Recently when I posted about having issues with tail grabbers with the Ned either Indiana of Team9 suggested I shorten the Zinkerz to catch those bass that are grabbing the tail. The issue I have with that is I thought having a small hook allowed the plastic to move more. Yes I could shorten it and then leave a 1/4" from the hook to the tail, and still be a Ned because of the hook size. What if I kept the 2.5" 1/2 Zinkerz and used a longer shank hook leaving again 1/4" from the hook to the tail? I accomplish the same thing keeping the same bait profile they hit before, but the second is not a Ned rig. I assume that in order jig weight, hook size, plastic size, jig shape, and finally plastic beyond the hook define whether or not a bait is a Ned rig. Since we no longer have the pinned Ned Thread, I really wish that @Team9nine would do a one post thread of the definition and then it could be locked and pinned. This would help a lot of us out, and also anyone new that comes here since this is becoming a hot rig on the tourney scene, though they aren't really tossing a true Ned rig, and I am seeing it a lot more on social media. Many companies are also marketing Ned heads that really don't fit the definition.

I have used an original ugly and ugly GX2 6'6" medium action rod and it seems about right with 10 lb fireline. They cast the Ned rig out there far enough and the tips seem to have the right amount of give to keep them stuck. Total off topic, but that older ugly doubled as a great Spybait rod too.

Another option might be the new Berkley half head jig in 1/16 oz with a size 1 hook which I believe is one size too big to be a Ned which I think is capped at a 2. They are the same size as a sievert morel jig. As for bending hooks I have used the gopher heads with the cheaper mustad hooks and have never bent a hook on a fish.

This is what really bugs me about the Ned rig thing. Where are these instructions/rules? Most of us really don't care, we just want to catch fish and if a certain style bait works with a specific jighead and retrieve we will use it. For example if I fish a half Zinkerz on a proper gopher head and use a straight in retrieve polishing the rocks I am Midwest finesse fishing, but use same plastic and retrieve with a slider head I am sliding. Some would say that the 1/16th ounce fireball jig I sometimes use which has a shorter shank than my mushroom head jigs would disqualify my setup as a Ned rig. I know now some of you want to preserve Ned's way of fishing and that is awesome. There are many of us out here that will tweak it to our situations and try to catch fish more efficiently in our areas, and that should be fine too. I have said this before that Zman, who now appears to be the company associated with the Ned rig, has really done a bad job keeping the true definition of the Ned rig out there.

Both for me, river from shore and lake by boat. River - Ned and mostly craw plastics and cranks that cover shallow water. One thing to note is that the weight on the plastics is specific to the flow I fish. A small 3500 size tackle bag carried over my shoulder. Usually one spinning rod, sometimes add a baitcaster. Lakes - lots of plastics with many different weights and both deep diving and shallow cranks. 3600 sized bag for cranks and 3700 sized bag for plastics.

I have used the loctite Gel CA very easy to work with and it generally goes where you want it to. I do let them dry overnight, not sure what the minimum time is for drying.

Today at Walmart I was able to pick up an Ugly Stick GX2 medium 6'6" spinning combo fo 20 bucks instead of the normal price of 40. While not a wow purchase, this will replace my original ugly stick with the same specs that has lived in my truck for many summers. So for my river fishing this was a big score.

I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of someone that pours them. At this point I wouldn't invest in the mold, and I have heard the shroomz hooks are brittle which would never survive the river rocks. This is good to hear. I needed a Christmas gift idea for my in laws, perhaps I let him know now so we have them by Christmas. Their hook options make it worth the wait. I will check out the eBay too.

I have read few posts here that recent orders aren't being filled, if that has changed I would love to know. The last batch I got from them was two years ago. They are great and I loved all the different hook options they had. So somebody please tell me they are still shipping orders and my problems are solved.

Generally they hook themselves, but once they are on I do try to put and keep pressure on them. I have never been a monster hookset kind of guy. Watching videos of people just about throwing out their backs setting the hook has always seemed like overkill to me. So I guess I am a reel set and lightly lift the tip to get pressure on the fish. Seems like light wire hooks pop out if the fish gets slack on you. That and if the fish never gets to the hook, the hookset doesn't matter. This just seems to be a flowing water issue for me.

Unfortunately I am shore bound on the river and I have to take what is there. Still managed one nice 19" fish but most have been in the 10" to 15" range. One of these years I will get a kayak to really explore the river and find where the big ones go. I can't complain too much though because I can get 20-30 minutes on the river on my way to work. Even if I blank it is a nice way to start the work day. I have read lots about your home river on another forum many years ago, is a still a big Smallie factory? I use scent as well, liquid mayhem which is red, and after I lose a fish all the red is gone, even if I had just put a new coat on. I have always put it where the hook comes out of the plastic, maybe I should put it on the nose of the bait. They really do like to get that scent off the bait. I like the color idea, I did have a bubblegum bait turn pale orange after it sat in a box with some other baits that really triggered the fish. On the river it is tough to hesitate on the hookset, because the flow itself will wash the bait downstream. I can give it a a shot, but with River smallies the big girls usually hook themselves and try to take your rod from ya;)

I will shorten it a touch instead of a full half Zinkerz, I would really like to keep the weight the same since it is a good balance of just touching the rocks, but not hard snagging. Current is tough to find that balance of just enough bottom contact.

I haven't seen many when I have been on the boards, but did get seriously frustrated by only landing one fish yesterday and getting tons of bites. This year has been awful fishing wise for me, many days without bites. I also haven't been on the boards much lately.

Now that it sounds like Gopher tackle is no longer an option, where can I source mushroom head jigs with all the options that gopher tackle had.

The biggest downside I have seen when fishing the Ned Rig on the river is missing a lot of fish because they don't get the hook. The retrieve I use is a slow straight in retrieve that polishes the rocks, not sure if that is a Ned retrieve or not, but I get a lot of fish that grab the tail and the bait ends up balled on the hook. Pretty confident that a high majority of these are Smallie bites with a few panfish mixed in. I am thinking this is a flowing water thing where they have limited to grab a bait vs a lake where they can more easily target the bait. I don't see this issue on lakes. Starting to wonder if I go with a bigger hook on the river and not fish the Ned rig anymore?

I have actually seen the opposite. It seems that power pro and fireline tend to fail at the knot whenever I have broken off on a snag. With 50lb power pro I have actually cut my hand breaking off a snag. What I see almost exclusively on the river is mono, which when I used it, find it breaks somewhere between the lure and the rod tip. When I am able to get the mono to shore, there is always a decent amount. To be fair I did pull in braid once, but I would guess over ten years on the river it has been 50 to 1 mono over braid. Have never snagged anybody's line on a lake, maybe I have been lucky in that regard.

Like farmer, I feel that the whole bass line shy thing is bogus. I have fished clear water enough with 50 lb power pro on cranks and 10 or 20 lb fireline for plastics, both with no leader, to convince myself. I did try a flouro leader for awhile and didn't notice a difference in catch rate. I did try yo Zuri hybrid line this summer and didn't mind it, except that I had so much less feel I thought that the crank had picked up some weeds. It is amazing how much more feel you get with braid which is very handy in weeds to tell if the crank is fouled up or not.

I have had great luck with the heavily salted anglers choice 5" wart hawg cut in half. Not sure if they count, but I have always had a lot of luck with 3" grubs on a light head. As far as Zman stuff goes I find the finesse TRDs to be junk compared to 1/2 a Zinkerz. It seems to rip where the hook comes out and it never seems to get as soft as or have the movement of a half Zinkerz. It is like the TRDs are a different material. I know a lot of you like them, they just do nothing for me. I will use up what I have, but only buy Zinkerz in the future.

I want to second the Santone Rayburn swim jig choice. The part about jig design I like the most is the flat bottom which gives you the possibility of also fishing the jig on bottom as well as swimming it. Being relatively new to jig fishing, I find that this jig covers most of the situations that I fish them. They came through millfoil very well.

Not sure why, but I can't see a lot of the pictures on this thread. What you might want to try is putting the punch weight and boss punch hub, if the weight doesn't allow for a skirt, on a piece of wire that you bend and wrap at the end. Then attach the hook with a split ring and either use a snap, preferred in case the wire has a rough spot from the bending tool, or tie direct to the other end. Similar to a Carolina prerig. Only concern might be if the loop on the front might hinder punching through. Added a pic of a version I will be using on the river with a lighter weight, same idea though and would just need to peg the weight on the wire for punching.

Reading a lot of the replies I think there are some of us that have been fishing and collecting tackle long enough that we can pull it off. I have been fishing for enough years and had enough Christmases that I will do ok. For those that are newer to fishing, yeh I don't see this being an option. About the only thing I won't have are the hot new lures that come out next year, but I have learned from buying too many of those in the past that have flamed out. Better to let them become proven lures before I splurge lol.

Thanks, the first step will be staying away from this page and finding out what the other pages on the site have to offer. I think I will do ok. If I don't have a gift card I generally don't order. Thankfully Black Friday and the 25 days sale happen before the cutoff. Though those are replenishment orders for me more than anything. Nope to the teckel, I tried some homemade ones and liked them, but they don't fit 95% of my fishing so the three homemade ones I have will last me a while. There is one person on here that I hope finally got his, because he was real excited about them. As far as favorite baits go I could survive on my tube and Kalins grub boxes for years, both are super versatile baits and I have just a few of each in a few colors;) On a much smaller scale this was me. I have all my TW orders printed out and I am checking off the baits I use as I use them that I thought I had to have four years ago. If Something was on clearence, I bought a bunch, well just because. I think in the future I will try to be smarter about my purchases and limit impulse buys that will likely never get used.

Not a diehard Muskie guy, but have caught all my musky on bass gear including two mid 40s. Really think right now the big muskies are chasing smaller baits. Have had multiple 50s follow bass cranks in. Don't tell the musky guys though;) Some Muskie tackle can make Megabass baits look like a deal;)

The optimist in me, very small part, would hope the opposite that my money saving would be remembered once my kid is out of college and I would get a chance at a big order or shopping trip. Realistically your probably right.