Ned Rig not floating?

[Hez]

Has anyone ever messed with their TRD (Ned Rig) in a sink or some other closed environment?

 

I had mine out yesterday, and found out about half of the pack was not bouyant.  I would place them in the water and some of them would float and some would sink.

 

I initially discovered this when I filled up the sink to check the action on the ned rig I had just tied on.  I put it in the sink and it just laid on the bottom...and I thought to myself that wasn't right.

 

i pulled up the ned rig video and sure enough, they are supposed to stand up and have live action.  Mine did not.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Hez
Fat thumbs can't spell right

[Baitcaster]

I think if you stretch the tail end of them out and let it go it will form air pockets in the tail making them float.

[Smokinal]

I've done some experimenting with them in the tub (and no, I was not in it with them...). I found the same; some sank, some floated and some were half in between. This is due to the salt content of the baits. Which I would have thought would be more consistent but I'm not familiar with the manufacturing process so I don't know.

What I do that helps is I put them in warm water, not hot because this softens them too much, and I stretch them gently. You will see the grains of salt come out of the bait and feel them soften up. Retest them and they will all float after this. They will be a little more limber too.

[Team9nine]

11 minutes ago, Smokinal said:

I've done some experimenting with them in the tub (and no, I was not in it with them...). I found the same; some sank, some floated and some were half in between. This is due to the salt content of the baits. Which I would have thought would be more consistent but I'm not familiar with the manufacturing process so I don't know.

What I do that helps is I put them in warm water, not hot because this softens them too much, and I stretch them gently. You will see the grains of salt come out of the bait and feel them soften up. Retest them and they will all float after this. They will be a little more limber too.

 

^^ This ^^

....though honestly, I don't give a rat's behind whether mine float or not   I don't even bother checking.

[Airman4754]

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

 

^^ This ^^

....though honestly, I don't give a rat's behind whether mine float or not   I don't even bother checking.

 

I didn't even know they were supposed to. Looks like I might be doing it wrong...

[Team9nine]

27 minutes ago, Mosster47 said:

 

I didn't even know they were supposed to. Looks like I might be doing it wrong...

 

Yeah, Elaztech is highly buoyant, which is why they add salt to some of their baits (to help them sink). Some people are highly intrigued, even convinced, that the bait needs to stand up at rest. I don't put much stock in all that as I don't do much deadsticking. Same with shaky heads. Whatever gives you confidence...

[tander]

All the TRD's, Hula Sticks suppose to float and they will. When I get a pack of them, I put all of them in the sink and see which ones float. Those that do not float, I run warm water over them and start stretching them until they do. Standing up on the bottom is the best parts of the Ned rig, looks like baitfish feeding on the bottom.

[Bluebasser86]

Never even bothered to check. Apparently our fish didn't know it makes a difference either

 

[JustJames]

I did the same when I got a pack, the one that float will always float, but the one that sink if you stretch it a little some a lot will start to float with head down. I separated them use the float one on shroom jig head and the sink ones on dropshot rig.

[MNGeorge]

We don't feel they need to float to be effective...we fish them in the river on swinging football heads or regular football heads weighing 3/8 to 3/4 oz. depending on depth, current and wind conditions and have enjoyed great success with them.

[RoLo]

The shaky worm is a bottom bait that relies heavily on bottom pauses & tail action.

The Ned Rig is a swimming bait, that may or may not make bottom contact (ideally just above bottom).

For this same reason, a popular weight for a shaky head is 1/8 oz,

but the most common weight for a Ned Rig is 1/16 oz (half the weight)

 

The Ned Rig traditionally uses a stubby worm with a hook shank running thru its core,

so it's not important if the plastic floats or sinks (however, floating plastic slows the sink rate).

On the other hand, the shaky worm benefits a great deal from 'floating' plastic,

which makes the free-swinging tail easy to jiggle on the pause.

 

Roger

[IndianaFinesse]

I rarely let my neds deadstick on the bottom, I almost always swim it just above the bottom while subtly shaking the rod tip, so weather it floats or not matters little to me.  They will lose the salt and float in about an hour of fishing, or you can soak the salt out if you want, but it doesn't really matter.

[Simp]

I think that's kind of what's great about the bait. You can fish it a million ways and as long as your getting bites it doesn't matter how you fish it.

[Hez]

Thanks for all of the replies.

 

a lot of what you say makes sense.

 

The only reason I mentioned it was because that was one of Z-mans selling points and something that set them apart from the other stick baits.  They explain this in one of their videos.  

 

Again, thanks for all of the replies - good stuff as always.