Shakyhead vs ned vs wacky

[Doelman]

I use wacky rigs and shakyheads fairly often, never a ned rig, but I use them interchangeably.  When conditions call for finesse fishing, how do you pick between the three?

[fishballer06]

Try them all and see what works. More often than not, all of them will produce, but some days one will be better than the others. 

[OkobojiEagle]

All three "techniques" are variations of the same theme and pretty interchangeable.  When I wacky rig it is most often drop-shotting.  Occasionally I rig a worm wacky style and put a nail weight in the head, today people are wanting to call this Neko rigging.  I slow swim finesse worms, grubs and hair jigs in the same manner as some swim "Ned rigs"... the difference is...?  Dragging or lightly hopping a small worm on a light jighead has been happening pretty much since Nick Creme began molding his plastic worms, but sometime between then and now it became a shakeyhead (I've referred to it as a jigworm).  My point is anglers have been catching bass for years on all three riggings so pick your favorite and fish it.  If you're not catching bass, rig your worm a little differently and give it a go.

 

oe

[Fishes in trees]

3 different rigs for different situations, IMO.   I like a shakey head (in various weights & head styles) when I'm fishing sparse to moderate cover in 6 to 15 feet of water.  IMO, baits for shakey heads are generally larger than baits for Ned rig. (trick worms, 7" power worms, and so forth).  Ned rigs are for shallower spare to moderate cover.  I may be in the minority but waiting for a 1/10 oz jig head with  half a sinker z stuck on it to drop 10 to 12 feet drives me nuts.  I'm fairly confident that it would work deep but waiting for it to drop would drive me nuts.

 

A wacky rig is a different bait for different circumstances.  I throw wacky rigs at objects and let it drift down next to them.  I never randomly throw a wacky rig - got to have a target.   As the name implies I often throw a wacky rig at mid lake trees and let the wacky rig drift down 8-10 - 12 feet or more.  (I feel it requires at least 5 to 6 feet of visibility for this to work, which frequently doesn't happen). In cases of lesser water visibility I favor a 10" worm and a 3/16 or quarter ounce tungsten for the same scene, i.e. drop down close to a tree trunk.

 

Other than the ned rig, neither of the other two techniques have to be a "finesse" technique per se.  Depends on how you look at it.   I don't have to use Med or ML rods and light line to finesse fish.  I can have my 7'2" jig rod and be throwing a quarter ounce jig head in 15 feet of water and I'm "finesse fishing".  I think the term finesse fishing applies more to the attitude and pace of your fishing than your gear.

[NYWayfarer]

6 minutes ago, OkobojiEagle said:

If you're not catching bass, rig your worm a little differently and give it a go.

 

Good sensible advice.

 

It reminds me of when I was sight fishing for Bass and noticed a 2lber turning its nose up at my wacky worm. I changed colors and that didn't work. What I noticed was the Bass would follow the worm to the bottom and stare at the worm but not commit. I switched to a ned rig and when the bait hit the bottom the Z-Man TRD was standing straight up. That was the ticket as the Bass hammered the ned rig. 

[FCPhil]

Where I fish it is very difficult to fish the bottom because of the vegetation. Therefore the wacky rig is the only one of those three I throw.

[smalljaw67]

Shaky head is one of my top finesse presentations, you can almost guarantee a fish with it. I use those in 5' down to 20' and I also use them if I'm around some type of cover on the bottom like stump fields or weed beds. Wacky rig is my shallow water target bait, if I'm fishing visible cover and looking for a bite the wacky is perfect but I'm not covering a lot of water, if I'm not getting bit on a jig or T-rigged worm I'll go wacky and then if that isn't working I'll cover deeper water with the shaky head. The Ned rig for me is light heads even in 15' of water, if you go to Z-Man and read the blog there, they have an article titled the 8 most common Ned rig mistakes, the top 3 are hooks too big, tackle too heavy, and jig heads too heavy. The reason is the Ned rig is a no feel technique  and it isn't supposed to be felt on the bottom but rather just skimming along, feel anything more than a slight tick and the head is too heavy, and that said I use the Ned rig when the fish are scattered, if I'm not catching fish on visible cover or if I'm noticing fish cruising and not biting I'll go to the Ned rig. Sometimes if I go and we have bluebird skies or other conditions that I know I'll struggle I'll go right to the Ned rig. Most of the time I'm fishing it adjacent to normal areas that hold fish like docks or transition banks and points, a lot of times I find that if the fish aren't directly on those places they usually aren't far off and are either cruising or suspend nearby. The Ned rig is becoming a mainstay for me when the fish are suspended just off the bottom, I could never get those fish to bite consistently but they will bite a Ned rig moving past really slow, the key is that it doesn't crash the bottom but sort of hovers over it and lightly hits the bottom and moves up when reeled, and that I learned over time with it, I originally fished it more like a shaky head with 3/32oz and 1/8oz weights in water less than 10' deep and when I started using the light head last year the catch rate jumped dramatically, just some food for thought.

[Doelman]

Good advice guys, thanks!  I guess I should start trying out the ned rig, I have a bag full of ripped in half senkos that might work.

[Bluebasser86]

On 6/29/2017 at 9:18 AM, Doelman said:

Good advice guys, thanks!  I guess I should start trying out the ned rig, I have a bag full of ripped in half senkos that might work.

Do yourself a favor and splurge on a bag of Zmans for the Ned rig. It's the buoyancy and softness of those baits that gives it the very subtle action that works so well. The senkos will absolutely work, but the Zman baits just do it better and it's not like it's breaking the bank to buy a pack or ten. 

 

The 3 are very different presentations and rigs, at least the way I fish them. I can't hardly fish a shakyhead anymore, too many zebra mussels everywhere. Wacky rig and Ned rig are always rigged up and ready to go though. 

[OkobojiEagle]

On 6/29/2017 at 9:18 AM, Doelman said:

I have a bag full of ripped in half senkos that might work.

 

20+ years ago Dick Bengraf, a legendary smallmouth angler from New York state who fished the waters of NE U.S. and SE Canada, suggested that swimming a light weight jighead dressed with a broken half of Senko through the bottom 1/3 of the water column was a successful smallmouth presentation of his.  As a longtime member of this site, I know Dick's presentation can't be considered a Ned rig, but I have to wonder if the bass in your lake will make such a distinction...

 

 

oe

[Will Wetline]

On 6/28/2017 at 10:47 AM, OkobojiEagle said:

All three "techniques" are variations of the same theme and pretty interchangeable.  When I wacky rig it is most often drop-shotting.  Occasionally I rig a worm wacky style and put a nail weight in the head, today people are wanting to call this Neko rigging.  I slow swim finesse worms, grubs and hair jigs in the same manner as some swim "Ned rigs"... the difference is...?  Dragging or lightly hopping a small worm on a light jighead has been happening pretty much since Nick Creme began molding his plastic worms, but sometime between then and now it became a shakeyhead (I've referred to it as a jigworm).  My point is anglers have been catching bass for years on all three riggings so pick your favorite and fish it.  If you're not catching bass, rig your worm a little differently and give it a go.

 

oe

 

Aptly stated, oe. There are differences among the three riggings mentioned and one may produce better than the others on a particular outing so change up and find out.

 

We do experience the rare day when bass will whack almost anything, but most of the time I'm working whatever patiently, which is often key to success whether you're fishing the Lindner's jig and worm from the '60s or today's Ned rig with Finesse TRD.

 

While I'm rolling . . . One of the Concise Oxford American Dictionary's definition of "finesse" is to "do (something) in a subtle and delicate manner." 

 

So, Mr. Doelman, understand that it's the attitude as well as the bait that makes a presentation work.

[Boomstick]

A shaky head can be rigged weedless, where a wacky rig is often better for open water. A ned rig is also suitable for open water and you won't need any rubber bands, so that can be convenient. A wacky rig will kind of flutter around, and the baits on the ned rig tend to be shorter so if you need to cover a lot of ground, a ned rig can be convenient. Also a minnow in a ned rig will often catch walleye (if you have any in your area).

 

You can start with the method that seems to make sense for where you're fishing but if one method is not working, then try the other.

[mllrtm79]

Personally I got annoyed about the third yellow perch on the ned rig, so I put a senko style 5" stick bait on the ned hook wacky style, and hit 2 2.5lb bass in the next ten minutes. I will revisit the ned in the future, but for now I stick with what I have working for me. 

I do know that the #2 hook directly through the top lip was my strongest hookup of the day on those two bass. Usually i'm off to the side or in the gullet with wacky (gammy) hooks. 

[MickD]

If the small fish are eating the NED, try the big one.

 

If I didn't have the NED, I would have very few fish this year.  But I have caught a pretty good number of fish.  Partner and I took 32 smallies last week, all on the NED.  I tried lipless cranks, small slow deep cranks, hard jerks, soft jerks, drop shot, tubes, wacky drop shot, surface including the Whopper Plopper, and caught zero on those.  Partner tried some of the above without any success.  so. . . it was the NED again that saved the day.

 

There are a lot of very soft takes on the NED, and bass will try to swallow them.  Whatever they think they think NEDs  are, they want to eat them.

[Cgolf]

On 6/29/2017 at 9:18 AM, Doelman said:

Good advice guys, thanks!  I guess I should start trying out the ned rig, I have a bag full of ripped in half senkos that might work.

 

I have also found that skinny heavily salted 1/2 stickbaits work really well too. I like an Anglers Choice wart hawg, but believe that GYCB has a skinny Senko and there are others out there. I do also us a half Zinkerz as well. I think that both have their place and the action is different because one plastic wants to sink while the Zman plastic wants to float.

 

I probably carry 7 or 8 different colors of both the wart hawgs and Zinkerz in the boat with me at all times when fishing clear water. When on Dingy water, it goes down to about two colors each.

[d-camarena]

I only break out the ned rig when im getting skunked. If they are biting i wont because in my area it mostly catches dinks

[gim]

I haven't tried the big TRD yet and mostly catch dinks on the finesse TRD so I'll give the big ones a try to see if bigger fish like them.

[Doelman]

I have a couple packs of the TRDs coming in, I'll try them out next to the half senkos I have and see how they do.

 

Maybe I'm a hoarder, but I really hate to waste all these perfectly fine leftover senko halves, I have at least 40.  

[d-camarena]

4 hours ago, Doelman said:

I have a couple packs of the TRDs coming in, I'll try them out next to the half senkos I have and see how they do.

 

Maybe I'm a hoarder, but I really hate to waste all these perfectly fine leftover senko halves, I have at least 40.  

Get a bottle of mend it a  the halves together to make a whole senko. You could make some cool color combos