NED TRD RIG hook size

[SCWatrboyo1]

I fish a river that has some good current, and I keep hearing about the Z-Man TRD's and I have a pack, but I just don't know what kind of hook I could actually use them on to fish seeing how the water is moving so much,  I feel the 1/6oz still might not be heavy enough, but wanted to see what you guys think. 

[frosty]

I use the zman shroom head for mine. I fish a creek with decent current, I just cast upstream and let it drift down stream. Kind cheating but it works pretty good. 

[SCWatrboyo1]

what size zman shroom head do you use 1/6  1/10 or 1/15

 

[frosty]

I'm pretty sure they are all the 1/15, but I doubt it would make any difference considering how light they are regardless. 

Might not hurt to get a couple different weights, I usually lose a few in the creeks. 

[SCWatrboyo1]

I ordered some 1/10's and 1/6's, hopefully I'm just not blowing money its a huge river and it moves quick where I fish

 

[Darren.]

I use 1/10 and 1/20 in local reservoirs. If I were fishing

rivers I'd go on the heavier side to get the rig down. 

 

Experiment with the two. Look at it as that, an experiment

and not blowing money . If you fish any other water, use

the lighter rigs for that.

[Scott F]

I do it differently. I fish a lot of rivers and in the shallow stuff I fish, even in fast current, I still use the lightest jig I can. The heavier the jig the more you lose. The bass are used to looking up for their food to come to them moving with the current. I like baits that move naturally with the current and don't hang up all the time.

[IndianaFinesse]

Are you asking for the hook size or the jig weight?  I use a #4 or #2 hook usually on a 1/16 ounce mushroom head, but occasionally I'll drop it down to 1/32 or bump it up to 3/32.

[Bluebasser86]

If you're asking hook size, I use a #4 or #2. I pour my own with the Midwest Finesse mold and use the 1/16oz 99.9% of the time. 

 

The bait being light and falling slow is kind of the whole idea of the rig. It parachutes down, swirls around in the current, just like a craw/minnow/bug that's been dislodged/disrupted from it's hiding spot and is easy pickings. 

[SCWatrboyo1]

yeah i'm asking about weight, sorry.  But yeah I understand the fact you want it to look natural.  I fly fish a lot and that presentation works great, but I feel when I fish the TRD its something that you would want to get on the bottom, just my opinion, but if yall think the lighter would work similar to a fly I would be more than glad to try it.  Thanks for all of the responses

[the reel ess]

I bought the 1/10 with the weed guard, but now I wish they were lighter and plain hooks. The bait weighs a bit like a Senko so it helps cast. The weed guard on a small bait doesn't look that natural and it's wire, so it catches weeds. It still gets bites though and I could cut them off.

[Bluebasser86]

Only time I let it hit the bottom is on the initial fall. Any other times that it touches the bottom are incidental. 

[SCWatrboyo1]

So I basically need to fish it like I would fish a fly, just let the current drift it down stream and mend the line every once in a while.  Is this correct??

[Bluebasser86]

That's basically how I've fished it in the current. If the current is slower, you can hold your rod tip high and just follow the bait downstream and let it swing in the current seams. It really is pretty similar to flyfishing when done in the current. 

[smalljaw67]

8 hours ago, SCWatrboyo1 said:

yeah i'm asking about weight, sorry.  But yeah I understand the fact you want it to look natural.  I fly fish a lot and that presentation works great, but I feel when I fish the TRD its something that you would want to get on the bottom, just my opinion, but if yall think the lighter would work similar to a fly I would be more than glad to try it.  Thanks for all of the responses

 

What Bluebasser 86 told you is how the technique is supposed to be fished. You can fish it anyway you want but the original way the technique is  fished is often called a "no feel" technique because you don't really feel it dragging or bouncing along the bottom. The guys that use it on the rivers I fish try to keep it anywhere from a few inches to 2' off the bottom depending on how high the water level is and other conditions like water clarity, weather. I use a 1/16oz and a lot of true finesse guys like using even lighter weights like 1/32oz, the technique for fishing current is to basically drift fish it like you do a fly, make a cast up stream at a 45 degree angle and let it fall and then reel slowly, how fast you go depends on how deep the water is. My river is 4.5' deep right now and fish will be near shallow riffle so I'll be focusing on the area right above and below the riffle, and that bait just moving in there from upstream will resemble a small prey item that got washed out from under a rock.