Rage Ned Rig bait and one other too

[Cgolf]

Was rigging up some baits for the May opener and a conversation on instagram inspired me to rig the Rage Baby Menace on a Ned head and man it looks like a winner. 

The second was I cut down a Zoom UV speed craw by removing 2 or 3 sections to see how that works out. Thinking both of these baits will work well. 

[KDW96]

Looks good. Also try it on a baby paca craw 

[Comfortably Numb]

Ya I have been using the Z Craw with good sucess this year. Or these lil guys on a 1/8 weedless head. I guess we are gettin out of the proper NED rig tho. And the ones with the flappin claws def dont skip as well.

 

 

[Cgolf]

7 minutes ago, Comfortably Numb said:

Ya I have been using the Z Craw with good sucess this year. Or these lil guys on a 1/8 weedless head. I guess we are gettin out of the proper NED rig tho. And the ones with the flappin claws def dont skip as well.

 

 

I think we are still good. That isn’t a whole lot different than the TRD hawgz I have seen that Ned uses. 

[Comfortably Numb]

I love these ball heads Cadman makes for me. 1/8 oz, fiber weedguard and #1 hook. So snagless and great hook up percentage. 

 

The whole flat mushroom head deal seems like a gimick to me. 

[Bluebasser86]

4 hours ago, Comfortably Numb said:

The whole flat mushroom head deal seems like a gimick to me. 

The mushroom jig wasn't used for the shape of the head, but the size and quality of the hook available from Gopher. Since they've gone out of business, Ned is using an pill head from VMC now, the mooneye I believe it's called. 

 

I started out with cheap ball heads from Wal-Mart but use the Midwest Finesse mold now. Having that wire keeper is a game changer with Zman baits. The head shape doesn't matter, it's the small, thin wire hook that doesn't hinder the subtle action of the small baits that is the key. 

 

@cgolf that speed craw probably won't have much action with the light jighead. The Zman Crusteaz might be something that would fit the bill for you though. They're a fun little bait with a lot of action in a small size that catches everything. 

[Todd2]

Those look good, I guess at some point it gets away from being a "Ned" so that means it won't catch fish...lol. I'm still playing around with it but right now my favorite is a TRD on a Crappie Slider. I put it on the Slider, pull it down a little and dab some super glue in that little depression on top of the TRD and then slide up to the slider head and hold for a few secs. You can catch many fish without having to do much at all. I make up 2 or 3 before I go, but so far I usually only use the one unless I lose  it because they are so durable and comes through all kinds of cover.

[Cgolf]

3 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The mushroom jig wasn't used for the shape of the head, but the size and quality of the hook available from Gopher. Since they've gone out of business, Ned is using an pill head from VMC now, the mooneye I believe it's called. 

 

I started out with cheap ball heads from Wal-Mart but use the Midwest Finesse mold now. Having that wire keeper is a game changer with Zman baits. The head shape doesn't matter, it's the small, thin wire hook that doesn't hinder the subtle action of the small baits that is the key. 

 

@cgolf that speed craw probably won't have much action with the light jighead. The Zman Crusteaz might be something that would fit the bill for you though. They're a fun little bait with a lot of action in a small size that catches everything. 

Curious to see how it works. Over the years the yum crawbug has caught the most smallies for me on the system these will be fished. I think they just like the profile, so even if the flappers on the speed craw don’t do much it should catch fish on that system. 

[Bluebasser86]

39 minutes ago, cgolf said:

Curious to see how it works. Over the years the yum crawbug has caught the most smallies for me on the system these will be fished. I think they just like the profile, so even if the flappers on the speed craw don’t do much it should catch fish on that system. 

I use the Zman Punch CrawZ on them when I want a craw profile bait and it works really well, especially in early spring. 

[fishwizzard]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The mushroom jig wasn't used for the shape of the head, but the size and quality of the hook available from Gopher. Since they've gone out of business,

 

I really hope someone ends up buying their molds and starts making them again.  Clearly the demand is still there.  

[Bluebasser86]

2 minutes ago, fishwizzard said:

 

I really hope someone ends up buying their molds and starts making them again.  Clearly the demand is still there.  

There's so many people out there pouring with the Midwest Finesse mold and CNC molds for the smaller sizes that I doubt they do, especially with their unwillingness to communicate with anyone trying to get their products. 

[fishwizzard]

20 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

There's so many people out there pouring with the Midwest Finesse mold and CNC molds for the smaller sizes that I doubt they do, especially with their unwillingness to communicate with anyone trying to get their products. 

That's too bad.  When I made my first order with them the owner called me up to confirm my color section and we chatted for a long while, he was very chatty and a super nice guy.   

 

I still have not found a head I like as much as the old Gophers.  Rock River is now offering a 1/32oz head with small hooks, but really I just want a 1/16oz with a #2 or 4, but it seems impossible to find one.  

[NYWayfarer]

You can cut the "claws" off the Rage Baby Menace and it will resemble a Z-Man TRD.

 

I do this with my beat up Berkley Powerbait Power worms and it works.

[Further North]

I rig a hula grub like this...works great...

[Cgolf]

15 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

That's too bad.  When I made my first order with them the owner called me up to confirm my color section and we chatted for a long while, he was very chatty and a super nice guy.   

 

I still have not found a head I like as much as the old Gophers.  Rock River is now offering a 1/32oz head with small hooks, but really I just want a 1/16oz with a #2 or 4, but it seems impossible to find one.  

I was super bummed that I could no longer get them, will have to see how the Siebert Morels and the new Berkeley heads hold up. Only thing I can figure is something sudden happened, because the site and everything was still up. Service before was very good. 

[Cgolf]

20 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

A 2.8 Crazy Flapper is also great.

Grabbed 6 packs of those on the 25 days TW sale. Will be curious how well they hold up. They look cool. 

[dgkasper58]

On 4/18/2018 at 5:13 AM, Todd2 said:

Those look good, I guess at some point it gets away from being a "Ned" so that means it won't catch fish...lol. I'm still playing around with it but right now my favorite is a TRD on a Crappie Slider. I put it on the Slider, pull it down a little and dab some super glue in that little depression on top of the TRD and then slide up to the slider head and hold for a few secs. You can catch many fish without having to do much at all. I make up 2 or 3 before I go, but so far I usually only use the one unless I lose  it because they are so durable and comes through all kinds of cover.

Do you find that the slider jig head inhibits the bait rocking/lifting back up?

 

I see the jighead being nice for running through the weeds- but think the weight of the hook and jighead design would inhibit action.

[Todd2]

20 minutes ago, dgkasper58 said:

Do you find that the slider jig head inhibits the bait rocking/lifting back up?

 

I see the jighead being nice for running through the weeds- but think the weight of the hook and jighead design would inhibit action.

 

I tested the two side by side in a bucket and the TRD floats up a little higher with the Ned  head. It floated up with Crappie Slider too, just at a lower angle if that makes sense. The Crappie Slider hook is a little bigger than the Ned so it's fair to say it would inhibit the action some, but I haven't noticed a difference in bites or hookups. The weedless nature more than offsets any negative at this point for me, but I'm still playing around with it. I plan to fish them both for a while.

[Graham]

On 4/17/2018 at 6:29 PM, cgolf said:

Was rigging up some baits for the May opener and a conversation on instagram inspired me to rig the Rage Baby Menace on a Ned head and man it looks like a winner. 

I rigged up a couple rage menace the exact same way last week and did a google search to see if it was a common thing. I felt so unique haha, but I’m glad to see that other people are getting creative. Let me know if you have any success with it!

[Cgolf]

1 hour ago, dgkasper58 said:

Do you find that the slider jig head inhibits the bait rocking/lifting back up?

 

I see the jighead being nice for running through the weeds- but think the weight of the hook and jighead design would inhibit action.

I have fished 1/2 zinkerz on a slider spider head and really done well around docks and weeds and had really good luck with it. Even fished it on my local river and it came through the rocks well. I happen to call it a Sled rig lol.

 

I do fish an anglers choice wart hawg a lot which is a heavily salted skinny stick bait and the fish love it, it seems the tail doesn't need to float up to have success with the Ned.

[WRB]

Everything posted are finesse jigs and a stretch to call them Ned jigs.

Siebert Outdoors Morel mushroom jig, XL with Owner 1/0 and standard with size 1 are a good choice for Ned rigs, at .95cents each why look any further?

Tom

[Cgolf]

58 minutes ago, WRB said:

Everything posted are finesse jigs and a stretch to call them Ned jigs.

Siebert Outdoors Morel mushroom jig, XL with Owner 1/0 and standard with size 1 are a good choice for Ned rigs, at .95cents each why look any further?

Tom

The jigs I used in the pics were 1/16 ounce berkley half head jig with a size 1 hook, 1/16 ounce Morel with a size 1 hook, and the the minnow heads on the zoom UV speed craws are 1/16 ounce with a size 1 hook.

 

So far I like the shape of the morel better than the berkley, as it being pancaked more covers more of the bait.

[J Francho]

As if Ned rig wasn't more complicated, we need Ned's approval as well? 

 

[WRB]

We made asperin or pill heads by squeezing round heads in a vice about 50 years ago, didn’t know what finesse was back in the dark ages, but they worked!

Tom

[Cgolf]

5 hours ago, WRB said:

We made asperin or pill heads by squeezing round heads in a vice about 50 years ago, didn’t know what finesse was back in the dark ages, but they worked!

Tom

I cut my teeth finesse fishing for walleye and crappie, and just used the same jigs and plastics for bass because it worked. The slider spider head really opened up my options and have been using that going on 20 plus years now. 

 

The only complaint about the Ned rig is they put a name and rules on a rig we have used for years.