How do you retrieve the ned rig?

[EGbassing]

About to buy my first finesse rod. (ML/F Shimano Clarus) I'm planning on throwing the ned rig a lot, but I have one question. How do you retrieve it? I've watched a lot of videos on it, but none of them seem to explain how to retrieve it. Should I just hop it, drag it, or what? I'm fishing a shallow pond with fairly stained water. Also, is it more effective in deeper water, or shallow water? (in the summer) Thanks in advance.

[Russ E]

all of the above. it is a versatile bait.

here is a video from Ned Kehde, explaining the different retreives. The technique is named after him.

 

[Jig Man]

Fishing in a pond first thing I'd try is "dead sticking" it.  If that didn't work then slow drag with rod pulling it to the side.

[LCG]

I have caught quite a few fish on the ned rig in a pond that is muddy. Usually start by hopping, then dragging, then dead sticking. Caught a few good size catfish on it as well.

 

Just make sure to leave zman elaztech baits in their original bag, they don't play nice with other plastics or Plano boxes. 

[NYWayfarer]

I catch most of mine by hopping it. Hop, pause, hop, pause. I have watched a fish in shallow clear water come up and examine the bait when it stopped moving, then attack it when I started my hop.

 

 

[Mbirdsley]

Ned rig is deadly in rivers for small mouth.  Usually I use 1/16 or 1/8 depending on current.  Works better when wading or if you can get in the middle of the river.  Basically I throw it up stream at a 45 degree or greater angle and than reel in just enough to keep the line semi-tight as the current brings it back to you. You want enough wieght so it just ticks the bottom and it will stand up while going over rocks.  You do no want it dragging the bottom as it comes back to you.  

 

I have not tried it in a lake or the deeper wider rivers yet that would require a boat.  That is on my to do list this summer yet though. 

[bagofdonuts]

Seems the answer to the op's question "how do you retrieve a ned rig?" is ... you don't.

[Bass Turd]

You can retrieve it any and every way you can think of. Really... keep trying new ways until you get bit. The only place I wouldn't throw it is grass or pads (but I don't have much grass or pads where I fish). Swim it, hop it, drag it, jig it, dead stick it, rip it, ignore it.

[BigDriverrat]

IMHO the clearest video from the man himself:

 

http://www.tulsaworldtv.com/Ned-Kehde-Six-Midwest-finesse-castandretrieve-styles-31544187

[theflyman]

19 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

I catch a ton just slow rolling it back it over weed beds or along deep weed lines.   It is also effective pitched to a dock or another target and allowed to dead stick.  Highly versatile baits.

⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️same here

[EGbassing]

On 6/25/2018 at 3:59 PM, Weedwhacker said:

all of the above. it is a versatile bait.

here is a video from Ned Kehde, explaining the different retreives. The technique is named after him.

 

Thanks. That was helpful, but I can't quite figure out what he's saying about the "swim glide and shake" retrieve. Any advice on that?

[Russ E]

2 minutes ago, EGbassing said:

Thanks. That was helpful, but I can't quite figure out what he's saying about the "swim glide and shake" retrieve. Any advice on that?

 

1:you let the bait fall to the bottom.

2:then reel a couple cranks to lift the bait off of the bottom.

3: let it glide back to the bottom while shaking the rod.

 

This technique works well if the bottom is fairly clean.

If there are a lot of weeds I usually don't let it touch bottom. I  try to keep it just above the weeds.

 

 

 

 

[ww2farmer]

I am a ned rig noob. BUT I have been catching tons of bass on it, and some really good ones to boot since I started using it.

 

I watched a ton of videos, read articles, etc... to get the basics down. It probably helps that I have been fishing 30+ years, and have been known to catch a few fish here and there too, but the learning curve was rather short for me...going from "lets see how to do this" to "well that's darn effective" in just a few hours.

 

What works best for me (so far) is a medium short cast....I can best describe it as, longer than a pitch to cover, but shorter than I would cast a moving bait...IE...about 25-30 feet away. I cast it either along deep grass lines in 7' to as much as 15' deep, or right into areas of sparse grass rock mix in depths ranging from the bank out to 15' as well. The 1/15th. oz head gets the most bites, the 1/10th gets a few, the 1/5th so far gets ZERO bites for me. I don't have any 1/20th...yet. I fish on a 7' M spinning rod w/10lb braid, and a 6lb FC leader, on a 2000 size reel. The rod is more like a ML than a M, and has a nice limber tip. As soon as I get a bite, it's a lift and reel set. The little hooks are buried every time, and I have yet to bend one or break a fish off. A lot of the fish I catch are 2-3 lbs, but I have caught a bunch of 4-5lbers on it so far, and other than a longer than normal battle because of the light leader and light wire hooks, have had zero issues so far getting them in the boat. The only bait I have used so far is the Finesse TRD's, and in my K.I.S.S. mind, they will be all I use until they stop working.

 

As soon as it sinks all the way to the bottom (a lot of bites are on the first fall), which takes a while the deeper you get, I either A.) point the rod right at the bait if there's a breeze, or B.) hold the rod  parallel to the water at about the 9' o'clock position if it's dead calm. If the bait makes it to the bottom without getting bit, and with the rod held in either of the above mentioned positions, I simply give the reel 2-3 moderate paced cranks to lift it off the bottom, and then wait for it to glide back down, pausing a good while (8-10 seconds) to insure it's on the bottom, and repeat the 2-3 cranks/pause all the way back to the boat. I impart NO action to the bait with the rod tip, the most I will do is a shake/pop if it catches a piece of grass, or hangs on a rock. I would say, 80% of my bites come on the initial fall, and 20% come on the retrieve. The bites on the fall are 50-50 largemouth to smallmouth, and almost ALL the big fish I have caught on it, bite it on the first fall. The bites on the retrieve are about 80-20 smallmouth to largemouth, when it's a bass that bites it, and about a 50-50 ratio of bass to "other" species, with rock bass being the most common fish other than bass to bite it on the retrieve. It's kind of impressive on how much water you can cover with it in a short amount of time, even with having to "wait" for it. 

 

IMHO the Ned rig is not "magic", as in it won't get bites when your not around fish, and jig head weight is SUPER SUPER critical, as in the the lighter the head you can use the more bites you will get. BUT it will get bites if your around fish that absolutely will not bite anything else. For me so far this year it is out fishing the drop shot, flick shake, shaky head, and other finesse/tuff bite techniques I lean on by a wide margin. The only thing close to  keeping up with it so far this year is the Neko rig, which has produced less numbers than the Ned, but a higher % of big fish. IE, for every 3-5 lb fish I have caught on the Ned, I have caught double that on the Neko, but the Ned is producing it's big fish when I can't buy a bite on the Neko rig.

[tcal4404]

9 hours ago, ww2farmer said:

I am a ned rig noob. BUT I have been catching tons of bass on it, and some really good ones to boot since I started using it.

 

I watched a ton of videos, read articles, etc... to get the basics down. It probably helps that I have been fishing 30+ years, and have been known to catch a few fish here and there too, but the learning curve was rather short for me...going from "lets see how to do this" to "well that's darn effective" in just a few hours.

 

What works best for me (so far) is a medium short cast....I can best describe it as, longer than a pitch to cover, but shorter than I would cast a moving bait...IE...about 25-30 feet away. I cast it either along deep grass lines in 7' to as much as 15' deep, or right into areas of sparse grass rock mix in depths ranging from the bank out to 15' as well. The 1/15th. oz head gets the most bites, the 1/10th gets a few, the 1/5th so far gets ZERO bites for me. I don't have any 1/20th...yet. I fish on a 7' M spinning rod w/10lb braid, and a 6lb FC leader, on a 2000 size reel. The rod is more like a ML than a M, and has a nice limber tip. As soon as I get a bite, it's a lift and reel set. The little hooks are buried every time, and I have yet to bend one or break a fish off. A lot of the fish I catch are 2-3 lbs, but I have caught a bunch of 4-5lbers on it so far, and other than a longer than normal battle because of the light leader and light wire hooks, have had zero issues so far getting them in the boat. The only bait I have used so far is the Finesse TRD's, and in my K.I.S.S. mind, they will be all I use until they stop working.

 

As soon as it sinks all the way to the bottom (a lot of bites are on the first fall), which takes a while the deeper you get, I either A.) point the rod right at the bait if there's a breeze, or B.) hold the rod  parallel to the water at about the 9' o'clock position if it's dead calm. If the bait makes it to the bottom without getting bit, and with the rod held in either of the above mentioned positions, I simply give the reel 2-3 moderate paced cranks to lift it off the bottom, and then wait for it to glide back down, pausing a good while (8-10 seconds) to insure it's on the bottom, and repeat the 2-3 cranks/pause all the way back to the boat. I impart NO action to the bait with the rod tip, the most I will do is a shake/pop if it catches a piece of grass, or hangs on a rock. I would say, 80% of my bites come on the initial fall, and 20% come on the retrieve. The bites on the fall are 50-50 largemouth to smallmouth, and almost ALL the big fish I have caught on it, bite it on the first fall. The bites on the retrieve are about 80-20 smallmouth to largemouth, when it's a bass that bites it, and about a 50-50 ratio of bass to "other" species, with rock bass being the most common fish other than bass to bite it on the retrieve. It's kind of impressive on how much water you can cover with it in a short amount of time, even with having to "wait" for it. 

 

IMHO the Ned rig is not "magic", as in it won't get bites when your not around fish, and jig head weight is SUPER SUPER critical, as in the the lighter the head you can use the more bites you will get. BUT it will get bites if your around fish that absolutely will not bite anything else. For me so far this year it is out fishing the drop shot, flick shake, shaky head, and other finesse/tuff bite techniques I lean on by a wide margin. The only thing close to  keeping up with it so far this year is the Neko rig, which has produced less numbers than the Ned, but a higher % of big fish. IE, for every 3-5 lb fish I have caught on the Ned, I have caught double that on the Neko, but the Ned is producing it's big fish when I can't buy a bite on the Neko rig.

 

Great post, thanks for sharing!

[EGbassing]

14 hours ago, Weedwhacker said:

 

1:you let the bait fall to the bottom.

2:then reel a couple cranks to lift the bait off of the bottom.

3: let it glide back to the bottom while shaking the rod.

 

This technique works well if the bottom is fairly clean.

If there are a lot of weeds I usually don't let it touch bottom. I  try to keep it just above the weeds.

 

 

 

 

Thank you. I'll try that.

[buzzbaiter83]

There’s not really a bad way to retrieve it. I’ve had the most success stroking it like a jig and then shaking it after the fall in this warm weather. 

[Brad in Texas]

On 6/26/2018 at 10:44 AM, NYWayfarer said:

I catch most of mine by hopping it. Hop, pause, hop, pause. I have watched a fish in shallow clear water come up and examine the bait when it stopped moving, then attack it when I started my hop.

 

 

Other than advice from Ned, the master himself, I think this is likely one of the high probability retrievals . .  what NYWayfarer mentions. You'd want to drop the Ned Rig down, and see if it, first, gets bit on the drop; then; secondarily, you'd want to dead-stick it maybe with just a little wiggle to get some attention. For a time.

 

But, if no bites from these first two opportunities, "hopping" it forward a bit makes more sense than dragging it. The 'why' behind it is when the Ned Rig is stationary and just being lightly wiggled, all the fish within a certain distance can see it. Saw it, too, on the drop. Depends on the water color, the bottom condition, of course, so who knows??? I'd say, though, that a Ned Rig that comes falling through the water likely gets the attention of bass in a radius of 5 or 10 feet, maybe much more at times. So, no use staying in that same "circle" if not getting bit, so hop it into the visual field of some more "suspects" in a different area. In essence, the hopped Ned Rig will then be seen by some different fish. One of them might have the reaction you are looking for!

 

Brad

[Todd2]

58 minutes ago, Brad in Texas said:

I'd say, though, that a Ned Rig that comes falling through the water likely gets the attention of bass in a radius of 5 or 10 feet, maybe much more at times. So, no use staying in that same "circle" if not getting bit, so hop it into the visual field of some more "suspects" in a different area. 

Thats been my theory for a long time. I hear guys say they let a T-Rig or Jig sit for a minute or longer. For one, I don't have the patience. But more than that, I want to move it to that next "circle" as you put it. But deadsticking does work, just for me, there's a fine line between deadsticking and soaking it in fishless areas.

[Brad in Texas]

1 hour ago, Todd2 said:

Thats been my theory for a long time. I hear guys say they let a T-Rig or Jig sit for a minute or longer. For one, I don't have the patience. But more than that, I want to move it to that next "circle" as you put it. But deadsticking does work, just for me, there's a fine line between deadsticking and soaking it in fishless areas.

Agreed. I just let the season and circumstances dictate how long I'll let a presentation sit. If they are actively biting, if not bitten, move it.  I have found, though, just generally speaking, that there are times when I am rather surprised at how very long it takes a bass to decide to bite. Well over a minute, for sure, but like two amateurs fist-fighting in a parking lot, what seems interminable to watch is almost always over in about 30 seconds.

 

One minute is a long time for many anglers, certainly I suppose those who are more oriented toward power fishing presentations. I bet a single minute would feel like an afternoon to them.

 

Too, I fish out of kayaks and my canoe and, again just generally speaking, we tend to fish much slower, work over water much more thoroughly than bass boats working by on trolling motors. 

 

Brad

[Wade Babbitt]

On 6/27/2018 at 3:29 PM, Bass Turd said:

You can retrieve it any and every way you can think of. Really... keep trying new ways until you get bit. The only place I wouldn't throw it is grass or pads (but I don't have much grass or pads where I fish). Swim it, hop it, drag it, jig it, dead stick it, rip it, ignore it.

I have only tried it a couple times but this is the problem i run into. I fish in a lot of marshes off of Lake Erie and there are cattails, lilly pads and other brush type obstacles. Usually depths of 8-15 feet. I have a lot of luck with the t-rigged rage craws but literally only catch LMB with them. Ive heard a lot of people say they catch nice cats with the trd finesse ned rigs which definitely appeals to me. Ned rig seams to be far more versatile than most other setups/techniques.

[Glaucus]

I'm a sinner and typically fish them like a mini shaky head which gives me my best results.

[Bluebasser86]

I swim/shake/glide most of the time, but mine rarely touches bottom. It can't touch bottom in a lot of the lakes I fish, not many times anyways. I was lucky enough to share the boat with one of Ned's buddies that helped develop the whole deal and taught me how to do it. The attention to detail they put into it is pretty incredible. It only took one trip of getting thoroughly outfished from the back of my boat to realize it was something I needed to learn though. 

[Glenn]

 

[fin]

I've been real tempted to try ned rigs. I fish very similar methods, but not with the ned rig materials. I use small plastics with very little weight.

 

The main thing that has kept me from trying the ned is the exposed hook. Both of these videos talk about catching 50+ fish off a single TRD. It's hard for me to believe when fishing an exposed hook on the bottom. Maybe the lake I fish just has a lot more wood and rocks. I also understand a lot of the hits come from the fall, and they never hit the bottom. I don't think that would be the case in my heavily fished lake.

[txchaser]

TW has ball head "ewg" style hooks that let you skin hook it like a t-rig. Way less weedy than the two-wire version.