How do you fish a Ned Rig 20 to 40 feet deep?

[Tackleholic]

With the popularity of Ned Rigs, I am interested to learn how others apply the technique in deep water.

[Cgolf]

3 minutes ago, Tackleholic said:

With the popularity of Ned Rigs, I am interested to learn how others apply the technique in deep water.

I wouldn't fish the traditional Ned rig that deep, I would likely go to a heavier head. If they did need the slower fall of the lighter head, it would be like walleye fishing, patience and a lot of cider;) Seriously though if going with a lighter weight you would need a line you could see easily and I would fish it vertically.

 

What I have done fishing Ned weighted jigs for walleye is mark the line, bobber stop works when have enough line out to be on bottom. When dropping the bait keep an eye on the line and if it stops dropping or starts moving in an unnatural manner and you don't see your on bottom mark reel up and set the hook. It can be very tough fishing, but if you get on good fish it is worth it.

[Steelhead]

Patience is the biggest factor for me when fishing the Ned deep. On numerous occasions on two of the lakes I fish I'll work the Ned from 15'-30' but have never gone beyond that depth.

 

It was a few weeks ago and was out a first light. No top water bite and a few dinks fishing shallow after a couple of hours of implementing different baits and techniques. I moved out to deeper water fishing a TRD on a 1/15oz. chartreuse  Finesse ShroomZ using the swim-shake-glide method making contact with bottom on the glide and caught both Smallies and Largies up to 4lbs. Time and time again this produces fish when nothing else catches fish with any consistency and size. 

 

Most at of the time I'll use a 1/15oz. mushroom head if it's fairly calm and bump it up to 1/10 to 1/8 when the wind picks up.  I won't go any heavier that. 

 

I will also drop shot a TRD when fishing deeper. I also find the TRD TubeZ works a lot better drop shotting than on a mushroom head. I cut out 3-4 tentacles on the TRD TubeZ and for me it seems to work better. 

[BoatSquirrel]

I took a beat down from the back of the boat last fall by a buddy throwing a 3/16 oz ned which I thought was way too heavy. I was throwing a 1/8 and could not buy a bite.  Picked up some 3/16 Lifted Jigs EWG heads and had multiple 20 fish days through the winter fishing in 25-35'.  When the fish are deep I think that larger head gets the bait down to them.  Hope that helps man.

[Jig Man]

To answer your question, I fish 20+ a lot using 1/16 and 3/32 oz heads.  I am a firm believer that the Ned should be fished behind me for best results.

 

 I put the boat in the depth that I want, make a diagonal cast and let the bait fall.  If no strike I give a light twitch, lift the rod tip a bit and let it fall again.  While doing this I have the trolling motor running as slow as it will go so that the bait is not only coming toward me but also swinging to the max depth that it will be fished.  Then I can fish it parallel in that depth back to me and repeat the process until I find the correct depth.

[TnRiver46]

How to fish ned deep? Wait longer for it to sink..........

 

it works “video game” fishing vertically With a 2d depth finder at any depth, some people catch them all the way to 80’ in winter here 

[Cgolf]

18 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

How to fish ned deep? Wait longer for it to sink..........

 

it works “video game” fishing vertically With a 2d depth finder at any depth, some people catch them all the way to 80’ in winter here 

My depth finder isn't good enough for video game fishing and I am happy for that. Most I will use sometimes is a fish cam to see if we waste our time on a spot. What I described above works great for Eyes, no reason it wouldn't work for the Ned too. For me though light weights deep are my last attempt, I try heavier weights first because they are more efficient.

[TnRiver46]

21 minutes ago, cgolf said:

My depth finder isn't good enough for video game fishing and I am happy for that. Most I will use sometimes is a fish cam to see if we waste our time on a spot. What I described above works great for Eyes, no reason it wouldn't work for the Ned too. For me though light weights deep are my last attempt, I try heavier weights first because they are more efficient.

it doesn’t take a high tech unit, I’m pretty much the bottom of the barrel in depth finders and I can see a 1/16 oz jig on the screen 

[Cgolf]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

it doesn’t take a high tech unit, I’m pretty much the bottom of the barrel in depth finders and I can see a 1/16 oz jig on the screen 

Due to the poor design of my trolling motor (terrova) my front depth finder is hung off the back of my 16 foot boat. I ended up snapping 3 cables with it on front before it p*****d me off enough to take drastic measures. Also had tons of motor feedback issues and had to use a rubber mat between the motor and transducer to get it to work. Realistically I only use it for following breaklines or finding humps anyways so it works for me. Doesn't allow me to video game fish though. I mostly shallow water fish, but if I do deeper water I toss deep divers or lipless baits on the breaklines. The humps I have only fished for walleye.

[J Francho]

In water that deep, a drop shot would be a much more efficient way to fish a small soft plastic.  

[Bluebasser86]

We wore them out pretty good at Beaver Lake in Arkansas one day on a 1/16oz Ned in 40' of water. Took a long time, maybe close to a minute, for it to sink. Fishing an underwater bluff I'd found and fish were stacked on it. A lot of drops the bait never made it to the bottom, but they wanted that slow fall. I tried a jigging spoon, drop shot, and tube also and they wouldn't touch any of them.

[Nelson Delaney]

I’ve used them to catch lake trout in 120’ + deep water.  Find the heaviest head you can find & watch the fish on the finder.