Ned rig vs drop shot question

[Tom Rust]

So I watched Ned Kehde video detailing how he thinks the Ned rig is most effective when the Ned bait is swimming about 6 inches above the bottom. He states that you have to concentrate on keeping the bait at that depth. I’m wondering wouldn’t a drop shot be perfect then as you can set that depth above the dropshot weight and you just reel slowly and keep the Ned bait plastic 6 inches off the bottom?  In other words, use a Ned. Air on the dropshot rig??  What do you all think?

 Correction: should be Ned BAIT on a dropshot rig

[Kenny Yi]

Yes.

 

 

 

 

 

Lol on a more serious note, Brian Latimer made a drop shot video awhile back and said he uses both Zman stickbaits (sometimes wacky rigged) and Ned baits (also sometimes wacky rigged) for that exact purpose.

[AManWearingAHat]

I thought the whole point of the Ned rig was to be hopping it off the bottom.

 

For the situation you described OP, yes the drop shot would be easier and more suitable to keep suspended off the bottom at a fixed depth.

[galyonj]

2 minutes ago, AManWearingAHat said:

I thought the whole point of the Ned rig was to be hopping it off the bottom.

 

Not necessarily, though it works really well presented like that. As with all things, it kind of depends on what kind of mood the fish are in. 

 

I've had days where I did really well swimming them in current.

[TnRiver46]

6 inches off the bottom is a myriad of tree branches that consume ned heads 

[galyonj]

8 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

6 inches off the bottom is a myriad of tree branches that consume ned heads 

 

I mean, if you're 6 inches off the bottom in certain parts of Fort Loudoun, you're three feet into the brush pile and wrapped around the body shell of a 73 Gremlin full of diapers and old Pennzoil bottles.

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, galyonj said:

 

I mean, if you're 6 inches off the bottom in certain parts of Fort Loudoun, you're three feet into the brush pile and wrapped around the body shell of a 73 Gremlin full of diapers and old Pennzoil bottles.

On Tonka - most places 6" off the bottom is 5' deep in the weeds.

[J Francho]

5 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

I mean, if you're 6 inches off the bottom in certain parts of Fort Loudoun, you're three feet into the brush pile and wrapped around the body shell of a 73 Gremlin full of diapers and old Pennzoil bottles.

On the "City Dump" a more productive spot is the pile of 80 gallon drums nearby.  Not sure what was in them, but it's probably fine.

[galyonj]

Yeah, nothing to worry about.

[Fishes in trees]

I use a drop shot, bot  finesse style and bubba style, to fish specific spots.   I think you can use a ned to do that, but it is better at covering areas, albeit pretty slowly.   What the original poster referred to Ned as "keeping the bait 6" off the bottom, four decades ago, Charlie Brewer  referred to that technique as "polishing the rocks."

[Bird]

27 minutes ago, galyonj said:

 

I mean, if you're 6 inches off the bottom in certain parts of Fort Loudoun, you're three feet into the brush pile and wrapped around the body shell of a 73 Gremlin full of diapers and old Pennzoil bottles.

Gotta admit, that's quite the imagination. 

Neds do hang quite a bit in submerged cover but surprisingly the 1/16 shroom heads that I use, bend the hood before breaking off.........maybe not snagged to the wiper blade of 73 Gremlin. 

[galyonj]

I started using Mule Jigs mushroom heads over the winter, and I can usually get them bent out and back to me rather than just break it off completely, but it depends on whether the hook point itself is snagged, or the whole lure's wrapped around something down there.

[MickD]

I've used both drop shot and Ned both slowly and quickly moving, static, at different depths, and I don't recognize any kind of "must always do it this way" requirement.  The fish determine what works.  

[AManWearingAHat]

1 hour ago, galyonj said:

 

Not necessarily, though it works really well presented like that. As with all things, it kind of depends on what kind of mood the fish are in. 

 

I've had days where I did really well swimming them in current.

 

Funny story, when I heard "Ned Rig" for the first time and looked up what it was, I had to l laugh. I had been buying "Ned head" jigs for years and using them on single tail grubs to swim them. In so far that this is one of my confidence baits.  Swimming a grub with a ned head on it will almost always net me a catch. Guess I had been a Ned Head all along 

[Junk Fisherman]

I use TRDs and other "Ned rig" baits on a dropshot all the time.  With a dropshot and a 3/8 or 1/2 oz sinker, you can get that bait down instantly and you know exactly where your bait is.   The Ned rig catches fish on the fall since it sinks much slower.  I prefer to use a dropshot on isolated rocks that I find on my electronics since it is easier to hit my target.  With wind and a slow fall you often don't get your Ned where you want it.  I probably should fish my Ned off the bottom more but I am typically fishing it on the fall and then dragging and hopping it on the bottom (unless the bottom doesn't allow it).    

[galyonj]

1 hour ago, AManWearingAHat said:

 

Funny story, when I heard "Ned Rig" for the first time and looked up what it was, I had to l laugh. I had been buying "Ned head" jigs for years and using them on single tail grubs to swim them. In so far that this is one of my confidence baits.  Swimming a grub with a ned head on it will almost always net me a catch. Guess I had been a Ned Head all along 

 

Yup. The most innovative department in any fishing tackle company is the marketing department.

[J Francho]

I mean they got dozens to say things like, "I keep my turds in a 3700 box," "I like green pumpkin colored turds," and my favorite, "I throw turds everywhere I go."

[MGF]

I guess my answer to the op would be a qualified "yes". It's mostly in the river that I use the ned. I try to size it so that it bounces down river with the current just barely ticking the bottom. It's actually fairly snag free using the Zman TRD because it stands up fairly well with the nose of the jig bouncing on the bottom. I haven't really used it much in lakes...heck for the last few years I've mostly been on the river.

 

I sometimes use a drop shot in the exact same situation but I think it's a different presentation. The bait is slightly off the bottom. On a few occasions it's been just the ticket. 

8 hours ago, AManWearingAHat said:

 

Funny story, when I heard "Ned Rig" for the first time and looked up what it was, I had to l laugh. I had been buying "Ned head" jigs for years and using them on single tail grubs to swim them. In so far that this is one of my confidence baits.  Swimming a grub with a ned head on it will almost always net me a catch. Guess I had been a Ned Head all along 

I often swim a grub on a jig or Texas rigged but it's a little different presentation than the way I use a ned...similar but different.

[Bluebasser86]

No, it would not be the same thing or really even close in the capacity that Ned is talking about. Fishing a Ned rig like he's talking about, you're covering a ton of water but also methodically picking it apart. A drop shot is more of a target presentation and does not have the action when lifting and moving the sinker along. The drop shot does not have the slow descent that the Ned rig has with the light jighead either. A lot of days, a majority of bites will happen on the initial fall. 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

On 4/30/2021 at 12:10 AM, Tom Rust said:

So I watched Ned Kehde video detailing how he thinks the Ned rig is most effective when the Ned bait is swimming about 6 inches above the bottom. He states that you have to concentrate on keeping the bait at that depth. I’m wondering wouldn’t a drop shot be perfect then as you can set that depth above the dropshot weight and you just reel slowly and keep the Ned bait plastic 6 inches off the bottom?  In other words, use a Ned. Air on the dropshot rig??  What do you all think?

 Correction: should be Ned BAIT on a dropshot rig

Casting DS rigs is very different from fishing them vertically.  When you cast a DS the angle of the line is going to reduce the effective length of the tag.  If your tag is 6" from the hook to the weight and you cast it 30ft from the boat your bait isn't going 6" from the bottom until the rig is nearly under the boat. 

[MN Fisher]

9 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

If your tag is 6" from the hook to the weight and you cast it 30ft from the boat your bait isn't going 6" from the bottom until the rig is nearly under the boat. 

Throwing this into some Trigonometry equations and assuming a depth of 6' at the end of the cast.

 

If you have a taunt line, that 6" distance from the weight to the hook translates into 1.17" off the bottom...might as well toss a Ned Rig.

[J Francho]

Not if you want to keep that bait in place while the boat is bobbing or drifting.  The drop shot is the only rig that allows you to suspend a bait in place while maintaining direct control of the bait.

[Eddie101]

For a drop shot, do you use Medium or ML rod? And is 8 -10 lb leader suitable for that rig? 

[MN Fisher]

29 minutes ago, Eddie101 said:

For a drop shot, do you use Medium or ML rod? And is 8 -10 lb leader suitable for that rig? 

I'm using a ML, and 6# InvizX for the leader.

[J Francho]

8 hours ago, Eddie101 said:

For a drop shot, do you use Medium or ML rod? And is 8 -10 lb leader suitable for that rig? 

Same as any other rig, depends on the cover and weight involved.  If there is no cover or very little, I prefer a ML/XF.  I've also rigged one up on my flipping stick, and tossed the rig into pads.  If I'm fishing vertically, I might go way down in power, since I'm not casting.  So, a ML power rod is ok even if you are using a 3/4 oz. sinker because you're just opening the bail and dropping the bait over the side.