Spring Bass Fishing With The Ned Rig with Mike McClelland

Hey, everyone. Mike McClelland, here with BassResource to talk springtime fishing a Ned rig. And, you know, when you ask, what is a Ned rig? I mean, Ned rig is just basically a term that got coined from a guy that developed a system of catching a lot of bass on Table Rock Lake a number of years ago. And simply, a Ned rig is just a real small, finessey style way to catch bass. A Ned rig is about as simple as you can get. This is a little Big Bite Ned style worm.

Generally, it's just a little straight worm, anywhere from about 3 inches to 4.5 or 5 inches, different sizes, different shapes. But, Ned rigging is really more of just a term that people talk about when they're doing this style of fishing. The typical Ned rig is going to be an open hook style like this one, which, I'm doing this with the Gamakatsu Finesse Jig head, and the thing that's great about this little Gamakatsu Finesse Jig head is it's got a spring lock system that's going to help keep that worm on. You can catch multiple fish. I mean, until they just completely chew that worm up, you're not going to have to worry about that worm sliding down on the hook with this new little Gamakatsu Jighead, the spring lock jighead. It comes in a variety of sizes, so, you know, you can fish this thing at about any depth.

Another real key to Ned rigging is the equipment that you're going to fish it on. I mean, very seldomly are you going to throw a Ned rig on a bait casting type setup. I mean, it's always going to be done with a spinning rod. One of my favorites is a Falcon little finesse jig spinning rod. It's a 7-foot rod, a medium, medium heavy action rod. And, I'm always going to fish a Ned rig on a spinning rod using braid as my main line, tying an FG knot to a fluorocarbon leader. And, this is really important because, I mean, it just eliminates you needing to change line all the time. I mean, that braid will last for months. And, all I got to do is tie a new leader on, you know, daily, or, you know, sometimes you have to do one through the course of the day.

But, I like to tie a leader that when I'm fishing this bait, the leader is about, probably about 14 feet long. I want that leader to get in the reel when I'm landing a fish. So, you can see that, typically, my braid is going to be just a little longer than the rod doubled. And, the FG knot, in my opinion, is the only way to go when it comes to connecting braid to fluorocarbon.

But, whenever you're Ned rigging in the spring, you know, you get into those situations where you might want to fish around a little heavier cover, and that's where the weedless finesse jighead EWG hook style bait really comes in handy. I've got a little Big Bite Kamikaze Craw rigged on this Gamakatsu Weedless Ned EWG, and it's a perfect combination to be able to fish in that cover, around brush piles, you know, around laydowns, things like that. And, you can even use the finesse weedless style jighead with other baits too. I mean, baits like the Big Bite Baby B2 is a great bait to put on the weedless jighead, or you can also fish, you know, things like the Super Soft Trick Stick, Big Bite Super Soft Trick Stick. Any of these baits can be fished on a Ned head, just depending on the type of cover and the size of fish that you're fishing for.

But, when it comes to springtime Ned rigging, fish in the spring just typically, I mean, they're moving up, they're moving shallow, and that's the beauty of the Ned rig system, is just your ability to fish that bait at any depth. I mean, once you establish a depth that those fish are in, just by changing the size of your jighead, you can fish from 1 foot deep out to 25 foot deep if you need to.

As always, when I'm starting to look for, you know, fish in that springtime period the year, I'm going to be focusing on areas that are adjacent to spawning areas, you know, places that have deep water close to points, close to boat docks. Any place these fish can migrate from deep water to shallow water in a real quick fashion is places I'm going to throw this Ned rig, you know, around rock transitions.

That's probably one of my favorite things to look for on lakes that like fish there in the Midwest is, you know, where you go from a bluff to a chunk rock bank, or you go from a chunk rock bank to pea gravel. I mean, any time you've got a different rock transition, that's a real key place.

Boat docks are another place that I really, really like to throw a Ned rig. I mean, those fish will get around those boat docks, staging, getting ready to spawn, and a Ned rig is a perfect bait to throw around boat docks, because especially the weedless version. I mean, you can skip it up between the boats, you can skip it up under the boat docks, you can reach bass that are, you know, just sitting, waiting, lurking to eat. And, the finesse style baits are just the key.

I don't know how many days, you know, I want to catch them on a crankbait, I want to catch them on a jerkbait. But, when it gets tough and you got to put fish in live well, or you're just out there having fun, and you want to put fish in the boat, the Ned style fishing is a great way to get it done in the springtime.

Once the fish get on beds, a Ned rig may be one of the most effective ways to catch them off beds too. Generally, when I'm fishing around bedding fish with a Ned rig, I want to use the open hook style. And, with that bait being as compact, and small as it is, you generally don't have to worry about a fish not getting it. If you can intrigue that fish enough to biting this little Ned head, he's going to eat the whole thing, and the odds of catching them on this open hook go way, way up. You're not having to set the hook and go through all that.

And, that's another real key when you look at Ned rigging. A lot of people still think you got to set the hook even with the Ned rig. But, I mean, when I'm fishing a Ned rig, and I'm shaking that Ned rig along, and I feel one bite it, I don't set the hook like a normally would. I mean, it's typically, when I feel that fish bite, and it gets heavy, I just start winding. When my rod loads up a little bit, I just lean and wind a little bit faster, and the hook penetration of these Gamakatsu hooks is going to get them for you.

So, next time you're out looking to catch pre-spawn, spawning fish, be sure and look into throwing a little Ned rig system, Gamakatsu Ned heads, Big Bite plastics, and you're going to catch a bunch of fish.

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