Hey everyone. Mike McClelland, MLF Pro coming to you today to talk a little summertime Ned rigging. And, you know, Ned rigging is just, kind of, a general term that has got coined to a certain type of fishing. And it's just a finesse fishing application. You know, used to, we used to just call it throwing a finesse worm or throwing a jig head. There's so many different terms that have been utilized for this type of fishing, but probably what makes Ned rigging a little different, a little more special, is the Ned style worm. And, you know, Big Bite's got a little Ned style worm that I like to throw. Green Pumpkin...Green Pumpkin Candy. Colors like that just always seem to be great baits to throw on that Ned rig.
When it comes to Ned rigging, I mean, one of my favorite little jig heads for Ned rigging is this Gamakatsu finesse jig head. The beauty of the little Gamakatsu finesse jig head is the fact that it's got a spring lock system right below the lead. So when you rig that Ned rig worm on that spring lock system, it's gonna stay on there. You're gonna be able to catch multiple fish, not have to go through a lot of re-rigging. Comes in a variety of sizes.
So when you're fishing summertime, you might want to increase the size, you know, up to an eighth or a three-sixteenth, a little bit bigger head that's gonna allow you fish this bait a little bit deeper in the summertime.
If you're fishing lakes that have a lot of structure and cover, Gamakatsu also has the finesse jig head EWG style that is designed to rig weedless. And essentially what it is it's a Ned head without the spring lock, but with an EWG style hook that you can rig your bait weedless to throw. So you can throw it around brush and laydowns and, you know, bigger rock and things like that. Get it in those places where the fish really want to hang out in the summertime.
Like I said, Ned rigging, it's really a method that can be used year-round. And when I'm Ned rigging in the summertime, the key to it is you don't ever want to overpower a Ned rig. I mean 99% of the time when you're throwing a Ned rig, you're going to be throwing a Ned rig on a spinning rod. I love the Falcon 7-foot finesse jig spinning rod to do it. I like the Bass Pro Shop 2,500 or 3,000 reel. And then I'm always going to throw my Ned style baits on braided line as my main line, and then I'm gonna tie an FG knot to where I connect my Sunline leader to that braid.
And the thing that this does is it just allows for a lot better feel. The braided line, the Sunline SX, is gonna give you a lot better feel. I can use fluorescent braid. So I'm actually able to track my line better. I can see when that bait has hit the bottom. Because that's one thing about Ned rigging is you're generally fishing it on much lighter heads than we would conventionally fish with a Baitcaster. So the ability to be able to actually track that line and watch that braid go down. And when that braid stops, you can see that fluorescent braid. So Sunline SX Braid, generally 10-pound test.
And then your leaders can vary. That's the beauty of tying an FG knot. I can sometimes if I'm fishing around heavy cover, I'll increase my leader size to 10 or 12-pound test, Sunline Sniper. A lot of times if I'm fishing super gin-clear situations I'm gonna be throwing 6, 8, 10-pound Sunline Sniper as my leader. But when you start talking Ned rigging in the summer, typically, you know, bass after they've spawned, they start pulling off the bank a little bit. And they're gonna go to that first piece of cover, or that first drop.
And when I talk about that, you know, if they're spawning on a big, long, flat, and it's got a couple of points that run out, those fish typically will follow that point out until they get to that first deep water access. If they're spawning on steeper banks they typically will just pull off that bank to the first cover that's available. That could be stumps. It could be boat docks. I mean, there's so many various things that these fish when they get done spawning, they're gonna pull to. And when you're talking summertime fishing these fish are gonna stay there as long as that thermocline, you know, starts forming in the lake, those fish are gonna stay there until it really forms.
So you can catch them from, you know, 3 to 5-foot deep out to 15, 18-foot deep. And a Ned rig is just a great way to do it. 4
There's a variety of baits that I like to throw on the Ned rig, the Ned worm. I like to throw a little Big Bite Kamikaze Craw, a little Big Bite 3-inch Fighting Frog. Both of these baits, in my opinion, you know, need to be pretty finessey on that Ned rig. Another bait that I love to throw on a Ned rig when I'm fishing brush piles or fishing around stumps is just a Super Soft Tour Series Big Bite Trick Stick. I mean, this is a bait that, you know, a lot of people fish Neko rigged. They fish it weedless. But to me, I love to throw this bait on a Ned rig. It allows me to put that bait in places that a lot of people won't.
So when you're looking to catch some fish summertime Ned rigging, be sure and check out the Gamakatsu finesse weedless hook as well as the Gamakatsu finesse jig head. Get you some Big Bite plastics and go have some fun.
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