Fish Species Caught On A Ned Rig?

[Old plug]

J-Doc You can be assured they are going to have all sorts of special things just for the ned rig. Then in a year or so they will start making magnum sizes so on and so on. I still think this is all about marketing these things.

[dtrs5kprs]

So why is Elaztech so crucial compared to any other senko? If you're dead sticking it with very little action, what's the big advantage?

Also, and you insert a worm rattle or use a bead in front of the jighead to make a little noise? Seems if you're keeping it in one spot, you would want to make some noise with it to call the fish in.

No noise is needed. You are trying to make the fish sense or hunt for something that is just sort of there. Think this triggers the "hunting" instinct the same way a smoke grub does. Even in the stained lakes in KS and northern MO we do not add noise to the baits.

There are many advantages to the elaztech baits.

They have much better action, and are softer. This is magnified with use. These baits actually soften up. Basically the salt works loose in the bait, and the bait will take up water, and become softer. It is a strange deal.

They last through many fish, vs. one or two with a plastic stick. Unless you leave it in a tree, rock, or dock, the bait you start the day with should last for at least 25 fish, and may last for many more. Smallmouth are a little harder on them when they are on craws, tend to crush them and clamp down. Durability ends up being equal to efficiency and economy.

They float/stand up. Really. Not like other baits that claim to float. This actually makes the elaztech sticks close to worthless as wacky rig baits. I use senkos or generic sticks for that. It makes the elaztech stuff killer on little heads, trailers, shakey heads.

It will stick in bass teeth. Have seen it over and over, especially with well used baits. Posted a video of it last year. It sticks to their teeth like it is the soft side of velcro. Gives you more time to feel the fish, and get him stuck.

Personally, the first trip out with it in 2011, I was very skeptical about the elaztech. Had some bad experiences with the early Strike King and Terminator baits. One single flat calm, bright afternoon in Whites Branch changed that.

J-Doc You can be assured they are going to have all sorts of special things just for the ned rig. Then in a year or so they will start making magnum sizes so on and so on. I still think this is all about marketing these things.

Plug...Ned is not making anything from this. The elaztech baits were available for years before he started using them this way, and began writing about it. Only one bait was designed for the technique, with one other possible bait to come. Before that he used regular plastic, and has written extensively about why he changed.

I have had lots of folks ask about buying heads, but have not sold the first one, except to Jim Lovan at Sportsmans who insisted on paying for some. I went back the next time I was down and left more with him, because I felt awful that he paid the first time. I have given at least 200 or so away over the last couple of years...to tmt guys, shop owners, guides, families with kids at resorts, guys at ramps and docks. Good heads with either Gamakatsu, Owner, or Mustad premium hooks. You can figure up the value of those, roughly 50 cents each just for the hook.

One of the reasons I have been reluctant to sell any is to avoid any appearance of what you allege. My goal is simply to help folks catch fish. Table Rock can, and will, kick your butt on any given day. This rig is something of an equalizer. In small lakes and ponds it is much more. I remember all too well trips at Table Rock where I was just happy to catch one or two fish, and know there are others who are here, perhaps lurking, that are or have been in that boat. Hopefully this helps some of them avoid the zero, and more importantly helps their kids learn to love fishing.

I buy my baits from Zman and Strike King (and have also given away many bags of those), no relationship of any kind, somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 of elaztech every year (probably low). More if there is a new application, and not just for the little rig. Their MinnowZ is one of the best bodies you can run on a dart head, scrounger head, or an a-rig. Glue it up and you will fish the same body until you leave it in a tree. The new Turbo Crawz is a bait you can put on a football jig and dare the perch to de-claw. Good luck, won't happen. That will save $$$ vs. GYCB craws, Zoom craws, etc. Need a frog like a Horny Toad that won't fall apart? They make one, and I use them. The stuff is strange as get out, but it works.

On occasion I still buy Ned's beloved Gopher head, and some Outkast heads. I also buy Hayabusa heads because they offer some different weight options. I will also at times use plain old crappie heads, and have mentioned them frequently. Are they the same? No, but they will work in a pinch.

One of Ned's friends did design a bait for Zman (Drew Reese-Hula StickZ) based on some modifications folks were making to the ZinkerZ. He also finished 7th in the first Classic at Lake Mead. It is a good bait, but my guess is it is not anywhere close to a top seller. It looks a little odd, and is a little odd. Works like crazy though.

There is a prototype "finesse" Zinkerz in the works. Think it will be basically a pre-cut version of what we are doing now. Sadly, that is because there are a lot of folks who are too "dirty word here" lazy to cut a bait in half with scissors. Too lazy to use scissors? Only in today's America.

A magnum version makes no sense at all, except perhaps in saltwater, and frankly I know nothing about the salty fish. It would be the dead opposite of the primary use of the system in freshwater.

Never mind the fact that it is a larger system, and the little rig is only one part. Tiny hair and feather jigs will work at times. Finesse tubes (not thick double dipped, but true finesse tubes-like the old gitzit with a chiclet head) will work. Smoke grubs on 1/32oz and 1/16oz heads. Zoom's Tiny Brush Hog is very good in the post spawn, as is the Tiny Paca Chunk (not craw). The little rig is simply an accessible part, that most people, with or without much skill can put together and make work. Obviously the better you are to start with, the more fish you are likely to catch with it.

In short, no one is drumming up business by talking about this. We are trying to help folks catch fish, or more fish. Period. And it will, if they keep an open mind about things. I started doing it in April of 2011, and have not zeroed on Table Rock since then, frequently on the strength of a tiny head and an ugly, cut down worm. It will pull your butt out of a deep hole in a hurry.

My kids catch keepers, their own keepers, with all the autonomy and self empowerment that implies, using it. No tending worms and bobbers. Just kids fishing and having a blast. For the record, my son was 6 years old when he caught his first keeper smallmouth on it. It is a dynamite tool for introducing kids, or novice adults, to fishing. Something is always eating it, as implied by this thread, and they are constantly engaged because of that. I know others have seen this in action, because other OAF members have posted or PM'd about it. If you have non-fishing family down to a lake house for a weekend it is perfect for them. Easy to use, hard to foul up, fish eat it, big smiles on the drive home.

Sorry. Just thought it needed to be cleared up.

[dtrs5kprs]

Sorry...and J-Doc, sometimes we do swim it. The elaztech is crazy when you swim it.

[dtrs5kprs]

The video on the deal with the teeth. Not a big fish, but it does a nice job of showing the effect. Have seen it time and again, just happened to have the camera handy for this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyFkP8zvgOA

[Al Agnew]

Ham, don't forget about those hard fightin' hybrids aka wipers.

Drew, do you happen to know the binomial nomenclature for the mean-mouths? Or if they even have one yet?

The so-called meanmouth is a hybrid. The original meanmouth was a laboratory cross between a largemouth and a smallmouth (they don't cross in the wild). Now it's usually taken to mean a cross between a spotted bass and a smallmouth, which does occur in the wild. Being a hybrid, the nomenclature would be Micropterus dolomieui X punctulatus.

[Quillback]

I wish someone would manufacture the jig heads for this rig. Mondo tackle carries them under the FIN S brand, but they are unpainted and lack the weed guard. I don't see much "marketing" or promotion going on here, just fishermen willing to help each other out. And as durable as the Elaztech baits are, no one is going to make a killing selling them to guys fishing the Ned rig. Your average weekend fisherman could probably get by on 4 bags of these worms a year, especially if you're swimming them on gravel points.

[drew03cmc]

Okay, what is the recommended tackle for a Ned Rig?

[dtrs5kprs]

Okay, what is the recommended tackle for a Ned Rig?

Covered extensively in the links above, but basically a drop shot type rod, six pound fluoro (either as a main line or leader if you like braid). A big reel helps keep line issues down, but that is true generally. Something a step up from the "bass" size 2500's.

[dtrs5kprs]

I wish someone would manufacture the jig heads for this rig. Mondo tackle carries them under the FIN S brand, but they are unpainted and lack the weed guard. I don't see much "marketing" or promotion going on here, just fishermen willing to help each other out. And as durable as the Elaztech baits are, no one is going to make a killing selling them to guys fishing the Ned rig. Your average weekend fisherman could probably get by on 4 bags of these worms a year, especially if you're swimming them on gravel points.

It would be a bear to do without going to centrifugal casting. Even then, the wire guard is the limiting factor in how feasible it is. Big fiber guards like we use in fb jigs are simple, but hand fitting those small wires in nearly invisible slots takes forever.

Gophers use the spin casting, and Ned quoted the owner as saying the mold set up is what takes the most time. The wires would not help.

[Tim Smith]

That's Louisana talk for Bowfin (Amia Calva)

In North Louisiana that's "Grinnel".