The Year of "The Ned"

[jackman724]

This report is long overdue with many THANKS going out to all of the awesome folks on this forum...please hang with me as I have a lot to share.

Got to the lake on Friday the 24th with 8 days ahead of us along with great expectations based on all of the reports. Spent the entire week with my brother (both of us from STL) and had the good fortune of getting my dad out in the boat with me the first few days. My dad loves to be out there, but is of the ilk that could care less how many fish he really catches. He likes fiddle around with various lures and typically fishes pretty casually. I insisted that if he was in a boat with me, he would fish hard and would have a Ned Rig on the line until it stopped working. Let me tell you, he NEVER put it down.

APR 25 - We headed up the James to the area around points 12/13, and it was on!!! I was fishing a Biffle Head with adjoining bug and he was throwing the Ned. He proceeded to catch over 30 fish (including a slam) including 6 keepers while I caught only 4 fish (all keeper LM including a 3.5 lber. I told myself I wouldn't throw the rig until he left as I was fishing the front of the boat and just didn't want to take anything away from his opportunity to slaughter them.

Sunday and Monday the 26th and 27th were tougher days for us but we still managed to catch close to 30 each days with several fish in the 17"-18" range. My brother who was fishing in another boat with a friend switched to the Ned after a tough Saturday and proceeded to catch 15 keepers mostly SM in a very tight area and was also hooked on the Ned. He also proceeded to fish with the Ned without interruption the rest of the week.

After my dad departed, I jumped in a boat with my brother and his friend for a couple of days and the fishing went nuts! We boated 60+ fish both days (again mostly SM with some spots....few LM) Our keeper % was unlike anything I had ever seen. We caught 20-25 in the AM went back for lunch when the fishing slowed and then went back to the very same stretches of water as we caught 30-40 more each afternoon and evening.

My uncle came down and I fished with him Thursday and Friday as began his annual Lake of the Ozarks trip a couple days early. He too tied on a Ned and never put it down. At this point, I cannot keep it out of my hand either other than the occasional cast of the swim bait into the schools of spots crashing bait in the evenings. Again we caught close to 60 fish between the 2 of us each day and even got a little late evening/night fishing in as the moon came closer to full. I picked up an Jewel old skool black and purple jig both evenings and caught 3 keepers each night using a zoom speed craw trailer on the end in about 25 FOW.

Finished up the trip with my brother and his friend on Saturday the 2nd and had our best day yet. We had caught so many fish that we decided we would play a game of "pic or flip" and count the keepers via the photos we took throughout the day. Without exaggeration, I have 37 photos of keeper bass (90% SM) that we caught in two very small pockets on the lower James around Point 10 and up. It was the most amazing fishing day I have had in my lifetime and will never be forgotten.

Water temps: 59-63 degrees early in the trip when it was SO windy, and closer to 66 degrees later in the week.

Depth: We caught Ned fish from 2ft to 28ft but the bulk of our action came with the boat in 10-12 and parallel casting that depth zone whether it was a point or a cut. We also got away from dead sticking it so much and sort of kept the bait moving ever so slowly shaking it almost constantly. Seemed the keeper size fish were almost exclusively in that zone although most were smallies so not all that surprising. If we casted deeper we generally caught spots and meanies...if we casted shallower, we seemed to find the LM bite. Had so much fun with those keeper size smallies that we just couldn't leave that zone.

Size: We had several LM in the 2.5-3.5lb range and caught in the neighborhood of 30 or more SM in the same range. Seemed like if it was a keeper SM, it was 17" or 18" almost every time. Biggest spot was 17 1/2' and was just fat as can be.

Baits: Ned using Dave's heads (had to run to the Kayak shop south of SDC for more at one point) and mostly ZMan Zinker Zs in PBJ, GP, Craw and WM. Also had success with the Biffle Bug on the Biffle head in WM Candy, just about any swim bait we threw (as long as it was white or shad colored), Pop-R in the mornings, Jewel 1/2 oz jigs in black/purple scheme and a shortened speed craw in GP Candy.

In all, it was our most successful trip every and my brother aptly coined it "The Year of the Ned". My uncle took the little rig up to LO and had much success there as well where he found some cleaner bottom cover areas, and my brother has been catching fish back here in STL at the local pond as well. I had a memorable time with family which is what it is all about and many of you on this forum helped to make it such an awesome week for us. The information shared here is so valuable especially for folks like me and my brother who do a lot of fishing locally but only have the pleasure of fishing that beautiful reservoir about 4 times a year. If you have some experience and can figure out how to apply the info offered here, there is no reason to think that everyone cannot experience what we just did. We simply took the info and tweaked it to the conditions and put our own little twist on it.

Thanks again to each of you who contribute and especially to locals and regular contributors who so selflessly share their local knowledge and experiences.

THANK YOU and FISH ON!!!

[m&m]

Another success story not only with the Ned but also with family. Awesome pictures!! Thanks for the report. That is what makes this forum so awesome.

Mike

[jtram]

awesome fish porn/report thanks!

[fishinwrench]

Very cool! You guys smoked'em.

[Hammer time]

Awesome how you adapted to the weather and made the most of your trip. Thanks for the report and pics

[Quillback]

Great stuff, good to see ya'll had a good time!

[ness]

Another Ned success story! Nice report and pics.

[Bill Babler]

That is just about as good a vacation as you can have. Thanks for sharing it with us.

You were in a location to throw a big swimbait, I'm talking 6" to 9" and it is the right time of the year. Did you all throw any big baits?

Usually a week up the James like that in May or June will get you hung up on a "Big Mama."

[jackman724]

Biggest swim we threw was a 5" on a 1/4 oz head. Had a blast with it and really need to learn more about that bait. Don't have much experience throwing swims...seemed like every time I picked it up I caught a fish. Just love the way the rod loads on that bait...very different from most of the fishing I do.

[Terrierman]

Sure is fun to catch a bunch of fish. What a great trip.