Ned Non-Believer

[Ketchup]

As i read these posts on here from those that fish the Ned successfully, my mind always goes into non-believer mode. The reason behind that is, i have thrown it a half dozen times with no luck. I have watched videos, fished with others who use it, and still havent been impressed.

Yesterday, on the way to Stockton, i decided to give the bait an honest try. I said i would not pick up another rod the entire day, no matter if i was catching fish or not, i was gonna throw the Ned til i left.

Put the boat in at 9:30am. I started out fishing flooded brush in 5' of water, with boat in 12' of water. Water was very clear. I fished this bank for 45 minutes with 2 hits but no fish.

Moved to another spot with a little deeper water, where flooded brush transitioned to chunk rock near a bluff. The first 10 casts i had 4 smallies. Continued fishing this bank out to 22' of water, on a main lake point, catching a few more smallies, a few LM, and a fat drum. Good productive area.

Thought i would try an area that has always been a dead water area for me. I fished a main point, fishing back into a cove in 12' of water, throwing the Ned into 18' to 24' of water. I fished this area for 2 hours, catching a 14" Walleye, a 12" Crappie, a few more Smalles, and several LM. This area wasnt void of fish afterall.

Stopped on another very small cove on the way back to the ramp. The cove is roughly 35 yards wide, and sits in 18' of water. Made 5 casts and caught 3 LM.

Back 25 years ago me and a few buddies fished alot of golf courses. Those ponds were very productive for catching good fish. My go-to bait back then was a jig head with a 3" white twirly tailed grub. I caught lots of fish on that setup. The Ned isnt that much different than that setup, or other setups. From my limited experience with the Ned, i dont think its so much the jig head, as it is the combination of the Elaztec with the Salt. The bait i used yesterday, i slit the tail end 1/2" to give the bait more life, leaving a split tail. This combo worked well for me yesterday, on an 1/8oz head. My next trip where i decide to try something different, i will put a trirly tail bait on the same head, fish the same location, and see the difference, I understand fish move, water temps, water being up, etc. but pretty confident i can replicate yesterdays scenario in the near future.

My take on the Ned: I wanted to try multiple ways to fish it to see if it made a difference. I fished it dragging along the bottom like a C. Rig, i fished it in a swim bait fassion, i fished it with a stop and go retrieve, and also fished it the way they say your supposed to, "very" slow. I caught fish on every retrieve style, but most of the fish came on dragging the bait like a C-Rig. Im sure it was the way the bait stirred up like a crawdad,mbut they loved that way, especially the smallies. The very slow, letting it set for up to a minute at a time caught several fish also. The least productive retrieve was swimming it back slowly.

Im one of those that believe very little what i hear in life. I chose to give the Ned an honest try to either convence me that is wasnt all it was cracked up to be, or it would prove that it had a place in the boat. Well im sure we can find a place for it.

My overall catch was 14 Smallies, 9 LM, 1 Drum, 1 Walleye, and 1 Crappie. Not a bad day for 6 1/2 hours of fishing a bait i had no confidence in. I will still throw my jigs, Spinner Baits, and Cranks, but will pick up the Ned when the others fail to produce. Again, i dont think its a new bait concept, but more of the bait itself. That Elaztec is an awesome product.

[Unimog]

It is pretty great stuff, nice report! I would be happy with something that had the same floatation and not made of elaztec. I have the elaztec in its own 3700 box waiting to see if it deforms it. I've read stories in this forum of it making big mess of things.

[Quillback]

Elaztech won't deform the plastic in the 3700 boxes. BUT, it will deform other plastic baits if left in contact with them.

[Unimog]

Ok that's good to know. I've had some old strike king lizards by z-man in a box for 3-4 years in the plastic bags. Seemed to warp the divider some but I've got other deformed Plano boxes too.

[dprice]

From the diferent. Post I've read on hear. It seems as if there is a definite time of when and where to throw this

I have ordered some Ned heads. Gonna have to try this setup.

Thank you for all the post s on how to learn this set up

[5bites]

You have to deduct one bass for every drum you catch and the drum doesn't count.

[Sac River Jim]

It is pretty great stuff, nice report! I would be happy with something that had the same floatation and not made of elaztec. I have the elaztec in its own 3700 box waiting to see if it deforms it. I've read stories in this forum of it making big mess of things.

http://cmlure.weebly.com/C.M. lure company have soft plastic that float there products are simple proven baits that have proven themselves over the years amongst jig spinnerbaits buzzbaits and the best craw juice ive ever used.

[Sac River Jim]

Elaztech won't deform the plastic in the 3700 boxes. BUT, it will deform other plastic baits if left in contact with them.

quill i thru a keitech fatty swim bait in the glove box of my boat and it got up against one my favorite pre rap warts and took the paint right off the top of the bait. i gotta start taking more time to clean out the box when i get home from the lake.

[Aggressor1988long]

I actually tried it today my friend andy archdale makes them and sent me a few, its just not for me or maybe I need to learn from a few guys who know the best way to fish the ned. Im always open to learning from an other angler. If I was that great id have a 20 foot nitro from bass pro sponcering me.

[Aggressor1988long]

You got the whole smorgasbord, good deal.