Ned Rig for Walleye

[Smallieguy87]

7 minutes ago, Ham said:

Bull Shoals has a smallmouth bass problem. So do I.

That is where the last couple state record smallmouth have been caught on the Arkansas side right?

[rps]

Last year's second largest walleye came on a Ned fished with Dave's head. I am going up river tomorrow on a personal day from school and I will fish a wiggle wart, a Ned, and a spinner bait. I figure my walleye odds are as good as my bass odds. Hope that tells you something.

[MOPanfisher]

OK I am sold.  Will give the Ned a shot at wally.  Even later when we are throwing shad raps and flicker shad and have a hit and miss, will keep it handy to fire Ol Ned right back into the spot.

[bfishn]

Way before the Ned I regularly bumped into a guy from Berryville that soaked his teeny little homemade soft plastics on teeny little jigs for 10-15 minutes a cast and did real well. While I fished big livebait and Rouges, he often outdid me in numbers, but some of my fish could eat most of his. To be fair, he fished in the day while I went at night.

[dtrs5kprs]

10 minutes ago, MOPanfisher said:

OK I am sold.  Will give the Ned a shot at wally.  Even later when we are throwing shad raps and flicker shad and have a hit and miss, will keep it handy to fire Ol Ned right back into the spot.

I've not thrown it when they were running, lack of opportunity. They will for sure eat it April-June on the gravel smallmouth places. 

[dtrs5kprs]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

Bull Shoals has a smallmouth bass problem. So do I.

Brown fish make me grin like a 3 year old with ice cream. All sizes, all water.

[kjackson]

While the standard Ned rig--half a ZinkerZ or TRD or soft stickbait-- obviously works, you might find that other soft plastics may do better for you. Ringworms, four-inch thin worms, and grubs have put a lot of walleyes in my boat over the years. Granted that was in the Northwest and not down here, but I'm betting they will be just as good.  Don't worry about smaller hooks-- live bait guys use hooks as small as #10 at times.  

Also, if you're on fish but not catching, try adding a small section of nightcrawler. In my experience, scent is very important-- 'eyes have to be really actively feeding to hit a slow-moving bait without some kind of scent.  

[rps]

15 hours ago, bfishn said:

Way before the Ned I regularly bumped into a guy from Berryville that soaked his teeny little homemade soft plastics on teeny little jigs for 10-15 minutes a cast and did real well. While I fished big livebait and Rouges, he often outdid me in numbers, but some of my fish could eat most of his. To be fair, he fished in the day while I went at night.

If he fishes out of a camo colored tin boat with a tiller Mercury, his name is Zane and he also C rigs his thick 4 inch worms.

[MOPanfisher]

The half a night crawler or even better a red worm looped on is one of my go to presentations for early river walleye.  I have some small other plastic that are 2 to inches long but skinnier.  Am on Grampa duty today so am about a mile from Bass Pro, may make a little visit and see what is available.  Color preferences for something like a 4 inch ring worm.  Normally go with a brighter color for walleye but have lots of natural color stuff in my creek bag.

[Guest]

I caught a dozen walleye by accident from a single dock dock last spring. I couldn't keep them off the 2.5" ZinkerZ with dave's jighead. Crappie will slam it too.