Sunday evening bass fishing

[ewlech]

Splashed the boat at Masters around 3pm and fished till 8pm.  Caught 27 largemouth but only 3 measured.  Largest was only a little over 2 pounds.  I did catch a Flathead catfish that was a little over 4 pounds that put up a good fight.  Caught all of them on a Ned rig and a Shaky head with a Zoom finesse worm.  Watermelon seed worked as did watermelon candy red.  Ran up past Highpoint and avoided the forest of trees, many of which are just under the surface.  Caught all of them on 2 rocky banks full of wood (only fished 3 long stretches of bank in 5 hours).  Tried a Lucky Craft Gun Fish and a small Whopper Plopper as the sun went down but they didn’t want a moving bait.  Only saw a few other boats all evening.  Beautiful evening on the water.

[Kramr]

Still don't get the Ned rig. It doesn't wiggle or vibrate, just kinda sits there. Yet it seems to be a bass magnet! What do you all think they think it is, a crawfish?

[ewlech]

Not sure what the fish think it is but what is certain is that they love it.  I would guess that it just looks like an easy meal that they can't pass up.  Over the past 3 years between the wife and myself I would guesstimate that we have caught over a thousand bass, walleye, white bass, crappie, bream, and catfish all on the Ned rig.  We have a few days, both in the spring and fall each year where we will catch over 100 fish in 8 hours between the two of us just throwing the Ned rig with Dave's jig heads (posts on the Table Rock forum under DTRS5KPRS).  Best jig heads for the Ned Rig bar none and a great guy!  I ALWAYS have a Ned rig tied on all year.  I would rather catch them on a crank bait, top water, jig, or jerk bait but when all else fails, the Ned rig will save the day.  Some folks think that it is only a small fish lure but I have caught many bass over 3 pounds on it.  Got to weed through the smaller ones to get the bigger ones.

[bassfisher]

It's all about the presentation on the ned rig. I fish it like a plastic worm.

[Smithvillesteve]

Somebody posted a great article on the Ned rig earlier this year. There were several opinions on why the ned was so attractive to bass. I cant remember them all but one was that it resembles a crawdad with no pinchers. Yes, I guess crawdads lose both pinchers. And with no pinchers the crawdad becomes an easy meal. The other one was kind of tied into the previous one in that the ned is simply not an aggressive acting bait so the bass find it very easy to attack. I've also heard it imitates the darter minnow. I've fished it quite a bit the last few years. Caught a lot of bass on it. I do believe it catches smaller bass most often. And yes, Dave makes the best ned rig head bar none!!

[dan hufferd]

swimming crawdad, tadpole, leach, feeding minnow, all in one. They call it prey drive, like one of my rottweilers looking at a chicken walking across the yard

[MOPanfisher]

I will admit to being the odd man out.  On creeks and rivers I have caught the heck out of smallies and goggle eye but have caught crap in a lake on them, maybe I just don't fish them enough or something I aint doing right.

[Ketchup]

Boy MO, we are totally opposite. I catch a ton in the lakes with the Ned, and very few if any in the river.  The slower I fish it, the more bites I get. Maybe that's my problem with the river is I'm not moving it enough. 

[MOPanfisher]

I should probably add that I may be the world's worst lake bass fisherman.  I am usually throwing a crankbaits on the lake, only pretending to bass fish and hoping a walleye or white bass or something else eats it instead.  On a creek or river them little things are deadly, even back before I knew it had a name, we just called them do nothings, but you could lift them up and let the current bounce them around and "POW", oh man I am getting fishing fever just thinking about it.  Gonna have to find me a tutor for lake bass, but not during crappie spawn, or the white bass or walleye spawn, or the fall bite or. . . . Wait I might see my problem.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

14 minutes ago, Ketchup said:

Boy MO, we are totally opposite. I catch a ton in the lakes with the Ned, and very few if any in the river.  The slower I fish it, the more bites I get. Maybe that's my problem with the river is I'm not moving it enough. 

me too.       i soak my neds like they are stink bait. that elaztec jiggles enough on its oiwn