Ned Rig Trout

[Jadesjigs]

I have a friend who fishes a reservoir for trout in Colorado and he has tremendous success using a Ned Rig.  I haven't heard of many fisherman on Taneycomo using the Ned Rig - let me tell you, the Ned works well!  I caught over 20 trout yesterday afternoon between Monkey Island and The Landing using a Ned.  

I was using a 1/16 size Ned Rig with a #4 sickle hook and a chartreuse head. I paired the jig with a 2" Z-Man TRD in "The Deal" color. I also cut the TRD in half horizontally so the trout would be less likely to short strike the rig.  I fished the Ned just like any other jig and the trout were violently striking it.  What a blast!  I also had pretty consistent luck using a pink power worm 7 ft. under an indicator on a 1/100 oz. jig with a #10 hook.  Most of the fish were caught in the 12-17 ft. range.  I didn't get many strikes when I was in water in the 20 ft. range.  Maybe it was because I wasn't getting my baits deep enough.  

 

I don't post much on here, because I usually don't have much to report.  If wonderful people on this forum such as Mr. Lilley, Mr. Doty, and Mr. Babler didn't post such detailed reports, then my fishing success would continue to be futile.  I try to absorb all their expertise that I can.  Hopefully I can contribute more and more in the future.  Thank you to everybody who shares such great information!!

 

[Travis Swift]

thanks for the detailed report!  did you cut the TRD in half basically then length wise? 

[Jadesjigs]

These baits were the 2.5" Ned lengths so I just cut about .5" off.  Then I cut the bait horizontally along the whole 2" of length.  The Deal color is a shad looking bait that has both light and dark colors in it - so I tried to cut it horizontally where I kept both of those colors.  If you're not careful, you could cut one of the colors out of the bait pretty easily.  This makes the bait flat on one side of the whole length.  I noticed when I would snap my line that the jig would rise and then slightly roll during the fall.  I don't know if the current was causing this, or if the flat edge of the bait created this action.  Whatever caused it, the fish sure seemed to like it!

[Gavin]

Ned works for trout. Half a zinker on 1/8 or 1/16oz  will catch a pile of fill in the blank. My girls (9&11) prefer the green pumpkin for trout. Both have caught a bunch of those ciggy butt eaters on Neds over the last 5-6 years.

[Bill Babler]

Excellent report and nice pic.  Were you letting the ned settle to the bottom prior to working it or were you swimming it off and near the bottom?

The shear numbers of trout right now from the Hi Lines above Monkey to Roark is simply staggering.

With the current weather predictions thru the first couple of weeks of March, I'm guessing they are going to get to grow a bit.

Thanks and Good Luck

[Jadesjigs]

Thank you Mr. Babler,

I would let the jig glide to or near the bottom. Then I would pop the line and reel in the slack and let the jig drift and glide back down. They would often hit the jig right after the pop of the line as the jig was gliding back down. This was frequently detected by watching the line. The line would usually just have a short pause or twitch in it during bites.  I really enjoy watching the action of my baits in the clear water of Taney. It's helped me learn a lot on how to get the jigs to have a natural presentation. 

Thanks!

[Bill Babler]

Really good info.  At times we as fishermen fall into a rut of the same ole same ole.  Capt. Duane got us to thinking with his presentations of hard plastics and the different methods of presenting them and the different hard plastics that could be fished for trout.

Now, you come on and let us know that one of the best number catching bass baits of the past few years are also good for catching numbers of trout.  Lots of out of the box thinking.

Simply invaluable info here.

[Jadesjigs]

I have seen a lot of guys post about how effective the mop fly is. I wonder if the Ned Rig may present similar to the mop fly? May be a good alternative to the fly when fishing deeper water and faster current below trophy area. 

[Bill Babler]

The only problem here is the ned is a soft plastic.  Can't use it in the restricted zone where the mop shines, but for sure a nice alternative out of the zone.