There are certainly times when you get on the water and just can’t seem to buy a bite. You throw everything you’ve got, including the kitchen sink, but you would swear that the water you’re fishing is completely barren of any bass.
When this happens, you need to have something in your tackle box to wipe the white skunk stripe off your back.
Recently we’ve been fishing the Z-Man Ned Rig under the worst conditions we could find, just to see how it would perform.
What Is the “Ned Rig”
The “Ned Rig” is not a singular lure but rather a system with a few key components. You start with a mushroom head jig, the Z-Man Finesse Shroomz Jig Head. These come in two configurations, one without a weed guard that has weights ranging from 1/20 to 1/5 oz. The Shroomz Weedless Jig Head is available in 1/10 to 1/5 oz and has a two wire weedguard coming out of the head.
Both jig heads utilize a 90 degree line tie, the same light wire hook as well as sharing the same welded on wire bait keeper. The bottom of the jig head is slightly rounded to allow for constant contact with the lake floor while presenting the bait in a more natural way as well as providing a good platform for dragging it across the bottom.
The other side of the head is flat so that the bait can sit right on it which makes for a seamless look.
The other components in the “Ned Rig” are the soft plastics that are made specifically to use with these jigs which are all poured with the Elaztech plastic. This composition allows the bait to stretch to lengths many times its original size then snap back into shape. The plastic is at the same time buoyant and extremely durable.
The Plastics
There are currently three of these plastics. The Z Man Finesse Shadz, the Z Man Hula StickZ and the Z Man Finesse T.R.D.(The Real Deal).
The Finesse Shadz are a four inch baitfish imitation with a narrow tail that will quiver with the slightest movement of your line or with nothing but the current as it is worked across the bottom.
The Hula StickZ is a small four inch stick style bait with four tentacles on one end that provide a very subtle action with virtually no effort.
The Finesse T.R.D. looks like a piece of a stick bait with dimples on one end. This bait is just 2.75 inches long.
All of these soft plastics work in concert with the Shroomz jig heads to give you a small presentation that stands vertical when at rest on the bottom. There is a little trick to preparing them prior to threading them on the hook, you should stretch them and or rub them so that they get “broken in”.
You also want to try to thread them as straight on the hook shank as possible. Because this plastic stretches so well, we have found that its better to underestimate the amount of plastic you have to penetrate than overestimate it. You don’t want it to ball up against the head of the jig.
One interesting note here, using the 1/10 oz weedless jig head with any of the three baits on it, you can effectively cast this with a baitcaster. You want to use light line but we have thrown it using 8# mono and gotten respectable distance with it.
You can also use spinning gear with no problem but either way you should use a fairly light action rod to work it properly. You can use multiple retrieves with the Ned Rig including, dragging, hopping, yo-yoing, vertical jigging or any derivation of all of them.
Presentation Tips
Our most productive presentation has been to cast the bait out, let it hit bottom then begin a painstakingly slow dragging of the bait across the bottom. Yeah, this takes some patience and practice when your used to covering a lot of water but the reward is that the Ned Rig will put fish, lots of fish, of all sizes, in the boat.
We have fished this bait on Lake Lanier for spots all the way to So-Cal for largemouth finding success everywhere we have fished it.
One instance really stands out. While we were filming with Editor Josh standing in the water, getting ready to take some underwater footage of the bait in action, a spot came up right next to his knee and crushed the bait! Now that qualifies as a first for us.
If there are any less than stellar features they would be that the wire bait keeper locks the plastic in place in such a way that it’s near impossible to remove a bait without tearing it. However, since a single bait is relatively inexpensive and as durable as these are, it’s more of a minor annoyance and possibly just splitting hairs on our end to point this out.
We would also point out that in our experience using this system, we prefer to bend the hook point out slightly when targeting largemouth. We don’t do this for spots or smallmouth but it seems to help for largies.
Breaking it Down
The Z Man Ned Rig is one of those techniques that is user friendly for anglers across the experience spectrum. We wouldn’t hesitate to give it to a complete newby or a seasoned angler who has never used it.
The only other consideration we have is that as light as these jig heads are, we prefer to go no heavier than the 1/10 the vast majority of time. It will get down to the bottom more quickly than you might think. It is also the weight that can be cast with a baitcaster. The lighter 
weights really should be used with spinning gear as they are easier to control with this set up.
In the final analysis, the Z Man Ned Rig is one of those tools that we will always have close at hand. Whether you’re looking to catch numbers or nothin’ is working, the Ned Rig puts the odds in your favor. You can get more information on the Ned Rig by visiting zmanfishing.com.
| Z Man Ned Rig | |
|---|---|
| Overall Rating |   |
| Uber finesse for numbers and hard times | |
See ya’ on the water …
