So about a month ago I had to take a short drive to go and practice for a tournament up on the world famous trophy smallmouth bass fishery, Sturgeon Bay where the water is crystal clear and smallmouth bass are big fat footballs. I was told by some of local anglers to try using something called a Ned Rig. Ive seen the Ned Rig before, but I never used it and at first glance it honestly doesnt look like much... but after a few days of using the Ned Rig, I am a big believer.

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I have now been using the Zman TRD Ned Rig almost exclusively for about a month now and my fishing success has been some of the best smallmouth bass fishing that I have ever had in such a short period of time.

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The Zman Ned rig is very easy to fish and doesn't take any skill, but it does take patience, especially if your a power fisherman, this will take some time getting used to because I have found out that the Dead Stick Approach seems to be best. As far as bait choices there is a few different options where you can simply cut a Senko in half and rig it on a jighead but what I have found out is that most Senko's sink so your Ned Rig will lay flat on the bottom, But if you make the switch to the Zman TRD and rig it on the Zman Power Finesse Shroomz Jig head this is a deadly combination. The Zman TRD is made out of an Elaztech Plastic that floats, giving the bait a different presentation causing the tail end to float up off the bottom which will help to produce alot more strikes. But the best thing about this Elaztech plastic is that you can sometimes catch over 50-100 fish on just one bait because its so much tougher then your traditional soft plastic.

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For this technique you will want to be rigged with light line 6-10lb braided line with a 2-4' flourocarbon leader. I would recommend using a 7' or 7'2" medium spinning rod to help make those nice long cast.

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There is a couple different techniques such as hopping the bait up off the bottom and an then letting it fall or simply dead sticking it and letting it sit on one place for 10-20 seconds and moving it a few inches at at time and waiting for a strike. The key with the Ned Rig is .. slow will usually produce most action. If you havent tried this technique, give it a try. Youll be glad that you did!