The ned rig is not an impressive-looking setup. A small mushroom-head jig weighing 1/15 to 1/6 oz, tipped with a two-to-three inch piece of soft plastic that stands upright on the bottom. No flash, no vibration, no aggressive action. It looks like almost nothing.
It's also one of the most effective bass rigs ever devised, particularly in conditions where more aggressive presentations fail. Here's why it works and how to fish it correctly.
What the Ned Rig Is and Why It Works
The ned rig was developed by Ned Kehde, a Kansas angler who spent decades fishing heavily pressured Midwestern reservoirs where bass had seen every conventional presentation. His solution was to go smaller, slower, and more subtle than anything else on the water.
The mushroom-head jig design is the key. The flat bottom of the mushroom head causes the jig to stand upright on the bottom rather than lying on its side. The soft plastic tail — typically made from buoyant ElaZtech material — floats up naturally, creating a presentation that looks like a small creature standing on the bottom. This posture is inherently non-threatening and triggers strikes from fish that have refused every other presentation.
The buoyancy of the soft plastic is what separates ned rig baits from standard soft plastics. A regular soft plastic worm or creature bait lies flat on the bottom. A ned rig bait stands up, waves gently in any current, and maintains its action even when the jig is completely still. The lure is fishing even when you're not moving it.
When the Ned Rig Outperforms Everything Else
Post-cold-front conditions. After a cold front passes, barometric pressure rises sharply and bass become lethargic and reluctant to chase. The ned rig's slow, subtle presentation gives inactive fish something to eat without requiring them to expend energy chasing it. In post-front conditions, I often catch fish on the ned rig that I can't get to bite anything else.
Heavily pressured water. Bass in lakes that receive heavy fishing pressure learn to avoid conventional presentations. They've seen spinnerbaits, crankbaits, and Texas-rigged worms thousands of times. The ned rig's small profile and subtle action looks different from everything else they've been conditioned to avoid.
Clear water with selective fish. In clear water, bass have time to inspect a lure carefully before committing. A large, aggressive lure gives them too much time to evaluate and reject. The ned rig's small profile and natural posture passes inspection more often.
Cold water. Fish metabolism slows in cold water, which means fish are less willing to chase fast-moving prey. The ned rig fished slowly along the bottom matches the reduced activity level of cold-water bass and produces strikes when faster presentations don't.
Setup: Keeping It Simple
The ned rig setup is deliberately minimal. A mushroom-head jig in 1/15 to 1/6 oz — lighter for shallow water and calm conditions, heavier for deeper water or wind. A 2.5 to 3-inch soft plastic bait, ideally made from buoyant material that floats the tail up naturally.
Our Weedless Jig Head Hooks in the 3.5g size work well as a ned rig foundation — the light weight produces the slow fall that ned rig fishing requires, and the weedless design lets you fish through the rocky and weedy bottom where ned rigs excel without constant snagging.
Pair with a medium-light spinning rod in the 6'10" to 7'2" range, a size 2500 spinning reel, and 6-8lb fluorocarbon. The light line is important — it allows the small jig to fall naturally and maintains sensitivity for detecting the subtle bites that ned rig fishing produces. Fluorocarbon's near-invisibility in clear water is an advantage in the clear-water situations where the ned rig is most effective.
The Retrieve: Slower Than You Think
The ned rig retrieve is the simplest in bass fishing: cast, let it sink to the bottom, drag it slowly along the bottom with occasional pauses. That's it.
The pauses are the most important part. When the ned rig is sitting still on the bottom, the buoyant tail is standing up and waving gently. This is when most strikes occur. A retrieve that never pauses misses the most productive part of the presentation.
Drag the jig two to three feet, then pause for three to five seconds. Watch the line for any movement during the pause — ned rig strikes are often subtle, feeling like a slight weight or a line twitch rather than the aggressive thump of a reaction strike. Set the hook on anything that feels different.
Retrieve speed should be slower than feels natural. The instinct is to keep the lure moving, but the ned rig works by spending time in the strike zone, not by covering water. If you're not getting bites, slow down before you change lures or move spots.
Where to Fish It
Rocky bottom is the ned rig's home water. Points with gravel or chunk rock, riprap banks, rocky creek channels — anywhere the bottom is hard and irregular. The jig hops naturally over rocks, the tail stands up in the gaps between rocks, and bass holding tight to the structure can eat it without moving far.
Sparse grass and weed edges also produce on the ned rig. The weedless jig head lets you drag through light vegetation without snagging, and bass holding on the weed edge will eat a ned rig that drifts into their zone.
Deep water in summer and winter is another productive ned rig situation. When bass go deep to find comfortable temperatures, a ned rig dragged slowly along the bottom at 15-25 feet produces fish that won't come up for a topwater or chase a spinnerbait.
The Ned Rig vs Other Finesse Presentations
The ned rig and the drop shot are the two most effective finesse bass rigs, and they work in different situations. The drop shot suspends the bait at a fixed height above the bottom, which is better for fish that are suspended or holding just off the bottom. The ned rig sits on the bottom, which is better for fish that are holding tight to structure on the bottom.
When fish are active and willing to chase, a swimbait or spinnerbait will cover more water and catch more fish per hour. The ned rig is a slow-down tool — reach for it when faster presentations aren't producing, not as a starting point when fish are aggressive. For a comparison of finesse vs power fishing approaches, see Drop Shot Fishing: The Technique That Catches Bass When Nothing Else Works and Soft Swimbaits vs Hard Lures: Which Catches More Bass?
Why Simple Works
The ned rig's effectiveness comes from what it doesn't do. It doesn't flash, vibrate, or move aggressively. It doesn't look like a threat. It looks like a small creature sitting on the bottom, which is exactly what a bass sees hundreds of times a day in its natural environment. The fish doesn't need to make a decision — it just eats.
That simplicity is the point. In tough conditions, the most natural-looking presentation wins. The ned rig is as natural as artificial lures get.
0 comments