3 simple, non-traditional—and very effective—tactics for spring trout

#2  NED RIGS

My friend Ned Kehde’s like-named Ned rig is so effective at catching bass it has accounted for millions of dollars in winnings for numerous tournament anglers over the years. But here’s a secret I haven’t written about until now—it works just as well for trout. In fact, I’ve yet to find a trout species that won’t devour a Ned rig.

The 1/15-ounce Z-Man’s Finesse ShroomZ mushroom head is my go-to jig. It’s in a class of its own, especially when you team it up with a four-inch Hula StickZ, also from Z-Man (I nip off an inch, making it a slightly smaller three-inch stick). Z-Man’s 2.75-inch Finesse TRD is my next favourite soft-plastic for trout Ned rigs, while the three-inch TRD HogZ bats cleanup.

What makes these incredibly soft, squishy baits so effective is their buoyancy—when you let one fall to the bottom, the tail stands up and sways effortlessly. Better yet, when you retrieve it back to the boat, the tail glides in a life-like horizontal manner, rather than droop. They’re also so durable you can catch 100 sharp-toothed trout on a single bait, and you’ll swear you’ve never used it. I’m not sponsored by Z-Man, so I happily pay the same price as you do for these baits—there’s just nothing else out there that compares. And trout truly relish these things.

PRESENTATION

When targeting trout, I fish my Ned rig on the same early-morning and late-afternoon shoreline feeding flats that I swim my marabou jig over. I also love working it down sloping breaklines at midday. However, I retrieve my Ned rig much differently than I retrieve my marabou miracle.

The biggest difference, I suppose, is that I tend to keep my Ned rig close to bottom, while I use a marabou jig to cover the water column. I also don’t impart any extra motion on my jig as I retrieve it. I simply cast it out, count it down, then slowly swim it back to the boat. The less you do, the more trout you catch. Not so with a Ned rig.

After pitching it out, I almost always let my Ned rig fall to the bottom. Then I slowly lift my rod tip, feeling for a trout that might have hit the rig on the drop, or sucked it up from the mud. If I don’t feel any weight, I turn the reel handle a couple of times as I slowly lift the rod tip. Then I pause and let the jig pendulum towards me as I shake it ever so subtly. If I don’t get a bite, I repeat the process.

When the trout are being stubborn, on the other hand, I like to cast out my Ned rig, let it fall to the bottom, then slowly drag it a foot or two before deadsticking it in the mud for five to eight seconds. If you don’t get a bite doing this, you’ll typically tighten up on a trout when you drag the rig a second, third or fourth time. It’s also uncanny how many trout will eat the bait on the initial drop, so be prepared.

If I’m fishing a Ned rig on a sloping breakline, meanwhile, I prefer to position the boat so I can cast towards shore, up and over the edge of the break and onto the shallow rock, weed or reed flat. Then I swim, glide and shake the jig back over the break and down the drop.