Ned Rig ?

[Quillback]

I've caught a lot of bass on Ned rigs, it is about all I'll fish when the water is cold. I'd say 80% of them are hooked in the roof of their mouth, which as we all know, is made out of bone. You want a hook that is sharp and also stout as you don't want one that will flex when driving the point through that bone, if it flexes it will just scrape across that bone and you'll miss them. I get my Ned heads from a guy who makes them himself and he builds a shroom head with a #2 Mustad. No flex in that hook and it is sharp out of the box, but I'll sometimes touch them up a bit with a hook file.

I use braid to a leader and I set the hook hard.

Most of the commercially available Ned heads have sub-par hooks.

[krindgen]

https://shur-set.com/products/ned-jig-116oz-black-5ct

Lots swear by this type of hook.

[Mcjenson]

How light is light with the drag? Are you using straight fluoro, or braid to leader? I'll echo others in thinking you're not getting the hook home.

I've learned that 8 lb line can take a lot more than we give it credit for when it's in good condition. I've always aimed to set my drag to where it slips just a bit when I lean into a fish like ECobb says, then I can loosen it while fighting the fish if need be. And since it sounds like straight fluoro: Even though fluoro stretches less than mono (in fishing applications...), it still stretches. Braid to a leader takes out a lot of stretch from the equating meaning whatever force you get into your hook set transmits more directly to the fish. With light drag combined with the fluoro stretching, you're probably just not getting that hook home. A longer rod would probably help with this too.

A couple other things not mentioned:

I've found that fish sometimes clamp down really tight on a Ned rig, smallmouth especially but it seems that way in general. This is another reason for braid to leader and a little tighter drag of course. I also think it means the hook set matters more. For me, I'm always thinking "lean" as I set the hook: Reel down and do much more of a "pull and lean" than a "jerk" like many of us are used to doing in other scenarios It's really similar to what I do on a drop shot, though I think it's even more important here. If the fish is clamped down hard, the lean lengthens the motion to where you get the hook home when the fish releases that pressure. And of course it's much smoother so doesn't have the jarring effect of popping the bait out of its mouth.

A more minor thing might be the size of the head. If you're throwing around a heavier head mated to that little hook it gives the fish more leverage to toss it, and the extra lead eats up your hook gap. The name of the game with the Ned rig--for me, and I think for Ned himself--is to use the lightest weight you can. If you can feel what your bait is doing, it's too heavy. I've always figured that the vast majority of that is to get the Ned rig presentation the way it was intended, but think some of that is hookup and landing percentages too. That's obviously not to say that heavier heads don't work, people above have luck with them and in general they obviously catch fish on them all the time. It's just that at that point I think you're more in the realm of a shakey head where a larger hook wouldn't really change much with your presentation and would certainly help with the leverage and hook gap problems.

It's funny the different mindsets you hear with ned rig fishing. Many guys are like you, using close to the same setups and mindset as the original Ned rig and letting that thing float around. I've also heard some tournament guys who swear by throwing 1/4 ounce and 3/8 ounce (when deep), with the mindset of covering more water and knowing where your bait is at all the time. Ned rig is one technique I'm sure would work great where I live, but I just have zero confidence in it. Don't get many bites and I lose a decent amount of them with it as well.

[DrewFlu33]

It's funny the different mindsets you hear with ned rig fishing. Many guys are like you, using close to the same setups and mindset as the original Ned rig and letting that thing float around. I've also heard some tournament guys who swear by throwing 1/4 ounce and 3/8 ounce (when deep), with the mindset of covering more water and knowing where your bait is at all the time. Ned rig is one technique I'm sure would work great where I live, but I just have zero confidence in it. Don't get many bites and I lose a decent amount of them with it as well.

I absolutely throw heavy "Ned rigs," probably more than a traditional Ned rig. Around here in all of our natural lakes full of vegetation, we call that technique a jig worm. The whole idea is to use something heavy enough so that you can intentionally get it caught up in vegetation then snap it free. You can definitely cover a ton of water that way, and it works very well. The bites are awesome too as it's usually a reaction bite where a fish just freight trains it. It's just really different than a Ned rig in my mind. It's obviously heavier, and we almost always use bigger baits (7" ribbon tail worm is the classic, though a full size Senko is really common) so the heads have bigger hooks. And as I mentioned before, it's also pretty easy to argue that a shakey head is basically a heavy Ned rig with a bigger hook, just drug or hopped or shook on the bottom, usually in sand or rock or around wood or docks.

Maybe I'm too homed in on the semantics around it? I'd argue not...I think the difference in the three techniques is enough that it matters. It seems a lot like calling a swim jig, football jig, and flipping jig all a "jig." While I guess that's true, unless they're trying to be vague in telling how they won a tourney, people usually specify what kind of jig. Even though a Ned rig, jig worm, and shakey head are technically all just worms on a jig head, they're fished differently enough to where I think using different names makes sense.

FWIW, I found many around here look at a Ned rig in like the exact opposite way. "Ned rig? I've been fishing a jig(head) worm for 40 years!"

[triton]

Your pole is too wimpy, most ned heads are all the same but the one big
difference is a light wire sickle hook....I very seldom drop fish with the sickle
hook and a MH 6' 8" rod.......make the change and you will not drop any fish ..

[RFSims]

There’s an old saying, still holds true too this day. Wimpy rods, catch wimpy fish….

6'10" MLXF St Croix Avid. largest fish on Ned rig is 16lb catfish, next 13 lb drum. Largest bass 6 lbs. PB bass 10lb6oz on a spinning rod, 8lb line. Largest fresh water fish, you guessed it...spinning rod is a 22lb carp, 8lb line. Largest fish ever 30 Cobia, spinning rod although was a 4000 size.

Only head I use for Ned is the 1/10 oz mushroom head.