No I have not fished the 3" version, but I appreciate your advice and I will pick some up and give it a shot. I have pretty much been swimming the 2.5" size, I'll do a little bottom scrubbing, again thanks for the advice!Originally Posted by eyra_kid
I do plan on fishing the Z-man lizard this spring, buddy of mine fished it some last year and got some good fish on it, using a 1/8 oz head. I'll probably cut down the lizard a bit, take all or some of the head off.
I hope it works for you. Our lakes are quite a bit different than your Ozark lakes, so you never know what translates.
That's a good idea on the lizard. There was a certain time of year where Ned would fish a 4" Zoom lizard on the mushroom head. Probably late spring/early summer. It's surely in the In-Fisherman blog archives somewhere.
Do you do anything different in terms of technique when you are fishing for the walleye vs bass?
Speaking strictly about the Slim SwimZ, here's a few situations to help explain how I've used it for walleye and bass.
Walleye: 1. Vertical jigging: The first walleyes I caught on this bait were a bit of a surprise while crappie fishing. Mostly late fall through winter here fishing a 2.5" Slim SwimZ on a 1/6oz Finesse ShroomZ. We vertical jig in and around 15-20 foot brushpiles for crappie. And yes, I'm vertical jigging a swimbait. The tail action is that good. It will swim on a slow raise, which is deadly for crappie here. I got the idea to try it to target bigger crappie. Well, I think walleye will hold loosely to the brush, say within 5-15 feet of it. So we drift off a brushpile a little bit, and boom, walleye smokes it. It kept happening, and not just one trip. Light bulb kinda went on...
2. Cast and Pendulum: Another scenario last fall gives you another example. We had moved over to a bank to fish a brushpile for crappie. Sidescanned the bank as we were idling, and noticed a lot of active fish on a 15-foot break. We suspected they were walleye or sauger, so we made short 15-25 foot casts, and just let the bait pendulum back to the boat. This let it get down to the right depth, and then a slow slim right through the fish. It was literally a do-nothing technique. Cast, close the bail, wait 5 seconds, set hook. I happened to be using the 2.5" Slim SwimZ because the 3" weren't out yet.
3. Straight Swim: This is how I caught the fish in the photo I posted. This time of year, walleye are moving shallow to spawning areas or running up rivers. Prespawn to spawn. So depending on depth, I'm going to use a 1/10 or 1/15 Finesse ShroomZ. I was casting up into 2-3 feet of water, letting the bait settle to bottom, then begin a sloooow retrieve following the contour of the bottom. As slow as you can stand. You want the bait to tick bottom every few feet, but not hitting every rock. Jighead weight is crucial. Too heavy and you're snagged constantly. That Z-Man plastic is very buoyant also, so that helps balance the bait and keep it out of trouble. Get it right, and it's just floating above bottom. Very natural and lifelike.
Now for bass. Here is where I go against the grain...fishing a swimbait like a shakyhead.Here I'll take a 3" Green Pumpkin Slim SwimZ, rigged on a 1/10 or heavier Finesse ShroomZ. Cast, let sink to bottom, then work with short hops, shakes, or just a slow drag and deadstick. Standard Ned Rig retrieves. The same way I would work it if I had a Finesse TRD rigged up. I don't know whether bass thinks its a craw, baitfish (maybe I need to try it with a shad color) or some kind of invertebrate. For me, this really excels with smallmouth, but I have caught largemouth on it too.
Just remember, this is a finesse technique. If the walleye are really chomping, you're probably better off with a 4" or 5" swimbait. Same with bass. It's when those fish are being stubborn or selective for some reason, be it bait size, water temp, cold front etc..., that's when this technique shines.
Hope that helps.
That fishing the swimbait like a shakyhead advice is a gold nugget and is really the one time when I think a heavier head on the Ned is the best approach. I've also had some luck fishing it as sort of a hybrid between a shaky head and "standard" swimbait where I'll let it settle to the bottom, reel it slowly for a few feet and let it settle again. Sort of stroking it off the bottom similar to how you stroke a jig can work well too. The amount of bites you get on the initial fall can be staggering, and it's not surprising once you see how it looks on the fall. If you're getting a lot of bites on the way down, particularly if those bites are more than a couple feet off the bottom, going back to the standard advice of using the lightest head possible is usually the best bet. On a similar note, if you're seeing suspended fish, dropping a very light Ned rigged swimbait through them is often an incredible way to get them.
If fish are hitting it on or very near the bottom on the initial fall, sometimes a heavier head can work very well. I guess it's eliciting more reaction strikes. You can even get onto a pattern of just reeling it in immediately if it hits the bottom without a bite when they're really on it that way. This can actually be a really great way to cover a lot of water, similar to flipping weed flats with heavy weights.
To be completely honest, that method (and the related variations) and fishing one on a drop shot (thanks for that advice, Seth Feider!) are the far and away the most success I've had with swimbaits. (Definitely don't try the drop shotted swimbait around bridge pilings or suspended fish...definitely). When fished via the normal cast and wind method, they're major pike magnets in the areas I fish. When you combine that with light line on spinning tackle and a relatively slow retrieve that allows them to completely inhale it when they get it, most bites result in reeling in line with nothing more than a bit of a fray on the end. That gets frustrating and expensive quickly.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360, Garmin 106 SV, LVS 34
I like the limit maker from Big Bite Baits
Speaking of walleye, picked this dude up on Beaver yesterday while bass fishing. The bass were biting good also. Half of a PB&J Zinker on a 1/8 oz head.
17 lb. drum from the day before, sometimes the Ol' Ned gets some weird fish.
Nice walleye, Quillback. Massive drum, too!
I've been thinking about experimenting with small craw type baits like Zoom lil critter craw or Jewel Eakins craws. Anyone tried something like this?
2003 Bass Cat Cougar FTD
2003 Evinrude 225HO
Yep. The Zoom and Jewel craws would probably work, but if you want your presentation to stand up like a standard Ned Rig (aka Finesse TRD), I would suggest the Z-Man Punch CrawZ.
I wrote an article about this in 2016 for Z-Man. https://zmanfishing.com/cms/chatter/...ig-bigger-bass
I assume your reasoning for trying small craws is to catch a little bigger average fish. So this should be right up your alley. Of the 3 baits in this article, the Punch CrawZ is my favorite.
Had to share this with you Nedders, caught 2 stripers yesterday on a half zinker and a 1/8 oz head fishing for bass on Beaver lake. Never have caught a striper on one until yesterday, then get 2 on back to back casts. Lots of fun on a light spinning rod and 6 lb. test.
Great catch, Quillback! Those are pretty fish from that clear water.
Original Ned works everywhere. Killer in high pressure weather in cold water.
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