Ok, I gotta finally ask because I’ve been wondering for a long time. What is so special about a Ned rig? I hear so much about it.
I know it has a slightly different jig head shape, but how is it SO much different than a standard ball head jig with a small(~3”) plastic minnow/fluke? That is my all around favorite presentation for crappies, walleyes, and bass on mostly the river, but lakes sometimes too. Seems you can never go wrong, any time of year.
So what’s the big difference?
Really no difference. Ned rig is essentially any kind of jig head with a plastic on it, in its true form.
Just one of those fads in the fishing realm that comes and goes. I use it sometimes when the bite is tough. It’s a dink magnet though. As the season progresses I switch to a bigger plastic and that seems to help reduce the smaller fish.
I fish gravelly sandy rivers and they work great in those conditions. Drops fast in the current. Head down in the gravel with the little tails/claws sticking up. Cuts through current during retrieve. Small for non aggressive Smallmouth. I think its mostly the sticking straight up part its designed for thats why you use floating plastics on it.
Ned rigs are typically mushroom head jigs that stand up vertically on bottom. And not sure why, but they just work
Tends to work better in areas that don’t have thick weeds too. The exposed hook constantly gets hung up.
Someone get mahto in here 
This is a Tactic that I also have not played around much with. My understanding is its nothing more than a different shaped Jig head that helps the bait stand up better than most other jig heads. In its original form it was normally fished with a short stick worm ( Basically a 6″ stick worm cut in half ) Since then I have seen lots of different plastics being used and still called a ned rig. I tend to use a Neko rig in most of the setting others say they use a ned rig. Most my buddies say it tends to be a bait that attracts smaller fish but not many Bigger fish. I’m sure there has also been plenty of Bigger fish caught on them as well. I just can’t think of a situation where it would excel over a standard Jig-worm or Neko rig. Curious to hear others thoughts on this.
Someone get mahto in here
He may fish them as well, but I think he’s more of a Neko rig guy. He’s the one that got me started fishing a Neko rig. This has become my go to rig of choice the last few years.
standard Jig-worm
A ned rig and a jig worm are basically the same thing. It’s a jig with a plastic on it.
The name Ned comes from the guy in Kansas who claims to have started using it.
A Ned rig is just another variant of a jig worm. Today people will refer to the Ned rig in the form of a Smallish jig stand up jig with a small Ned style bait ( usually a straight chunk of soft plastic). This rig has very little action by itself. The angler in-parts the action by draging it along the bottom. “swimming it in the water column, or ripping it through weeds.
The Ned rig is a fish catcher for sure. It shines for smallmouth on gravel and rocks. Some of our best results have come casting and working the bait back horizontally along deep weed lines for largemouth bass.
The ned rig has also caught us many walleyes on sand gravel transitions on Mille Lacs and the Mississippi.
The big difference that I see is that plastics designed for ned rigging are buoyant so they stand up on end when on the bottom.
I’ve tried some knock off type baits that don’t float and they don’t get bit nearly as often as the buoyant ones like the TRD.
Ned Rigs and a jig with a worm are not the same thing. 2 Live Crew describes the action you are looking for the best.
A ned rig is a jig with a worm. A jig worm is a jig with a worm. They are the same variations of each other with differences in name only.
A ned rig is a jig with a worm. A jig worm is a jig with a worm. They are the same variations of each other with differences in name only.
Need rigs use floating worms, jig worms sinking worms.
When I think of a ned rig, I would say its a straight senko style plastic. For some reason they just work. I have used the bass pro shop senkos cut in half and they work pretty well. Probably not as buoyant as a zman style plastic, but its much cheaper for the knock off bass pro senkos.
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