Mikey Ballz show us how to fish a ned rig in the places you wouldn't normally throw one. And how to catch monsters like this!!

Video transcript:

Speaker 1:
What's up bros and broettes. If you guys pay attention to the videos, in the last video, which you should go back and watch, it was pretty cool. I caught a nine pound, 12 ounce giant at a little tiny bait. That's been the theme since we've been down in Florida. They've been eating small stuff, but it was a weird presentation, something very different from what I normally do, and I would say, a secret way to fish a NED that really doesn't get talked about, but a lot of people do it. That's swimming a NED, and there's a lot of different ways to do it. It's a super functional technique.

Speaker 1:
You can do it from stuff like docks, like right over there, to brush piles, to even under tree falls, just like this. It, basically, incorporates using a NED, and you can skip it under the docks, skip it under the trees. You can throw it to brush pile structures. You can do all those things, and instead of dragging it back, super finesse, shaking it super slow like you normally do, you actually reel it. For lack of a better word, I'd say you fish it like a swim bait, and most comparably to the way you'd fish like a Keitech or a small, like 2.8, 3.3 inch... basically, like a two to three inch Keitech or swim bait style bait on a ball head, a finesse swim bait presentation for like spots, small mouth and that.

Speaker 1:
What I'm going to show you today... We really didn't go into the in depth of exactly how to do it, exactly how to set it up and what it's doing, why it works, what the bait does and what makes it different from any other way to either fish a NED or even a swim bait or anything along those lines.

Speaker 1:
In this video, I'm going to... Once again, real fishing. I'm going to show you literally how to do it. We're going to go do it. In a second here, I'm going to show you how to rig it up, what kind of setup to use to throw it, and hopefully we're going to catch some fish, so hit that like, and subscribe button. I'm going to show you a technique that does not get talked about, but absolutely kills it. Let's talk about setting up for this technique because I have to rig up. I broke off my NEDs, so it's a perfect opportunity to show you guys exactly what I'm using and how it's set up.

Speaker 1:
For this situation, there's really two NEDs you can do this with, and we've talked about it in past videos. There are the nickels, this is the JTK or the JT Kenney Mag NED rig. Then, there's also the Power Ned. Like we've talked about in other videos, there's two different reasons to use either. One is you're fishing around cover or you're skipping. I showed you guys that dock over there. If I went and wanted to do this like skipping a dock, I skip it under, and I slow reel and pulse it out, I'd probably want to use the power net just because it has that screw lock on it, and you're not going to get any slippage. Skipping a bait is sort of a high impact process or technique, so when you skip using, say, your standard NED, like the Nichols NED or any other NED, the bait slips down after a while. Even if you get a fish or if you get hung on something, or if you bounce against something, it tends to slip the bait down, and it gets a little annoying, and you lose that kind of rhythm.

Speaker 1:
If I was fishing super heavy stuff or skipping under trees or something like that, I'd definitely use the Power Ned. In this situation, we are fishing a structure. There's some kind of garbage down on the bottom, but at the same time, we're really fishing over that structure. We're never really fishing in the structure. I've chosen this guy for two reasons. One, there's a smaller brush guard. I'm almost fishing it like a hair jig, so these fish are just swiping at it. I want less protection on the hook, so I don't miss fish. It also has a little smaller hook, so it's easier for them to get in their mouth. It's a smaller hook, also, because I'm throwing it on a 610 KS II Elite. I'm throwing it on this guy with a Daiwa Eliminator on, basically, it's my Keitech setup, which we mentioned in the last video. This is exactly what I'd throw like a ball head finesse jig set up on.

Speaker 1:
I have eight-pound test right here, and I'm going to go ahead and tie this thing on. Nichols does weird sizes. This is approximately a quarter ounce. I think it's a hair less. I want to say it's a three 16ths. I'm going to be fishing this in anywhere from 15 to about 22 feet of water, so that kind of gives you an idea. Obviously, you need to vary which head you're using depending on how deep, but I'm going to tie a little Palomar knot, give it a lick, and tighten it down. If you are fishing docks, even if they're deep docks, I'd recommend going down to an eighth ounce, unless they're super deep docks, like 35 foot kind of docks. The reason being the whole trick to this technique and the whole concept behind it is you're catching fish that are a little more suspended than the rest.

Speaker 1:
If you were just trying to get to the bottom pretty quick or get a reaction and just get down there, there's a million other baits you could use: a jig, a stick bait on a Texas rig things along those lines. In this instance, we're trying to present a less sort of obtrusive... A less obtrusive presentation, a smaller, more compact finesse presentation. We're trying to keep it up in the water column because these fish, they're either related to bait that's up, which is the situation that we're going to try to tap into in a minute, or they're under a dock or under trees like this back behind us, and they're relating to that cover that's above them or that shade. You want that bait to stay higher in the water column, even if the water is a bit deeper.

Speaker 1:
What I'm going to put on the back of this thing is pretty standard. I have a Gambler Fat Ace. Any kind of stick bait will work. My two main ones that I use are a Fat Ace... Actually, the Ace and the Fat Ace, they're pretty much the same baits. One's six inch, one's five inch, so pretty much same stick style bait. I also use a Damiki Stinger, which is also a stick bait, but it has a little bit different shape to it. It's got a little more of a torpedo shape with a pointed, ice tail.

Speaker 1:
When it comes to this Ace, I'm going to find the worm sack, and I'm going to cut it right in the middle of the worm sack, just like that. I want to use the side that has the pointed tail, especially for this, this application. I think the pointed tail, and one of the keys to this presentation, is the wag you get as it falls, just like a Keitech has a boot tail and that boot tail slowly kicks as you suspend it or as it pendulums down. In this case, I think the real draw is, you can even see it as I move the bait, how this tail shakes when you sort of swim bait or, I'm sorry, hair jig it. You pendulum them and suspend that bait down. Basically, you stop reeling and let that bait pendulum down on a semi-taught line, so it's pretty simple. I'm going to just slide this thing on, just like we normally do, and I measured where my hook's going to come out, which is approximately there. I'm going to slide it on.

Speaker 1:
A little trick, I'll tell you, with the Nichols, the Nichols has a little wire keeper on there. It's right about there. If you press down on that, what that does is it pushes it into the plastic and gives you a little bit extra hold. As I mentioned with the Nichols, I love this jig, but the baits do slide down, so you got to accommodate that a little bit, but obviously, this is pretty much your standard NED rig. I could go around and cast this and drag it on the bottom just as much as I can do the technique that I'm about to show you.

Speaker 1:
It's pretty standard. I got a Green Pumpkin one on there because we're fishing around brim. Now, one thing to throw into your mindset when you're picking yourself plastic, don't be afraid of using white. Don't be afraid of using your smoke and your glitter patterns because oftentimes, too, your fish might be eating shad. They might be eating little glass minnows. You sort of match the hatch. It's a finesse presentation, so approach it just like you'd approach, any kind of finesse NED presentation.

Speaker 1:
That's her. That's a big one. Oh dear. See how I just let it fall. I went to lift, and you don't know if you're hung on the bottom or if it's her, like this. They just suck it up. There was never a bite. There was never any indication I got you in the mouth, and dude, they're chunck-a-wonkasaurases. Goodbye.

Speaker 1:
Let's do this technique guys. I'm going to show you the retrieve here real quick. What we have is a structure out here. There's a bunch of fish suspended over it, and I have my NED, just that little, I think it's 3/16ths with that little fat Ace on it. I got on my 6/10 little finesse spinning rod. I'm going to give it a slack out there. I'm going to cast it quite a ways past the object or past the structure because, in this context, I'm not fishing under a dock where I skip it under the dock. I'm trying to go over it, and there's fish all around it. Even though normally, you'd want to focus on the structure. I'm trying to focus on this broad area, because it is a reeling style retrieve or presentation, so you're not dragging to hit this one little corner of this one little piece of stuff.

Speaker 1:
I'm going to let it get all the way to the bottom, and that might be the last time that it's on the bottom. My line went slack, and you can see I'm just going to do this slow retrieve. Like I said, a lot of you guys who have watched the spotted bass videos that I've done with the Keitechs, this is my retrieve with that Keitech. I'm just pointing the rod at the bait and swimming it back. Every once in a while, I'm just going to stop. My line's line semi-taught, and that bait's going to slowly dart down to the bottom. In this context, I'm not going to let it get all the way to the bottom. I'm going to let it sink for a second, and then I'm going to continue just doing my slow roll kind of reeling presentation.

Speaker 1:
I'm just trying to keep it up. These fish have been above or suspended above a lot of the structures that I fish, and I'm just trying to show them something a little different than the hair jig, a little finesse and a soft plastic. I got a bunch of people partying next to me too. It's kind of amusing dude, but I'm just slow rolling it through there. I'll pause, and let it pendulum back down to the bottom. Usually that's when you get your bite, either on the retrieve or when you make that pause and that bait slowly pendulums towards the bottom. That's usually when they eat it.

Speaker 1:
It's like that. That's what happens.

Speaker 1:
When you swim this through the water, all that really happens is maybe you get a little bit of shake with the tail as you're reeling it, but overall, it darts, not very quickly, but it darts and comes through the water in a very straight way, which is very comparable to the way a hair jig fishes and swims. There's not much action to it. The hair jig has a little bit of flare because of the hair on there. This has a little bit of flare because the tail does a little bit of shake or a little bit of waddling as you swim it, but there's very little gate to it. It's not wide. It doesn't S back and forth like a spook. You don't get much, I don't know, variance from the trajectory that you have with it when you're reeling it in.

Speaker 1:
The other cool thing is when you stop reeling, which is exactly what we're doing, we're basically casting it out, reeling it, and then we'll stop. We won't give it any slack or anything like that, but we'll stop. This thing sort of glides to the bottom, and the tail does a little bit of a shake. On the bottom, it ends up landing just about like that. It stands on the bottom just like a NED would. It's a super do nothing look. You'd think for summer, for fall, the water's still a little bit warm, you'd want a little more displacement. The ironic part about especially late summer fishing and fall fishing is it seems like these fish turn into more of a negative or a neutral mode, and you're forced to turn back to a lot of the more finesse presentations you used in early to mid-spring to get these fish to bite.

Speaker 1:
It has a really cool action. It's a really do nothing action. It's just a straight, simple swimming, and I think that's what draws them and what makes it so easy to fish this in different water columns. It's not moving beyond what you think it's moving. It's simply swimming in a straightforward manner. When you stop that retrieve, it's just penduluming down and diving at a very gradual manner back down to the bottom and presenting that same NED presentation where it stands up or stands at a little angle on the bottom that draws bites.

Speaker 1:
That's her.

Speaker 1:
Doesn't even know she's hooked yet. In the wind. Storm's rolling up. That's a big one, gentlemen. That's a big. Please stay on there. Oh God. It should come off. Oh, that hurts my feelings a whole bunch. Well, the wind and the weather had a little different plan for us today to say the least, but I hope you guys got the gist. Let me show you the storm that's coming. See that? That's a giant wall of rain. It hasn't thundered yet, so I ain't gone nowhere, but I hope you got the gist of it.

Speaker 1:
Swimming and NED, super versatile. I love techniques or baits that you can use in a multiple variation manner because they've come a lot more functional. It's a lot less annoying to have one tied up on the deck because that one bait, that one rig, does like 27 things. Give it a try. It's a great finesse way to attack suspended fish as well as fish that... I don't know. They're just not in the mood for your standard suspended fish presentations. We talked about Spinner Bait, Swim bait, hair jig, and it's a fun way to catch them on the light line, catch them on a soft rod. It's super cool. Make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. I'm going to go dodge this storm and see if I can catch a few more B-A-S-S. Tight lines. We'll see you back out on the water or talking fishing.