If you are new to the Ned Rig, here is all you need to know about the hottest technique in bass fishing.

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Video transcript:

Paul Glass:
All right, you guys, welcome back to the channel. I'm really excited to do this video for you today because we're going to talk about my favorite way to fish, and that is fishing the deadly Nedly, the Ned rig. I know that a lot of people haven't used it before. There's a lot of people who look at it and they think, "Oh, they're smaller baits. You're talking about smaller fish." That might be true, but I want to give you guys the 101, because of all the finesse ways to fish, this is one of my favorites. And it has caught me a lot of fish, but it's also caught me a lot of big fish, so I'm excited to do this video.

Paul Glass:
So we're gonna talk basics. We're going to do 101. I'm not going to get too advanced. I just want get you on the water and effectively fishing the Ned rig. So there's two different sizes. Let's talk plastics first. There's two different sizes. One of my favorites, this is a 4.25 inch X Zone. This is the Ned Zone. This is the little bit larger size. I know, four and a quarter inches is not a giant bait, but you're talking about finesse presentations. So this is a little bit of a bigger bait, but it's one of my favorites. This is also a great clear water color. This is Minnow Magic. It's like a purple and clear bait, but it's really awesome. My all time favorite bait, the one I reach for and gravitate towards the most is going to be this coppertreuse. This is the X Zone Ned Zone. Awesome bait. Four and a quarter inches; again, that's a little bit big.

Paul Glass:
Now, one of my favorites, the one I gravitate to the most actually is the Z-Man Finesse TRD. This is a 2.75 inch bait. So under three inches, but I love this coppertreuse color. This one has caught me a ton of fish. If I'm river fishing, this has to be in my bag. It's one of my favorite all time baits.

Paul Glass:
We talked baits, let's talk hooks. Now, your standard style hook is going to be this open-faced jig hook. Usually a quarter ounce is where I like to start, but one eighth is probably where I do most of my work. One sixth and one eighth. Again, finesse. That's for that smaller size TRD, under three inches.

Paul Glass:
Now, MONSTERBASS has this saber-tooth EWG Ned rig hook. Now, what does that mean? That means you can rig this thing entirely weedless. One of people's biggest gripes, next to, one, you're supposed to fish it slow, two, you get hooked up all the time with this open hook. It happens constantly. You're always getting hooked up. Yes, that can be frustrating. So if you're not around just open rocks, if you see any weed cover and you want to avoid getting hooked up, grab yourself a hook like this one, an EWG Ned hook. I'll show you how to rig it up. It's really simple. You do it the same ways you do almost any other worm. Just go ahead and nick the front of your bait, thread it on, turn it over, and then you're going to rig it weedless. So I'm going to mark my thumb right here where I want to put the hook in, go from the bottom, and boom, you've got yourself a weedless presentation. You can fish this almost anywhere and it can be really, really effective. Again, it's that finesse presentation. You're showing the fish something that maybe they haven't seen before.

Paul Glass:
All right, now let's talk tackle. This is a critically important piece of any finesse fishing setup. Super important. First of all, let's talk rod. I like a six and a half to seven foot. If you're fishing quarter ounce or higher, I want a medium, fast, or extra fast. If I'm fishing less than a quarter ounce, I want to see a medium light, again, fast or extra fast. The reason I need that fast to extra fast tip is because I want the most sensitivity possible. So I'm getting direct contact from the lure straight to my hand so that I can detect every strike the second that it happens.

Paul Glass:
The other thing that is critically important a lot of times you're going to be fishing clear water, up close. Again, you're talking smaller baits. I'm using high vis yellow braid so that I can actually see strikes through the line. I can see my line moving even before I sense it with the raw tip. Now, why do I go medium, medium light? You're throwing lighter weights. When you have the lighter weight, you want control, you want accuracy, and you want sensitivity.

Paul Glass:
The last piece that's critically important is the leader. I like to use a two to three foot fluorocarbon leader. I do not use mono. Again, I'm trying to maintain all that sensitivity and I'm trying to maintain understanding every single time I've got any kind of bite. And bottom contact is critical. With a lot of these jigs, you're going to be targeting one small rock pile, or you're going to be targeting one little piece of structure. You've got to know exactly where that bait is, and you've got to feel exactly where that bait is. And you can do that so much better with a high vis braided line and a fluorocarbon leader.

Paul Glass:
So that wraps it up for us. I just want to say thank you for checking out this video. Please check out the MONSTERBASS channel. Subscribe, like, notification bell, all that stuff. But sincerely, I hope you learned a little bit about the Ned rig. I hope you're not as scared of it or intimidated. Or hopefully you can understand that this thing actually does work. You don't just have to throw giant worms. You can throw little tiny finesse baits and catch some big fish. So please, go try it. Again, hope this was helpful for you, and we'll catch you out on the next video. See you.