Rouse Outdoors
Check out our social media
  • Home
  • Videos
  • News
  • Resources
    • Heated docks in Kansas
  • Contact Us
  • Partner Sites
  • Chatroom
  • Photos
    • Hunting Photos
    • Fishing Photos
    • Weather Photos
    • Scenery Photos

Lure Review: Z-Man's TRD, Shroom Z Ned Rig combo worthy of all the hype

5/21/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
A nice crappie caught on a Ned Rig. (Photo by Josh Rouse)
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON CJONLINE

​
If you’ve been paying attention for the past month or so, one fishing setup keeps popping up in a lot of the columns and stories I’ve been writing: the Ned Rig.
Picture
A largemouth bass caught at dusk on the Ned Rig. (Photo by Josh Rouse)
Anglers have been having a great amount of success using this pint-sized jig named after Lawrence angler Ned Kehde, and it got me wondering exactly why. The more I researched the Z-Man finesse lures on the web, the more convinced I became that this setup might be the real deal — which is exactly what the mainstay soft plastic’s name, TRD, stands for.

I recently purchased a new Shakespeare spinning crappie rod, and with its light action and only a 2-pound Stren line spooled, I figured now would be the time to try it out. I didn’t go with the complete, recommended setup that I’ve heard from everybody I’ve talked to about the rig. Most people I’ve talked to or listened to on YouTube have recommended using an 8- to 10-pound fluorocarbon line, either fully spooled or as a stringer coming off braided line. This is supposed to help the bait fall more seductively in the water and to increase sensitivity so you can feel the incredibly light bites of the fish.
And when I say they’re light, I mean it. You can barely feel them, if at all, unless there’s something pretty big on the other end.
​

I went out to my favorite spot to try out new baits and lures and immediately realized this wouldn’t be the same as throwing other jigs or crankbaits. Despite catching a bass on my first cast, it was more luck than anything I did right at that point. This lure has a learning curve, and you’ll have to figure out how to use it. As soon as you cast the bait, you have to be ready to set the hook, because fish love to hit it on the fall. I was using a 2.75-inch Z-Man Finesse TRD in California Craw on a black, 1/20th-ounce Z-man Shroom Z mushroom jig head.

The more I experimented, the more I figured out how to use my sense of sight to detect a bite. When I’m fishing with worms or other live baits, I love to use a bobber because I can notice little movements to detect when a fish is playing with the hook. Though I didn’t have a bobber on, I used a similar technique in watching where the line entered the water from my pole. If you pretend that point is where your bobber would be, then when you see it start to take off you usually have a bite. In calm water, it’s pretty easy to see, as during daylight you’ll see a V shape where the movement of the line is creating a small wake. When the sun sets or when the wind picks up, however, this technique isn’t as reliable.

Afterward, I talked to Hayden angler Thomas Heinen, who fishes competitively using the Ned Rig, and he approved of the technique I was using in calm water.

“Yep! That is a good bite indicator,” Heinen told me. “Also, when it’s windy, watch the bow in your line and when in straightens out, it’s usually a bite."
​

After that first small bass, I caught another small one before hooking a pair of nice crappies hiding under the pond scum near the shore. Small, aggressive bass will blow up on this lure all day — it’s like throwing them a piece of candy — but it also can catch some pretty nice fish. I hit on another pounder in the same spot as the crappie and then turned to the left and fished a big, floating glob of scum sitting in the middle of the pond. I was surprised at how far the bait would cast despite being so small. Part of that is having a light-action rod that will bend during the cast. I hit on another, but the bass fell off right at the shore as I attempted to get him through the scum in front of me. That was one thing I noticed about fishing with the Ned Rig — you have to keep pressure on the fish at all times or it is likely they’ll fall off. Still, I’ll count it.

I caught a second bass from the same spot and noticed that it was covered in spawn, meaning that floating gunk was probably protecting some bass eggs. I turned left and put a cast along the shoreline, where I found a sweet spot amid the scum and weeds. A nice hybrid bluegill attacked the TRD, marking the second cast in a row where I caught a fish. The very next cast, and in the same area, I connected with a nice black crappie as soon as the lure hit the water, and it may have been the biggest fish of the day. I cast again and let out a laugh of disbelief as I again hooked into a fish, the fourth cast in a row, and reeled the small bass to shore. On each of those casts, I barely had to wait at all, as the moment it started to sink the line lurched forward in the water and I set the hook. With the crappie, I don’t think it even had time to fall.

The bite slowed a bit but I was still pulling in fish at a pretty decent clip, with the next six fish I caught being average-sized bass. I hit on two more excellent hybrids and a bass, then finally decided to move from the only spot I had fished. You read that right. With all 19 of those fish I had just caught, I hadn’t moved a foot.

As the sunlight began to dim, I expected the bite to slow to a crawl, but I was still getting hits on it. I was plopping the TRD down in holes in the moss with relative ease. It didn’t get hung up too bad at all and would typically just go right over it like a plastic frog. I caught two more small bass fishing in the shallows, and then at 8:40 p.m. when the sun had all but set I hit on another hybrid. I laughed and tossed the small hybrid back, and then two minutes later I hooked into the biggest bass of the day — about 2 pounds, which is decent for that pond. That made 23 fish in the roughly 3.5 hours I’d been fishing, which is pretty comparable to fishing live worms on a good, hot summer day. I was mostly just deadsticking the bait, which is where you just cast it out and let it sit for a while. There aren’t many artificial lures I’ve used that you can do that with. With the buoyancy of the lures, which are made out of a tough type of plastic called ElaZtec, the rig basically sits straight up once it hits the bottom, no matter where you throw it — making it a super-enticing bait choice.

It made me a believer, but I’m still going to have to fish with it a lot before I get used to the total lack of feel. I definitely need to re-line my pole with braided line and a fluorocarbon leader to see if that makes a difference in the sensitivity. The cool thing about the Ned Rig, though, is that if you use it correctly, the fish will basically hook themselves, so you really don’t even have to work that hard to set the hook. That will be the next mental hurdle for me to jump.

Heinen said it best, however, when I was talking to him about the Z-man lures and Midwest Finesse fishing: “This is one of those baits where you just have to have confidence in it.”
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Josh Rouse is an outdoor enthusiast from Topeka, Kansas. He is the Outdoors Editor for The Topeka Capital-Journal.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    August 2013
    April 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011

    Categories

    All
    Abu Garcia
    Alabama
    Alaska
    All American Catfish Tournaments
    All-American Catfish Tournaments
    Angler Feature
    Apps
    Aqua Vu
    Aqua-Vu
    Arbogast
    Archery
    Arkansas
    ATVs
    Audubon Society
    Backlashers Bass Club
    Badger
    Bald Eagles
    Barbel
    Bass
    Bassmaster
    Bass Pro Shops
    Bear
    Benelli
    Berkley
    Big Bucks
    Big Cats
    Big Game
    Big Horned Sheep
    Big-horned Sheep
    Bird Watching
    Bison
    Boar
    Boating
    Books
    Booyah
    Bosnia
    Bow Fishing
    Bow Hunting
    B&P Jighead
    Brandon Palaniuk
    Browning
    Bullfrogs
    Burbot
    Business
    Buzzbaits
    Cabela's
    Calendar
    California
    Camping
    Canada
    CarbonTV
    Carp
    Catfish
    Catfish Chasers
    Catfish Weekly
    Chubs
    College Fishing
    Colorado
    Connecticut
    Conservation
    Cougars
    Country Stampede
    Coyotes
    Cranes
    Crankbaits
    Crappie
    Crappie Masters
    Creeks
    Critters
    Culprit
    Cycling
    Daiwa
    Deer
    Dogs
    Doug Vahrenberg
    Doves
    Drum
    Ducks
    Ducks Unlimited
    Eagle Claw
    Education
    Elk
    Environment
    Europe
    Fall
    Fireworks
    Fishing
    Fishing's Future
    Fish Stories
    FleFly
    Fle Fly
    Fle-Fly
    Flint Hills Bass Association
    Florida
    FLW
    Fly Fishing
    Frogs
    Fur Harvesting
    Gander Mountain
    Gar
    Geese
    Georgia
    Government
    Great Plains Nature Center
    Grilling
    Gulf Of Mexico
    Guns
    Hawaii
    Health
    Heartland Bowhunter
    Heddon
    Henry Repeating Arms
    Heroes On The Water
    Hiking
    Humminbird
    Humor
    Hunters For Life
    Hunting
    Hunting Shows
    ICAST
    Ice Fishing
    Idaho
    Illinois
    In Fisherman
    In-Fisherman
    Insects
    Instagram
    Invasive Species
    Iowa
    Jackson Kayaks
    Joey Nania
    Kansas
    Kansas Crappie Club
    Kansas Crappie Trail
    Kansas Herpetological Society
    Kansas Wetlands Education Center
    Kayaking
    Kentucky Lake
    K State
    K-State
    Lake Of The Ozarks
    Lakes
    Lake Trout
    Lake Wheeler
    Lazy Ikes
    Lightning Photos
    Little Cleos
    Louisiana
    Lure Lock
    Lures
    Mackerel
    Mahi Mahi
    Mahi-Mahi
    Marcum
    Maryland
    Melvern Reservoir
    Memories
    Michigan
    Micro Fishing
    Micro-fishing
    Midwest Finesse
    Milford Nature Center
    Milford Reservoir
    Mille Lacs
    Minnesota
    Mississippi
    Missouri
    Montana
    Moose
    Mountain Lions
    Mr. Crappie
    Mushrooms
    Music
    Muskie
    Muzzleloaders
    Nace
    National Park Service
    Nature
    Nebraska
    Ned Kehde
    Ned Rig
    Neko Rig
    Nevada
    New Jersey
    News
    Newspapers
    New York
    Night Fishing
    Noodling
    North Carolina
    North Dakota
    Northern Pike
    NRA
    NWTF
    Ohio
    Oklahoma
    Old Reel Collectors Association
    Oregon
    Paddlefish
    Panfish
    Pennsylvania
    Pflueger
    Pheasants
    Pheasants Forever
    Pond Management
    Ponds
    Prairie Chickens
    Predators
    Pro Cure
    Pro-Cure
    Published
    Q&A
    Quail
    Quail Forever
    QUWF
    Rage Tail
    Ranger
    Rapala
    Reading
    Rebel Lures
    Records
    Redfish
    Reviews
    Rivers
    Roach
    Rose Kuli
    Safaris
    Safety
    Salmon
    Saltwater Fishing
    Sauger
    Saugeye
    Sharks
    Shimano
    Shotguns
    Slovenia
    Smallmouth Buffalo
    Smelt
    Snakes
    Snapper
    South Africa
    South America
    South Carolina
    South Dakota
    Species Feature
    Spiderwire
    Spring
    Spring Turkey
    SPRO
    Storm Lures
    Storms
    Sturgeon
    Sufix
    Summer
    Summertime
    Sutherlands
    Sweetwater TV
    Table Rock Lake
    Tackle
    Taxidermy
    Tennessee
    Terminator
    Texas
    Tightlines UV
    Toledo Bend
    Topeka
    Top Secret Jig Co.
    Topwater
    Tornado
    Tournament Fishing
    Trail Camera
    Trapping
    Trapshooting
    Trent Siegle
    Trilene
    Trout
    TTG Lures
    Turkey
    United States
    Upland Birds
    Varmint
    Veterans
    Vibe Kayaks
    Vibric
    Video Games
    Vintage Lures
    Virginia
    VMC
    Walleye
    Washburn
    Washburn Review
    Washington State
    Waterfowl
    Weather
    Westar Energy
    Westin Fishing
    West Virginia
    Wetlands
    White Bass
    Wild Game
    WILD Kansas
    Wilson Lake
    Winter
    Wiper
    Wisconsin
    Wyoming
    Yakima
    Youth
    YouTube
    YO ZURI
    YO-ZURI
    Zebco
    Z Man
    Z-Man
    Zoom

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly