The Ned rig is one of those presentations that looks so simple it seems like it shouldn't work. A short piece of soft plastic on a tiny jig head, dragged slowly along the bottom, standing upright on the pause. No aggressive action, no big profile, nothing that looks particularly exciting. And yet it catches bass — consistently, in tough conditions, on pressured fish, in clear water, when every other technique in the box has failed. Understanding why it works is the key to knowing when to tie it on.
What is the Ned rig
The Ned rig is a finesse presentation consisting of a short soft plastic — typically 2.5 to 3.5 inches — rigged on a small, flat-bottomed mushroom-style jig head of 1/16 to 3/16 oz. The flat bottom of the jig head causes the soft plastic to stand nearly upright when the rig is resting on the bottom, creating a subtle, quivering action on the pause that fish find irresistible.
It's named after Ned Kehde, a Kansas City angler and outdoor writer who popularized the technique in the mid-2000s. Kehde was fishing finesse presentations in the Midwest long before they were fashionable — small plastics, light line, slow retrieves — and the rig that bears his name distills that approach to its essential elements. Nothing extra. Just enough.
Why it works
Most fishing techniques ask fish to make a decision quickly — a fast-moving crankbait demands an immediate reaction strike or not at all. The Ned rig removes time pressure entirely. The soft plastic sits on the bottom, standing upright, quivering subtly in response to the slightest current or rod movement. A bass can circle it, inspect it, and eventually decide to eat it. That process — inspect and commit rather than react — is exactly what highly pressured or neutral fish need to produce a bite.
The upright standing position is the visual key. A soft plastic standing vertically on the bottom looks like a small creature — a goby, a crayfish tail, a small invertebrate — that is alive and vulnerable. It's a non-threatening posture that doesn't ask fish to chase and doesn't look like anything artificial. On lakes where bass have been caught and released on Texas rigs and swimbaits hundreds of times, the Ned rig presents a profile those fish have no learned aversion to.
The setup
Jig head: A mushroom-style jig head with a flat or slightly rounded bottom, wide gap hook, and a wire keeper or barb to hold the soft plastic. Sizes run from 1/16 oz for very shallow or still water to 3/16 oz for deeper presentations or light current. The 1/8 oz head is the most versatile — heavy enough to maintain bottom contact in most situations, light enough to fall slowly and stand the plastic upright cleanly. Avoid round-bottom jig heads for this technique — they don't produce the standing action that makes the Ned rig effective.
Soft plastic: A finesse worm or ElaZtech-style floating plastic cut to 2.5–3.5 inches. The floating buoyancy of ElaZtech plastics — the material used in the original Z-Man plastics that popularised the technique — helps the lure stand upright more readily than standard PVC soft plastics. Standard finesse worms work on a Ned head but may need a slightly lighter jig head to achieve the same upright stance. Straight-tail profiles outperform curl-tails on the Ned rig — the subtle quiver of a straight tail reads more naturally than the aggressive kick of a curl in a nearly stationary presentation.
Hook orientation: The soft plastic sits straight on the hook shank, with the tail pointing straight up when the rig is standing on the bottom. Getting this orientation right before the first cast takes ten seconds and significantly affects how the lure presents. A twisted or off-angle plastic doesn't stand correctly and reduces the effectiveness of the rig substantially.
Tackle
The Ned rig demands the lightest, most sensitive tackle you're comfortable fishing. A medium-light spinning rod of 6'8"–7'2" with a fast action tip — enough backbone to set the hook cleanly at distance, enough sensitivity in the tip to feel the subtle takes that finesse fishing produces. Pair with a 2500 size spinning reel.
Line choice is particularly important for the Ned rig. 8–10 lb fluorocarbon straight through is the standard setup — not braid with a fluorocarbon leader, but fluorocarbon the entire way from reel to hook. The low-stretch properties of fluorocarbon give sensitivity close to braid while the near-invisibility in clear water keeps the presentation clean. On very clear, highly pressured lakes, some anglers drop to 6 lb fluorocarbon. On waters where clarity is less critical, 10–12 lb works fine.
The reason straight fluorocarbon outperforms braid-to-leader for the Ned rig: the Ned produces very soft, subtle bites, and the connection point of a braid-to-fluoro join creates a small amount of hinge that dampens the signal on light takes. With straight fluoro, the line telegraphs everything directly.
How to fish it
Cast to the target, let the rig sink on a semi-slack line — watch the line as it sinks, because bass often pick it up on the fall before it reaches the bottom. When the weight touches down, take up slack until you have light contact with the rig. Then do very little.
The standard retrieve is a slow drag — pull the rig 6–12 inches along the bottom with a smooth rod sweep, then lower the rod tip and let it settle. The plastic stands upright on the pause. Wait five to ten seconds. Drag again. The whole presentation is slow, deliberate, and low in the water column. Resist the urge to add action — the Ned rig works because of what it doesn't do as much as what it does.
Vary the pause length rather than the movement intensity. A five-second pause might get ignored while a fifteen-second pause triggers a bite from the same fish — particularly in cold water or post-frontal conditions where fish need more time to commit. If you're not getting bites, extend the pause before changing the soft plastic or the location.
Watch the line on the pause. Ned rig bites are frequently line bites rather than rod tip bites — a slight twitch of the line, a small bow moving up or down, or the line going slack as the fish picks up the lure and moves. When anything on the line changes during a pause, lift the rod. Missing Ned rig bites almost always comes from waiting for a harder signal that isn't coming.
Where to fish it
The Ned rig excels on any hard or mixed bottom — gravel, rock, sand, shell — where the jig head can stand the plastic upright cleanly. Soft mud bottom causes the head to sink and kills the standing action. Rocky points, gravel bars, shell beds, and the hard-bottom transitions between different substrates are prime Ned rig water.
For largemouth: the edges of hard-bottom flats, the base of dock pilings on a firm bottom, and main lake points in 8–15 feet. For smallmouth: rock humps, submerged points, and gravel transitions in clear northern lakes — this is where the Ned rig is absolutely at its best. A smallmouth bass on a rocky Great Lakes point, circling a Ned rig standing upright between two rocks, is exactly what the technique was designed for.
Avoid using the Ned rig in heavy vegetation — it's not a weedless presentation and will foul constantly in matted grass or thick weeds. That's Texas rig territory. The Ned works open water and hard structure; the Texas rig works cover.
Color selection
The Ned rig is a natural, subtle presentation and the colour should match. Green pumpkin is the most consistently effective Ned rig colour across all water conditions and both species. It matches crayfish, small bluegill, and goby — the primary prey in most Ned rig fisheries — and looks natural in both clear and moderately stained water.
Watermelon and smoke are the other two colours worth carrying. Watermelon for slightly clearer conditions where green pumpkin can look too dark. Smoke and translucent grey for very clear, pressured water where even natural earth tones can look too artificial.
Bright colours — chartreuse, orange, white — have limited application on the Ned rig. The technique is built on subtlety, and bright colours undermine the presentation in the clear water where it works best. In stained water where visibility is low, a darker, more contrasted option like black or dark brown creates a better silhouette than a bright colour that looks washed out at depth.
Ned rig vs drop shot — which one when
Both are finesse techniques for neutral and pressured bass. The choice between them comes down to depth, structure, and how the fish are positioned.
Use the Ned rig when fish are on hard bottom in relatively shallow to mid-depth water (4–18 feet) and a dragging presentation makes sense — you're covering the bottom methodically, moving the lure through the zone where fish are holding. The Ned works horizontally, moving through the strike zone on each retrieve.
Use the drop shot when fish are at a very specific depth — suspended over deeper structure, holding tight to a vertical feature, or positioned where sonar shows them clearly — and you need to keep the lure at that exact height without moving it. The drop shot works vertically, staying in one place. The complete drop shot guide covers this in detail.
The overlap: both produce on hard bottom in 10–18 feet. In that zone, try the Ned rig first when fish seem to be feeding — the dragging presentation covers more water. Switch to the drop shot when bites stop and you know fish are still there.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Ned rig and how does it work?
The Ned rig is a short finesse soft plastic on a small, flat-bottomed mushroom jig head of 1/16 to 3/16 oz. The flat bottom causes the plastic to stand upright on the pause, creating a subtle quivering action that bass find difficult to resist. It works because it presents a small, natural-looking target that doesn't demand pursuit — fish can inspect it and commit on their own time, which is exactly what neutral and pressured bass need to produce a bite.
What is the best soft plastic for a Ned rig?
A 2.5–3.5 inch finesse worm or ElaZtech-style floating plastic in green pumpkin. Straight-tail profiles produce the most natural action on the pause. ElaZtech material stands upright more readily than standard PVC plastics due to its buoyancy. If using standard soft plastics, go slightly lighter on the jig head to compensate.
What size jig head for a Ned rig?
1/8 oz covers most situations — shallow to mid-depth, calm to light current. Drop to 1/16 oz for very shallow water or situations where an extremely slow fall is needed. Go up to 3/16 oz for deeper water or any current that would push a lighter head off the bottom. Use a mushroom-style head specifically — round heads don't produce the standing action.
What line should I use for a Ned rig?
8–10 lb fluorocarbon straight through — not braid with a leader, but fluorocarbon from reel to hook. The sensitivity and near-invisibility of fluorocarbon in clear water is particularly important for a technique built on subtlety and light bites. On very clear, pressured lakes, 6 lb is worth trying. On less critical water, 10–12 lb works fine.
Is the Ned rig good for smallmouth bass?
The Ned rig is exceptional for smallmouth bass — arguably better for smallmouth than any other presentation. Bronze-backs in clear, rocky northern lakes respond strongly to the natural, crayfish-like presentation of a Ned rig dragged slowly along gravel and rock. Green pumpkin on a 1/8 oz mushroom head, fished slowly over rock structure in 8–20 feet, catches smallmouth that ignore swimbaits and drop shots.
When should I use a Ned rig instead of a Texas rig?
Use the Ned rig on open, hard bottom — gravel, rock, sand, shell — where the head can stand the plastic upright and you're not fishing through heavy cover. Use the Texas rig in heavy vegetation, around laydowns, and in any situation requiring a weedless presentation. The Ned is a finesse, open-water technique. The Texas rig is a cover technique. They serve different purposes and rarely compete directly.