Bass Opener + Ned Rig = Walleye?

[Fisherman89]

I decided to try a new body of water this weekend in the North Frontenac area. I know it was bass opener, but I prefer to fish for walleye. I went without live bait and decided to try out a bass technique that has been picking up steam in the walleye world for at least a few years now, the Ned Rig.

My lure of choice was the Zman TRD TubeZ on a 3/16oz VMC Ned Rig jig head.

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It took me a little while to pick apart the lake, but I eventually found a few cabbage weed beds. Normally I'd troll a crawler harness or lindy rig along the edge of the weed beds, but today since I was using artificials, I anchored and casted along the weed edge, allowing the bait to sink to bottom and then slowly bounced it back to the canoe.

I was on the water from about noon to 6PM and by the end of the day I had caught 3 slot size walleye (17.5 - 18") plus one under, a few nice sized bass, and a couple pike. I rarely keep fish during open water season because I don't like dragging them around on the stringer all day, so they all went back to fight another day!

The walleye were absolutely inhaling that bait!

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Here are a few photos of the fish and a short video clip: https://youtu.be/7x3d1dk_qn4

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Smokey the bear also made an appearance!

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Best part of all, I didn't see a single other boat on the water all day!

Hope you all had a good opening weekend!

[Corvus Lacus]

Very nice !

Yeah, the Ned catches everything...it's especially effective when fish are neutral and don't want to chase stuff. My go to's are the Z-Man Ticklerz and Hula Stickz...I like their stuff so much...I bought the hat...lol
Is that colour in your photo Canada Craw ?

[Fisherman89]

Nice fish!

Their plastics are tough too. I used the same one all day haha. This is the "molting craw" colour.

[Corvus Lacus]

Yep...that Elaztech material is indestructible..and its very buoyant so it rides up when you drag or bounce your bait on the bottom. One bag lasts me a couple of seasons...but of course, I have to have different colours and the different shapes /profiles...so I still have 30 bags or so...lol

[toobinator]

Fisherman 89. Just an FYI. In the first picture, the Ned rig is rigged upside down. The dark side should be on top and the lighter side on the bottom. Good opening weekend though.

[Fisherman89]

Thanks toobinator, I figured it was, but I thought having the bright side up might help since I was fishing it right on bottom. Didn't seem to matter to the fish.

[toobinator]

It's an issue of mind over matter. If the fish don't mind, it don't matter. Lol

[Dintymoore]

I've got a zman shad tied on one of my rods that got hammered on Christie lake last Oct. It's still catching fish.

[altadata]

I don't do much of spin fishing. I tried to google Ned rig - but I still have a question:
- what is the essence of Ned rig ? Is it in the "special Ned rig jighead" + the 'special Ned rig plastics"?
Otherwise it looks to me like any other jighead + some plastic.

Thanks