Favorite Ned Rig now

[Gotfish?]

I have done quite well on traditional Ned rigs (weedless and exposed hook) in the bay and at Barrett. But I needed something more weedless and really like the swinging jig style baits. So here is what I used yesterday:

Main line: 6 lb mono
Swivel to main line, this catches grass that is floating in the bait or can attach to braid
1-2 feet of 10 lb fluorocarbon
Swinging sinker, 7g. I used https://www.amazon.com/Dovesun-30Pcs-Fi ... _puis?th=1 . Cheburashka sinkers could be used too but the tear drop shape is less likely to get caught in weeds.
Light wire EWG hook, must be light enough for the bait to easily float up. I used Gamakatsu #4 offset shank worm EWG hook,58308
TPE bait, I used https://www.amazon.com/CrushCity-Ned-BL ... r=8-1&th=1 in smoke shad.
Bait keeper (optional) to keep the bait from sliding down. I used https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Rapid_F ... APIDH.html

Very weedless and the light wire hook also ensures a good hookup ratio. I don't like commercial Ned swinging jig heads as well because they use too large and too heavy of a hook and this setup allows me to choose the hook and weight I want. I think most swinging Ned jig manufacturers use big heavy hooks because they don't want yahoos using 60 lb braid posting reviews that the hooks straightened out and are no good.

Retrieve consists of 1/2 crank drag, pause and repeat while running the line between thumb and forefinger (bait caster used).

Fished the grassy flats in San Diego Bay yesterday from my tube. Wound up with 1 smelt, 2 corvina and 71 spotted bay bass. At least half were on a single one of the above rigs which still looks like new. Probably 6-7 spotties over 14 inches. A round jig head and grub worked too but hung up more often.

Other baits will work with this setup too including traditional PVC (plastisol) baits. It's less expensive with more choices than commercially sold swinging jig heads. Looking forward to testing at Barrett this summer.

[Gotfish?]

"Swivel to main line, this catches grass that is floating in the bait or can attach to braid" should be "Swivel to main line, this acts as a grass catcher and is used to join to braid if that is used as the mainline".

[Osidecoffee]

Sounds like an awesome day, thanks for sharing all your tips! I honestly haven’t thrown the ned much but I’ve been planning on messing around with a ned bait on a jika rig, it’s certainly the time of year for it. I recently got a tube and plan on hitting the bays soon, so maybe I’ll see you out there one of these days.

[Socalspartan]

Welp, looks like i’ll be fishing the bay tomorrow. Definitely trying this rig out (only needs skirted weight and its same rig Dannicus likes), but it’ll be slightly different because of the terminal tackle I have on hand. I’ll report back. Thanks for sharing!