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Ned Rig Bream
By Justin Willmer
The first time I saw the Ned Rig concept it made sense to me. A mushroom style jighead that assists with a stand up presentation (tail up or claws up), combined with a buoyant plastic that ensures that this stand up action, from swimming or fleeing, to feeding or defending is rapid, attracting the attention of fish and triggering strikes. Theoretically the soft plastic is always working to attract fish and trigger strikes because it is either moving, as if swimming or fleeing from a predator, or it is paused or moving naturally with the water movement while standing up in a natural feeding pose or a claws up defensive pose.
Starting with Flathead
The species that I most commonly target is flathead, so I immediately put the TT Lures NedlockZ jighead to work on the flathead, teamed up with a ZMan Ned Rig plastic, such as the 3" TRD HogZ, 2.5" TRD CrawZ and even the 2.5" GrubZ and 2.5" Slim SwimZ performed well on the mushroom head. I utilised the 1/10oz NedlockZ for picking sand pockets in the shallow weed flats and the 1/6oz and 1/5oz for fishing drains and channel edges.
The Ned Rig allows you to fish the plastic with plenty of action, while only moving it a short distance if you wish, which allowed me to thoroughly pick apart the pockets, drains and edges, with a slow, naturally presentation. A couple of shakes or a hop, followed by a pause, with the bites often coming as the plastic sunk back to the bottom or the weight of the fish being on the plastic as I went to hop again. The Ned Rig has now produced dozens of flathead, up to 80cm and is a regular in my flathead kit.
Bring on the Bream
The first time that we fished the Ned Rig in Australia we landed bream, fishing a Drew's Craw coloured ZMan 2.5" TRD CrawZ, rigged on a 1/10oz Black NedlockZ jighead. It was fished across the bottom on a broken weed and rubble flat, and the bream fought over it. From there the focus shifted to flathead, although I also scored a few bream shaking them over weed and hopping them over yabby beds. It was the arrival of the ZMan 2.75" BugZ though that really had me turning my attention from flathead to bream.
The TRD BugZ is an awesome little creature bait that consists of a chunky ribbed body, with two larger flat 'claws' and two smaller, offset 'claws' (remember to separate the two larger claws out of the packet before fishing it). It doesn't particularly resemble anything, however at the same time it has characteristics that make me think crab, yabby, prawn, baitfish, insect and a stack of other things that fish like to eat. I believe that this is one of its main strengths. Fish have no hands and the only way that they can test out what something is, is to pick it up in their mouth. I have seen many lures that try to replicate something perfectly fail as the fish must notice subtle things that aren't right, whereas the TRD BugZ has enough strike triggers to fire them up, without creating a sense that something isn't right... maybe I'm overthinking things, but here's how it played out.
Some sample TRD BugZ arrived and straight away I thought bream will love this, although some initial feedback was that the body was too bulky. I had some time for a quick session, rigged the TRD BugZ in The Deal colour on a 1/10oz TT Lures NedlockZ jighead and hit a shallow drain, hopping the plastic through the sandy patches. Second cast it was smashed and a bream was in the net, with just the end of the NedlockZ sticking out of its mouth... it had inhaled the whole presentation. A few casts later and another bream inhaled the TRD BugZ, followed by a flathead for dinner and the first test was done.
Over recent months we have spent more time fishing the Ned Rig specifically for bream and refining the techniques that work in a variety of scenarios. There are three main retrieve techniques that I utilise when fishing this presentation, across a variety of different environments. My go-to is either the ZMan 2.5" TRD CrawZ or 2.75" TRD BugZ, both catch, with a cut-down 3" TRD HogZ another option.
These are rigged primarily on a 1/10oz #1 NedlockZ jighead, with the 1/15oz #2 another option if you are looking for a really slow sink or fishing higher in the water column and the 1/6oz and 1/5oz an option for deeper breaming and edge bite fishing. Colour wise I have no doubt that all colours will work and in fact I haven't really even fished the freakishly effective Motor Oil and Bloodworm colours, primarily fishing the Drew's Craw and The Deal colours around darker bottom, such as mud and weed, with the Greasy Prawn a go-to over sand and especially yabby beds, or when I am looking for a colour that pops in dirty water. Another favourite in the TRD BugZ has been the Hot Snakes colour, a good combination of natural colours and a bit of pop.
Retrieve Techniques
Shaking
A simple retrieve that has worked well when fishing over the top of weed, rubble and other shallow structure is shaking. I generally make a long cast and wind the plastic slowly, while shaking the rod tip to bring the appendages on the ZMan TRD plastic to life in the water. This allows you to create loads of movement in the water, without moving the presentation too quickly and you can lift or lower the rod tip, or vary the retrieve speed to keep the plastic where you want it in the water column, generally closer to the bottom or up to mid-water when fishing shallow water. Make a few short casts first so that you can watch the lure while you shake it and settle on a retrieve that you're happy with for starters.
For this retrieve I am generally fishing the 1/10oz TT Lures NedlockZ, however those that love topwater or fishing slower or higher in the water column may opt for the 1/15oz. Over sand and yabby beds it's mainly the Greasy Prawn colour on an Orange NedlockZ, to imitate a fleeing saltwater yabby, while over the weed and rubble I opt for a natural colour with some darker shades, such as Drew's Craw, The Deal or Hot Snakes, on a Black or Green Pumpkin NedlockZ. As mentioned previously Motor Oil and Bloodworm would also be a no brainer in terms of colour selection and all colours in the range will catch.
You may be thinking 'I could just fish a standard TT Lures HeadlockZ jighead for this technique' and you would be correct. There is a video on our Tackle Tactics TV You Tube Channel of Ryan Dixon doing just that and fishing the mangrove edges with a HeadlockZ and a TRD BugZ and absolutely slaying the bream on a shaking retrieve. Ryan is keeping the plastic moving in this scenario, so doesn't really need the rapid hinging and extreme stand up characteristics of the NedlockZ, whereas I prefer to fish the NedlockZ across the flats as it allows me to utilise the rapid hinging and stand up aspects of this jighead should I require it, as demonstrated in the next retrieve.
Shake & Pause
When fishing the shaking retrieve I will commonly continue the retrieve when a bite is received, as the fish will continue to bite until they find the hook, however don't underestimate the 'power of the pause'. The pause can be short and regular throughout the retrieve, less frequent, utilised following a bite or included to allow the plastic to fall deeper, even to the bottom in a sandy pocket or hollow in the flat.
It's just a matter of experimenting during the session. I have had sessions when the bream just inhale the whole presentation on a straight shaking retrieve, which can be great fun, with brutal strikes and fast runs across the shallows. Other times they might bite on the pause or they bite the plastic and then you need to pause until the lure hits the bottom, where you will feel the 'tick' on the line as they pick it up. So be ready to strike. It generally doesn't take too long to work it out, so mix things up with a straight shaking retrieve and a shake and pause retrieve until you find what they want to eat.
Both the shaking and shake and pause retrieves I generally utilise in water up to a couple of metres deep where I target bream, when fishing edges, such as mangroves, rock walls and sand bars, along with flats fishing. It is a deadly technique for picking the pockets in the weed flats as you can hop the lure without it gliding too far, allowing you to thoroughly work the pockets for bream, flathead, grunter and more. There is no reason why these retrieves wouldn't work in deeper water also, simply slowing the retrieve, lowering the rod tip or stepping up to a 1/6oz or 1/5oz NedlockZ could see you targeting deep water bream, bass and other species.
Drop & Hop
More recently I have been fishing the upper reaches of creeks and rivers in search of a variety of species. The bream have been doing their best to eat larger presentations, so we decided to have some fun between bites, downsize our presentations and catch a few. At first we went for one of our go-to bream presentations, a ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ, slow rolled on a 1/8oz, 1/6oz or 1/4oz TT Lures HeadlockZ Finesse or DemonZ jigheads. This is a killer slow rolled on the shallow edge bites and flats, however in the upper reaches of the creeks and rivers, where the banks drop steeply and there is often little tidal flow, this presentation attracted a lot of taps that didn't turn into hook sets. Don't get me wrong, this presentation still caught a variety of species and is a dynamite baitfish presentation, it just felt like they could be convinced to eat a little more aggressively.
Match the hatch is always a key thing to keep in mind and after paying closer attention to what was going on around me, I saw steep mud banks lined with crabs that stood out like beacons with their one bright orange claw. There was my answer. I rigged a bright Orange 1/10oz NedlockZ with a 2.75" TRD BugZ in The Deal colour and began casting to the edges. It only took a couple of casts and the rod was bent, a solid creek bream in the net and as I had seen in the past, just the tip of the NedlockZ jighead poking out of the mouth. I had found something that they really wanted to eat.
More bream followed and they were eating the presentation in two ways. Firstly be prepared for a solid hit as the plastic sinks. Cast close to the edge of the bank, targeting areas where there is structure, drains, bait movement or just where it looks fishy and watch the line and maintain enough contact as the lure freefalls. Wait for the speed up or premature stop of the line or signature 'tick' as a fish eats the lure and then set the hook.
If it doesn't get eaten on the drop, it's time to give it a small hop or two, followed again by a pause. The rapid hinging of the Ned Rig, rather than the glide of other presentations, allows you to hop the lure and then stall it so that it falls virtually straight back to the bottom. This allows you to create plenty of movement close to the edge of the bank, without moving the lure away from the strike zone too quickly. A couple of small hops and stall it, small hop, stall it and then the hit will sometimes be brutal as you pause or a more subtle 'tick' as the lure touches down on the bottom again, so be ready to set the hook.
While fishing for bream you will also encounter a stack of other species when fishing the three retrieve techniques mentioned. We have landed flathead, mangrove jack, cod, grunter, trevally and more.
Scent
I always scent my presentations with Pro-Cure Super Gel and believe it is especially important when targeting bream and even more so when slowing the presentation down. The range of Ned Rig plastics already do a great job of attracting fish and drawing the strike, however by masking foreign scents, such as fuel and sunscreen, and adding powerful amino, bite stimulants, UV enhancement and real ground bait to the plastic we are maximising our chances of a solid take and the fish holding on longer so that we have more time to set the hook. Pro-Cure Super Gel flavour selection will come down to personal preference, with a few of my favourites including Mullet, Pilchard, Inshore Saltwater and Shrimp.
Combo
A light spin combo is the go for fishing the Ned Rig for bream and my go-to combo consists of an Okuma Cerros CER-S-701ML 7' 2-4kg spinning rod and Okuma Epixor XT spinning reel in a 20 or 30 size, loaded with 10lb Platypus Platinum Plus Braid and 8lb or 10lb Platypus Stealth Leader. I do fish heavier than some as this allows me to handle the odd flathead, mulloway and trevally encountered where I target bream, whereas others may be required to drop their braid and especially leader size to target bream in their local waters.
Go Fishing
That's a quick wrap on Ned Rig breaming and I'm sure we will all learn plenty more tricks and techniques as we continue to experiment with this deadly rigging technique in Australia. If you love your bream fishing or a keen to try your hand on the bream, hopefully there's a few techniques discussed here that will help you get connected to your first Ned Rig bream and plenty more after that. It's time for me to go and take Ned fishing again ;)
See you on the water...
Justin Willmer
Gear List:
TT Lures NedlockZ jigheads
ZMan 2.5" TRD CrawZ
ZMan 2.75" TRD BugZ
ZMan 3" TRD HogZ
ZMan 2.5" GrubZ
ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ
Pro-Cure Inshore Saltwater Super Gel Scent - Inshore Saltwater, Mullet, Pilchard and Shrimp