New Bait and Techniques Produce at El Cap

Fishing Time: 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Weather:  Partly cloudy, slight breeze, T-70
Moon Phase: New Moon
Location: El Capitan Reservoir
Best Bait: Ned Rig (green pumpkin)
Who Went: Dunc

I had family in town last weekend, so no fishing, but I also had a random day off this week on Tuesday, and fished El Cap all day.  I have been doing some research on what winter baits work here in Cali, and came across one that peaked my interest.  It’s a fairly new plastic bait called the Ned Rig.  It’s made by Z-man, however there have been other companies making knock offs for a while now, so it must not be all that new to the scene.  Either way it’s new to me, and I hit the tackle shop before arriving to El Cap to give it a try.  It’s basically a shaky style jig head joined with what looks like a half of a senko.  The plastic is only 3-inches long, and the hook is exposed.  The flat jig head makes the bait stand straight up and gives the profile appearance of a small baitfish nose down on the lake bottom.

I also talked to a guy fishing on a float tube last week at El Capitan that gave me some good intel.  I asked him how he was doing and he said, “really good, all the fish are shallow within 1-5 ft of water”.  This caught me by surprise as I expected all the bass to be deep during winter.  I have focused on 15-40 ft of water, and it’s not to say that some are not deep.  I have done well fishing these depths, but when the guy told me he also caught a 4 pounder in 2 ft of water it got me thinking…

With all my new knowledge, I was excited to try out the Ned Rig and put it to work in some shallower water.  On my 3^rd or 4^th cast it proved itself with a tiny little bass.  Not the size I was looking for, but it gave me confidence in the new bait.  

I continued fishing the Ned Rig and it continued to produce, including one nice bass a shade over 3 pounds. 

I’m sold on the new rig and amazed at how aggressively the bass inhale this bait…

I started wondering if I took some live shiners and put them to the test in shallow water what would happen.  Turns out it was gang busters.  I found a point with some submerged brush and would toss the shiner 3 ft below a slip bobber up near the brush.  I landed a lot of fish using this method and some good ones too.  Some very fat 2 pounders with good fight. 

I also caught a black crappie using the shallow shiner method and it was a bruiser.  I didn’t have a scale or tape, but it was all of 15 inches and probably around 2 pounds.  A fun addition to the bass bonanza.

The fishing was so good, I ran out of shiners for the first time since being here in Cali.  Not a bad problem to have and when they ran out, I just turned back to the Ned Rig and it continued to produce.  I even caught one last 2-pound bass right at the boat ramp before calling it a day. 

I was the last one off the lake and was thrilled with my day.  I must have caught around 15 bass plus the bruiser crappie.  The size of bass was better today with most of the bass in the 2-3-pound range.  Still waiting for that wall hanger, but a great day on the water to say the least.