[thmyorke1]

Ned rigs with a Zman TRD is my preference when bottom fishing now. I've caught a lot of different species on them. In some lakes caught pike, in some rivers caught trout like Tigers. It's a great profile and simple. I believe the TRD floats and points the small lil bait upwards so it's not just laying down on the bottom too.

I would recommend doing similar with bigger worms, if you ever find yourself not getting the right bite with the small TRDs, try rigging up a longer senko like worm and doing similar.

Comments on the technique:

For lake fishing, i dont tend to even touch it, the less you mess around with it after casting- the better. I let it drop as freely as possible and try to tell once it hits bottom by looking at the line.

I try and leave it alone as it sits on the bottom, thats usually when i get the most bites. Once I move the jig, and start "working it back" i find i dont get as many bites.

So often I am casting, letting it drop, letting it sit on the bottom, and reeling in immediately in order to make another cast to a new spot.

Rarely, I will try and do a very forceful POP after it has been sitting on the bottom for some time, maybe 10 seconds. and repeat this. This worked a few times. I think the long pop basically raised the jig high up and it free-falls just far enough for any fish to come check it back out, if they missed the initial drop.

I find if you try and "work the bottom" you dont get as much bites as you would just re-casting and letting it sink and sit to a new spot. It also just puts you at risk with snagging the bottom.

For river fishing, you can do similar if you get a heavy enough jig or fish a spot without that much current.