If You Can't Catch A Bass Using These Two Techniques, You Should Take Up Golf

All anglers have that one dependable bait they lean on when things get tough. For trout anglers, it may be a feathered jig head or the old trusty inline spinner. When bass fishing gets tough, two rigs anglers are continually reaching for are a wacky rigged worms and the Ned Rig. Both of these finesse tactics seem to trigger strikes when other baits won't get touched.

Tough fishing conditions are often rooted in unfavorable weather, fishing pressure, or an overall lack of a healthy fish population. These are the exact scenarios where the subtle shimmy from a wacky rigged worm or the snack sized offering from a little Ned Rig will get gobbled up.

Next time you're out on the pond, river, or lake and struggling to catch bass, grab the spinning rod and rig up one of these proven fish catchers.

Ned Rig

It doesn’t get any simpler. The Ned rig is just a small chunk of a soft plastic stick bait threaded onto a light (1/16 to 1/4 oz)jighead. While any stick bait will work effectively, there are few better ned rig baits than the 10,000 Fish Sukoshi Bug.

The Ned Rig excels when the fishing gets tough because of its small profile and subtle action. You can drag a Ned Rig along the bottom to mimic the action of a crawfish. However, you can also slowly swim a Ned Rig, which looks like a little minnow gliding through the water.

Wacky Rig

Wacky rigging is another great finesse option for shallow water bass. Try using a white or green pumpkin stickworm with a 1/16- or 1/8-ounce wacky jig and impale the hook in the middle of the worm. When you twitch the rod, the ends of the wacky-rigged worm flex back and forth to create an action irresistible to bass.