It’s been cold where I live and I got tired of fishing through the ice for trout, so I dropped down to the desert and fished the river with a Ned rig for bass. I really didn’t expect to have a multi-species day, but I guess the good old Ned rig catches more than bass.
I have been catching a lot of trout ice fishing this season, but it really isn’t my favorite. I love to fish no matter what, but bass fishing is my love. That is why I thought it was so funny when my first fish of the day was a rainbow trout!
I did go on to catch some bass, but that is why I had a funny reaction to the trout. You can check out the video to see my reaction below:
I love fishing the river and while most of the bass are pretty small it is still a blast. The cool thing about river bass fishing is just getting to unwind and connect with the river. The desert scenery is beautiful in January and I was able to wear shorts and wade in the water…in January!
How I Catch River Bass in January
I caught a majority of my bass on the Weedless Ned Rig. The water is still pretty cold and the fish are way more lethargic than usual. I use a weedless Ned because the bottom is so snaggy with all of the rock.
Today I was still working it with twitches. I started fishing the river by slowly dragging it, but noticed that the bass were way more engaged when I was twitching the Ned rig while dragging it.
The Ned Bait that the Bass Wanted
Some days you have to see what the fish are telling you and these river bass wanted a slow-moving bait, but still wanted a more aggressive action. The bait of the day was a new Bass Pro brand soft plastic Ned bait with a short fat profile and pinchers on the side with little action.
The bait fit the profile while the more aggressive action didn’t as much. I even tried a Strike King Ned Bug to see if they wanted more action from the pinchers, but no luck.
The fat, do nothing profile was key to the whole system. Once the bass got wise to the Ned rig I did catch one more on a drop shot, but it was just one bass. The Weedless Ned rig won the day for the river bass and trout fishing on this day.
The Gear I Used to River Bass Fish
In the past, I have used a spinning rig with 6 to 8 pound test line, but lately, I have really been loving my Shimano BFS reel on a medium-light inshore casting rod that was made for inshore trout fishing down South where the freshwater meets the salt and the trout and redfish are the fish of choice.
It has a really light tip that works well for BFS gear and light line. There is something exciting to me about fishing light tackle on a casting setup. If you haven’t tried it I would highly suggest you give it a go.
My advice would be to grab a handful of Ned baits and some Ned heads and get out and see what you can catch in the river this winter. That is if you have open water. If not, you may have to wait until ice out.
To your fishing success,
Jonathan Burke