Ned rigging has really caught on with popularity the last several years not only with recreational anglers who just want to catch fish wherever they go, but also with top professional bass anglers needing to fill a limit every day in top bass fishing events. While the original Z-Man T.R.D. has been extremely popular, anglers have been asking for a size a bit bigger for the application. So Z-Man recently released the Big T.R.D.
Big doesn’t really describe anything in a finesse application, but the Big T.R.D. is in fact quite a bit bigger than the original plastics folks have been throwing on the Ned Rig.
The larger Big T.R.D gives anglers a little more profile, and the ability to use a big bigger head for fishing deeper and slinging it farther under cover like floating docks, pontoons, over hanging trees. In fact I found the Big T.R.D actually skipped quite a bit better than the original.
It’s made of the same ElaZtech material that stretches and won’t tear. You do have to use caution in avoiding storing in extremely hot places as it will sort of bunch and stick. But usually you can pull them apart and everything is fine if you see that happen.
The new Big T.R.D is made to be fished on the larger 1/10 to 1/5 ounce Power Finesse Fusion heads. You need to use a head that has those rigid wire keepers because of the ElaZtech material does not work well on lead barbed style jigheads.
I’ve fished this bait several different ways. It worked great fished on a jighead for bedding bass in the spring. It’s also big enough to be rigged wacky style and skipped around shallow cover or fished deep on a drop-shot rig. So it’s a very versatile bait and size.
I like several of the colors. Green pumpkin is of course a staple, but that Coppertreuse color has worked really well to on bedding fish, smallmouth and spotted bass as well as largemouth. Not sure why they like that color but it works.
