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Provided by Z-Man
Ned Kehde
Days on the water with Ned Kehde aren’t measured by pounds of bass in the livewell or by “5 good bites.”
Rather, outings with the Hall of Fame fishing writer mostly distill down to clicks on a little handheld counting device that often rolls to some number of bass and other fish greater than 100.
Dig a little deeper and you discover it’s not unheard of for a single, durable ElaZtech softbait—Kehde’s favorite— to have topped the century mark. According to Kehde, the all-time record was set by one particular 4-inch Z-Man Finesse WormZ, with which he caught 232 fish.
More recently, while testing a TRD HogZ—a relatively new 3-inch finesse bait—Kehde caught 55 bass in 69 minutes—all in frigid 41-degree water. “I mailed the HogZ back to Daniel Nussbaum of Z-Man,” noted Kehde, “after this one bait produced 112 fish. It was still in really good shape.”
The larger truth is Kehde remains chiefly responsible for developing the Ned Rig. Though the ultra-finesse presentation runs counter to much of bass fishing’s mainstream, which often prefers beefy rods, stout line and jumbo jig-hooks, the unassuming Ned Rig has almost certainly captured more interest and acclaim by North American bassers than any other presentation in recent memory.
Ned Rig Renaissance
The big development in the Ned Rig narrative occurred the day Kevin VanDam showed Kehde an early ElaZtech bait while fishing together in 2006. VanDam put in Kehde’s hands a pack Strike King Zeros, an ultra-durable stickbait manufactured by the parent company of what would eventually become Z-Man Fishing. That same year, Kehde fished with Japanese bass legend Shinichi Fukae on Beaver Lake. “Fukae was using the same method we had adopted, retrieving a jigworm a few inches off bottom, reeling and shaking as it went along. It gave further credence to our Midwest style of finesse bassin’.”
Not long afterward, Kehde became a major fan of Z-Man’s unique ElaZtech baits. To this day, his favorite remains a green pumpkin ZinkerZ stickworm, cut in half to 2-1/2-inches, or a single 2-3/4-inch Finesse TRD. Kehde impales both on a 1/16-ounce Gopher Mushroom Head jig or a 1/15-ounce Z-Man Finesse ShroomZ. Interestingly, Kehde cherishes red jigheads, a tip gleaned from finesse expert Fukae.
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The Year of the ChatterBait
On morning strolls up and down Lake Hartwell's boat-launch docks, repeated murmurs and quiet nods toward casting decks appeared to form a pattern.
"Look, there's another one."
"Yep, it's that same ChatterBait."
"Man, seems like everyone's throwing that thing."
After the last sack of bass hit the scales at the 2018 Bassmaster Classic, a final tally of another sort emerged: Seven out of the top ten finishers had cast some type of bladed jig.
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The St. Joe Valley Bass Masters of South Bend was awarded the 2017 Indiana Bass Federation Community Service Award for the second year in a row at the annual meeting in Indianapolis recently.
The Bass Masters were recognized for their annual youth event at Potato Creek State Park, involvement with the St Joseph County Sheriff Department Crime Night Out, and their 2017 charity bass tournament which raised $500 for a local family facing major health care expenses.