Ned Rig Fishing on Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain · Vermont / New York · Northeast
Lake Champlain stretches roughly 120 miles from the New York-Canada border south to Whitehall, covering approximately 490 square miles and reaching depths of 400 feet in its main lake sections. The fishery splits cleanly between the shallow, weedy bays — Missisquoi, Mallets, South Bay — that hold largemouth in timber and aquatic vegetation, and the hard rocky points, shoals, and chunk-rock flats of the main basin that produce exceptional smallmouth. Water clarity trends toward stained in the northern bays and increasingly clear through the main lake, shaping bait selection and approach at nearly every time of year.
Ned Rig pairs a 3–4" ElaZtech-style floating plastic (TRD, Finesse TRD, or similar) on a 1/15–1/6 oz mushroom head jig. The bait's buoyancy causes it to stand upright on the bottom, creating a subtle action that triggers bites when nothing else will. Exceptional on hard bottom, gravel, and rock.
Ned Rig Setup for Lake Champlain
| Rod | 6'10"–7'2" medium-light spinning rod, moderate-fast action |
| Reel | 2500 size spinning reel |
| Line | 10 lb braid + 8 lb fluorocarbon leader |
| Weight | 1/15–1/6 oz mushroom jig head (Z-Man Finesse ShroomZ or similar) |
| Hook | Size 1 or 1/0 wide gap, built into jig head |
Seasonal Tactics on Lake Champlain
Lake: Pre-spawn smallmouth push onto chunk-rock flats and gravel points in 6–12 ft of water as temperatures climb through the low 50s in late April and May; largemouth stage in emerging milfoil and reed-grass edges in the back bays, with jerkbaits and tube jigs drawing the most consistent reaction from both species during this window.
Ned Rig: Deadly on pre-spawn fish holding on gravel and pea-gravel flats in 4–12 feet.
Lake: Smallmouth settle into main-lake rocky structure and offshore humps in the 18–28 ft range once surface temps push past 72 degrees, while largemouth lock into the dense milfoil and water chestnut mats of the northern bays and respond well to punching and hollow-body frogs in low-light conditions.
Ned Rig: Work deeper rock piles and main lake points. Drag slowly, let it stand. Green pumpkin and watermelon dominate.
Lake: October through early November is peak trophy smallmouth season as fish fatten on crayfish ahead of turnover, stacking on rocky points and windswept rip-rap banks in 8–15 ft; the shad and alewife migration in the main lake also draws surface-busting action that rewards topwater and swimbait presentations.
Ned Rig: One of the best techniques as fish get finicky before winter. Match shad colors on sandy/gravel bottom.
Lake: Below-freezing surface temps push most bass into a near-dormant state in the deeper main-lake basin, but anglers targeting the 30–45 ft rock-pile transitions with slow-rolled tube jigs and ned rigs can still produce bites on warmer afternoons, particularly on calm, sunny days when water temps momentarily stabilize.
Ned Rig: Best cold-water finesse technique after drop shot. Extremely slow drag on hard bottom near deep structure.
Best Conditions
Clear water, hard and rocky bottoms, post-cold-front, heavily pressured fish, any season except peak summer spawn
Use Z-Man ElaZtech plastics exclusively — they float and are nearly indestructible. Regular soft plastics sink and kill the technique.
More Techniques for Lake Champlain
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