Randy Howell and Greg Hackney rely on a swim jig for big fish and big numbers. Membership Includes 1 Year Bassmaster Magazine, Plus $50 in free gear. Bill Lowen has perfected swimming a jig for bass through decades of trial and error fishing tournaments and fun fishing all over the country. The ChatterBait and its spin-offs are best known for their grass work. He catches bass after bass on an early spring cold front day in south Louisiana while explaining many of the nuances he has figured out to catch more bass. "Many of these logjams have become lodged in the bottom and form permanent structure and cover so they attract some resident fish. 25 Colors. Switching over to baits like the Rage Swimmer or D Walker will complete change the way the bait moves. "Besides, by the time you hear that bass are hitting lipless crankbaits, they've probably already been doing it for two weeks and may be getting tired of it. Drifting: Drifting may work best for river settings when fish are hanging along edges of river bars or ⦠For this technique, Kriet lets the aggressiveness of the bass determine his jig size. Mercury Pro Tactics; Media Contacts; Search for: Howell, Hackney on the Swim Jig: âI Fish It 365 Days a Yearâ Major League Lessons. If youâre trying to emulate shad, choose a jig in a white or shad hue. site: sports | ptype: stories | pageType: stories | "Becoming truly confident and efficient with this technique is not going to happen on a single fishing trip. The Best Swim Jig Bass Fishing Trailer. Several folks have laid claim to creating the swim jig or the swim jig technique. A thin brush guard with a needle-sharp thin wire hook locks on to these swipers, while a thicker guard with a beefy hook surely misses these opportunities. Swim Jigs Follow This Category. It's time to get out on the water and fish the swim jig! Thus the swim jig tactic was born. Thatâs when I like a bluegill-colored swim jig with a Rage Tail Grub (in a natural color) and fish it similar to a spinnerbait. It's too thick for spinnerbaits, but you can fish a jig through it.". I like 1/4- or 3/8-ounce Hack Attack Heavy Cover Swim Jig which has a stout hook and weed guard that works great when fishing around reeds, docks and trees. After spawning, bass move to deeper water, generally spending time at an intermediate depth, where they hold for several weeks before relocating in even deeper water for the summer. "The jig isn't really swimming when you do this," notes Jones. Both casting and pitching presentations are used, depending on the type of cover being fished. The fact they're fishing such diverse cover in three different seasons illustrates just how productive this tactic can be. Itâs a technique I love using later in the prespawn when the bass start moving onto the spawning flats, especially on a sunny afternoon. The latest technique to gain traction on the pro fishing circuit is swim jigging. Jones learned about jig fishing the vegetation at Lake Dardanelle, where he believes the technique may have originated. If you feel the vegetation starting to grab the jig, speed up your retrieve, but if you can't feel any vegetation, slow your retrieve until you do. Even in winter, when bass aren't very active, swimming a jig is worth trying. That said, donât expect him to just spill the beans about his favorite tactics, especially the one about using a swim jig, typically a warm-water option, when the water temperatures dip below 55 degrees. "A lot of times, the shoreline brush will continue underwater out from the shore, and it doesn't get fished that much. If the baitfish don't show up on my depthfinder, I don't fish the spot very long, although I will revisit it several times during the day.". On Texoma and other lakes, the bass are famous for suspending under the long, floating tire reefs marina owners install to break the wave action. Both hair and silicone skirt jigs can be used, although among the pros, the larger silicone skirted jigs are preferred. I remember the 1991 BASSMASTER Oklahoma Invitational on Grand Lake, when it barely rose above freezing all week. A swimming jig really looks like another baitfish to them.". While Kriet's favorite time to swim a jig is during the post-spawn, he acknowledges that on lakes with heavy vegetation, swimming a jig can also be a valuable early spring tactic to try in place of ripping a lipless crankbait or spinnerbait over the greenery. This article with tips for how to fish a swim jig for bass will take you through spring, summer, fall and winter bass fishing tips. Kriet used the same presentation around the laydowns and fallen timber on the Red River to win an Anglers Choice tournament there several years ago, boating more than 40 pounds of bass in two days. originalDevice: deviceType:desktop, Lew's 7-foot, 3.5-inch MH Custom Plus Speed Stick. Fishing a jig over submerged vegetation is one of the hardest of all the swimming jig presentations â the reason the lure is not often used in these conditions, says Kriet. Howell, Hackney on the Swim Jig: âI Fish It 365 Days a Yearâ For MLF pros Randy Howell and Greg Hackney, a swim jig has been one of their most consistent producers of bass for a couple of decades now. To get the most out of swimming a jig, Cox has done a lot of experimenting and says heâs settled on not one, but four different swim jigs. My swim jig set up consists of a skirted-style bass jig particularly designed for the technique and then tipped with some form of soft bait action tail. "It's more like skipping, and I think it makes the jig look like something trying to escape. From its hex-shaped blade to its swim jig-like body to its crankbait wobble, it fishes like a spinnerbait on steroids! Iâve experimented with a lot of trailers, and the tail kick plus the body shake on this swimbait makes a swim jig look even more incredible in the water. Another summer technique Jones enjoys is swimming a jig around logjams, which are common in the upper portions of many lakes. And the swim jig was the most effective technique for Lowen that day. Swimming jigs like the one from Booyah are kick a$$ for fishing heavily matted areas of vegetation. section: | slug: advanced-swim-jig-tactics-for-more-consistent-bass-fishing | route: article_single | It will discuss the best rod, reel and line for fishing swim jigs, as well as the best swim jig fishing trailers like craws and swimbaits. "You can't fish this type of cover as effectively with any other lure.". Led the lure get down in the vegetation, rip it out and let it fall back down, then reel it a little bit and tick the grass again and rip it out. "What is important in fishing this type of cover is swimming your jig parallel to the longest trees and logs, and just below them," says the 2000 MegaBucks winner. Lucky Tackle Box Media, the best tips in fishing. Try the lure around vegetation similar to a Rat-L-Trap presentation. I use Carolina rig plastics for that. The Keitech 3.8 Fat Swing Impact is an amazing soft plastic trailer for the V&M swim jig. That bigger bait, with all its action and water displacement is perfect for slightly stained conditions. Past history has shown that the swim jig bite really shines immediately after the spring and summer runoff. This type of vegetation often holds big bass, and a jig is really the only lure you can use to get to them.". "In fact, I rarely ever fish a jig on the bottom anymore. Strader finished off the win by flippin' a jig, but the shad spawn put him in position for the final day. Autumn on Texas' Sam Rayburn Reservoir â Well-known lure manufacturer Lonnie Stanley is catching staging bass around underwater brush in Sam Rayburn's Veach Basin. Blade Runner Weedless Paddle Head Swim Jig. "It's usually a fast retrieve right along the edge of the tires, although I'll occasionally pop the jig with my rod tip just to provide some variety. After fishing the various breakwaters for several days, Kriet has caught so many fish his arms are tired. Fast forward 25 years, and swimming a jig is a prominent pattern in fishing from coast to coast, from Wisconsin to Louisiana. Essentially, swimming a jig is about covering water below the surface but still around cover; swimming expands the jig's range tremendously but still takes advantage of its ability to attract big bass, because of where it can be used. That said, donât expect him to just spill the beans about his favorite tactics, especially the one about using a swim jig, typically a warm-water option, when the water temperatures dip below 55 degrees. I often tip the jig with a Rage Swimmer. $4.99 6 Colors. But a jig gives the bass more of a finesse-type appearance and action they don't see very often. Even using a full-size 5-inch wacky Senko on a dropshot rig. Not the rubber tires on his truck or trailer, but the reefs of floating tires that protect many of the marinas on this huge, open water lake. They can be fished in all kinds of aquatic vegetation, around docks, riprap, boulders, wood or any place where bass use to ambush forage. Midsummer on Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas â B.A.S.S. What swim jigs do better than any other jig is come through cover and structure effortlessly while resembling forage. $4.59 9 Colors. 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