Swimming a jig is an awesome technique that many fishermen never consider or simply don’t try long enough, but it’s very popular with tournament pros across the country. Its simplicity and the fact it is overlooked make it deadly on bass year-round.
Swim jigs, as many anglers call them, come in lots of different shapes and sizes. The head shape and hook are the most important aspects.
My favorite swim-jig, made by OutKast, has a pointed head similar to a worm weight. This head shape allows it to slip through any type of cover and has minimal resistance coming through the water.
One of the reasons I prefer this head shape is to “sneak” up on the bass. The pointed head pushes less water, thus makes less vibration, and it will surprise a bass when it pops out of shallow cover, generating a reaction strike. The hooks are also perfect. They are not a heavy-diameter wire like you would find on a flipping jig, but more of a moderate size. You get your bites at a greater distance than on flipping jigs, and the lighter-wire hook penetrates much easier.
The swim jig is a water-covering tool. The more shallow cover you can fish, the more bass you will catch. I go really fast, often parallel to the bank, and I try to hit all the cover I can see. It is really good for fishing long banks that are full of water willow. Gaston, Jordan and the upper part of Falls Lake all have portions of the lake with good water willow.
A swim jig is good in any type of shallow cover and is more efficient than just about any other lure. With its weedless design and head shape, it will come through anything, and unlike a spinnerbait, you can skip it under docks and overhanging trees. If you see a dark hole, you can drop it down in it for a second and keep moving down the bank.
I like to cast directly to the cover and pop the jig out, making small pops with my rod tip constantly. This imitates a fleeing baitfish that has just messed up by popping out in open water. I adapt the size of the head to the cover and depth I’m fishing. I may go as light as an eighth-ounce or as heavy as a half-ounce, but for most situations I fish a 3/8ths-ounce model. It casts really well and is easy to keep up in the water column. You’ll see most of the bites you get fishing it this way.
When you get a bite, set the hook hard and reel fast, as they are usually running with it. I use a fast reel, a 7.1-to-1 Daiwa Steez, a 7-foot-1 heavy action Steez rod and 15- to 20-pound fluorocarbon. This super lightweight combo is nice to have when you pop a jig all day. It’s much easier on your arm than heavier equipment. The heavy-action rod is a must to get good hooksets at a long distance. Some guys use braid, but I like the versatility of fluoro. It is much less visible, and if you need to slow it down in a hole, you will not sacrifice bites due to line visibility.
For colors and trailers, I like to keep it simple. I like white if there are shad shallow, bluegill colors if it is mostly panfish and dark colors like black and blue if the water is muddy. I like a Culprit frog (the old original one that is hard to find) as a trailer, which provides lift with its flat design. It also makes it skip like a flat rock so you can get it into tight spots.
I’ll fish other trailers just to mix it up, but I’ll stick with this frog about 80 percent of the time. This simplicity enables quick decisions and lets me make more casts in a day instead of rambling through a tackle box. When I do use different type of trailers, I like grubs, both single- and double-tail, and occasionally a standard chunk if they don’t want much action.
Give swim jigs a good long try, and I think you’ll have a great weapon in your arsenal against those stubborn bass.
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