Swimming a Jig

[roadwarrior]

With so many other "moving" bait options,

why swim a jig? Also: where, when and how?

8-)

[MSAJAA]

Joe Thomas did an entire show on swimming a jig, he mentioned swimming a jig anywhere you would normally fish a spinnerbait for a differant look.  He insisted on using a trailer with a lot of thump

[adclem]

I will throw a swim jig anywhere that I would throw a spinner bait.  Basically I will throw them anywhere and anytime.

Really like to fish them along a grassy bank with an overcast sky and a light rain.

Later,

[brushhoggin]

theres only one spot i ever use a swiming jig ;D its whenever i find grass. i've heard its good to throw them around shallow cover like anything else but i have way more luck just throwing a football or flippin jig against the bank. but when i find grass, i like to reel it across and through that grass at a steady medium pace while twitching my wrist up and down all the way back giving it a lifelike swimming action. i use a money craw on my swim jigs, those arms move like nobodys business.

[Crestliner2008]

Excellent article here on Wisconsin style swim jigs, which goes into great detail on the hows, wheres & whys of using this technique. This is what got me interested in swim jig fishing for this season. I've order some from *** and am pretty stoked about using them very soon. Hope this has information you are looking for:

http://www.***.com/articles/jig-catalog-swimming.shtml

[b.Lee]

Are we talking Swimming a jig or using a swim jig, or using a swimming jig aka chatterbait?

[River Rat316]

Chatterbait is not a swim jig.

I swim a jig when I want something more subtle than a spinnerbait, alot of times I will see fish flashing behind the spinnerbait, but not really wanting to eat it. I find a swim jig closes the deal on these fish alot. It is also way more mobile then a spinnerbait, they come through grass alot cleaner than a spinnerbait could ever think of. As far as where and when to throw it, you can throw it in water from 45 to 80 just like a spinnerbait, you can throw it in open water to dragging it across the thickest pads and dropping it in holes. It is one of the baits that is always tied to a rod in my boat, no matter smallies or largies.

[A-Jay]

Excellent article here on Wisconsin style swim jigs, which goes into great detail on the hows, wheres & whys of using this technique. This is what got me interested in swim jig fishing for this season. I've order some from *** and am pretty stoked about using them very soon. Hope this has information you are looking for:

http://www.***.com/articles/jig-catalog-swimming.shtml

x2

I took that information to heart before last season. I also picked up a nice swim jig starter kit (which has since turned into a hefty collection). These baits were very effective for me on both LMB and SMB. It's been very versatile taking fish around all kinds of cover from very shallow with 1/4 oz to about 15-20 feet with 3/8 oz in early spring right through fall. But the niche I found a swim jig fits into best is as sort of a semi-finesse cool water moving bait - if that make sense. During the spring when the fish aren't willing to hit a jerk bait, the swim jigs takes fish. The presentation I use almost exclusively but especially in the spring, starts with a cast into/around structure, cover, a drop off/ledge, (you get the idea) allowing the bait to get to the bottom and then nothing more than a slow steady retrieve. An occasional pause to allow the bait to sink will re-establish contact with the bottom - many many strikes occur during the pause/fall.

I have thrown 1/4 and 3/8 oz baits on both casting and spinning gear and have no particular preference. Like any other bait, I let the conditions / cover dictate the tackle.

Natural darker colors, greens, browns, dark reds - (sounds like crayfish colors) have been the best. And despite many anglers having good results throwing "spinner bait" colored swim jigs - whites, chartreuse and other bright colors, I have had almost NO fish on those colors. But when there are bait fish around, I'll keep trying. Also the 5.2 pb in my avatar gobbled up a *** 1/4 green pumpkin swim jig w/ 4" Berkley Power grub also in green pumpkin.

A-Jay

[BassThumb]

I don't really see the use in buying swim jigs.  A 3/16 or 1/4 standard jig with a pointed head does practically the same thing IMO.  The little bit of lift from the flattened, planing head of a swim jig is insignificant.  I often skip 1/4 oz grass jigs with trimmed skirts and small beavers or grubs as trailers under docks, and swim them out erratically.  They work very well under docks that have quite a few of those pesky chains that tend to snag tube jigs and wacky Senkos.

I did have some luck using white 1/4 grass jigs with smoke or white single-tail 4" grubs last year when the bite was slow in the early fall transition period.  The fish weren't chasing or hitting spinnerbaits or lipless cranks, but they would hit a similar profile swim jig with a good sized trailer fished with a lift drop motion.

[Chris]

Usually when I am flipping or pitching a jig and when it isn't working out I start swimming it. I was fishing a river one time and the shad was thick. I was catching fish but not the bites I should have and I started quick pitching and burning the jig back to make another pitch. I did it one time to many and a bass hammered it. Bass tend to either want either a vertical or horizontal presentation depending on mood or what they are feeding on or where they are positioned on cover. In this case they where keyed into shad and a flipping or pitched jig didn't look or act like a shad and the bass rejected it. Swimming a jig is also a good choice on weed flats or edges. Many anglers choose a spinnerbait when a crankbaits get fouled up but in some cases a jig is a better choice especially in clear water or areas that get alot of spinnerbait pressure. Points are also a good place to swim a jig or anywhere else that you can stick a spinnerbait or crankbait for that matter. It also works equally well in stained and muddy water conditions depending on how you configure the bait. For a number of years in early season swimming a jig was my #1 technique that I use after ice out when bass tend to shy away from noisy lures. Targeting points fishing from shore this technique can be deadly early spring. Just make a cast and reel just fast enough to keep it off the bottom while following the contour of the point. Most of the time you catch better than average fish when you swim a jig. Much like a swim bait it can be counted down to any depth and can be fished in places other baits can't. It isn't a cure all bait but when the bass are on a swim jig bite it is hard to beat.

[TheOriginalFishaholic]

I like to swim different configurations of jigs in areas where there really heavy cover, along slop edges, and especially anywhere where there's a fairly strong current...it allows me to offer up a different profile, or look that can cause a reaction strike where traditional presentations haven't worked in the past.

Lately, I will swim a jig whenever I'm fishing heavily pressured water...

I know there's a lot of different techniques available to me when swimming a jig AND I'm able to drastically alter the thump, profile, and color/contrast combination in a myriad number of ways. For this reason I feel the concept of swimming a jig should never be overlooked.

[Big-O]

Many old timer jig'a'maniacs found that the jig was a great searchin' tool by accident  Many of us would flip or cast to a piece of structure and missed the sweet spot by more than we wanted too, then while reeling the bait back it was enhaled by an aggressive fish.

Probably took some of us longer to realize it, but altering our colors slightly, improved this swimming presentation and the regularity of the bites. Some 15 years ago here in Texas, the white jig and trailer became very popular on many of the more popular lakes and we were flipping nice fish with it....Also the swim bite improved drastically.

Not saying that this style started in Tx. but from personal experience in daylight fishing, it quickly became one of my favorite search bait styles.

Colors that mimic brim and other forage are all good for swimmin' a jig so when you find a particular bait that the fish are keying on....SWIM THE JIG 

Hope that helps

Big O

www.ragetail.com

   

[K_Mac]

Big-O the first time I was nonchalantly swimming a jig back to the boat, and a bass hammered it, I came very close to losing the fish, rod, and reel over the side.  :-[

I'm not a big crankbait guy. Swimming a jig can cover the same water, and keeps my head in the game better.

[Big-O]

Big-O the first time I was nonchalantly swimming a jig back to the boat, and a bass hammered it, I came very close to losing the fish, rod, and reel over the side. :-[

I'm not a big crankbait guy. Swimming a jig can cover the same water, and keeps my head in the game better.

Been exclusive with soft plastics and jigs for many years and the Swim jig is a productive tool. The wire on spinnerbaits will serve as a shock absorber on the strike where as with swimming a jig, there is only SHOCK  So, I too keep a tight hold on the rod handle....

Big O

www.ragetail.com

[Chris]

One time I was fishing an patch of flooded timber pitching a jig and noticed I had a backlash. I reeled it in and made a pitch behind the boat in about 30ft of water and cleared it out. When I reeled it up I had a bass swimming off with it. I figured out that because of the boat traffic and fishing pressure that the bass where suspended about 8ft deep in that 30 ft water. I finished out my limit swimming a spider grub jig. I know another guy who bought up tons of the single tail spider jigs just for fishing suspending fish.