Swim Jig Help

[Brock Grigsby67]

Hey guys I want to get into swim jig fishing. Is there any advice y'all could give me?

[bassnbornboy]

Find a jig that suits your situation/attatch a 4 inch curly tail worm open hooked.

[Mr Swim Jig]

You fishing heavy, moderate or light cover?

[Choporoz]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdMiu1M0fp0

[roadwarrior]

Start with a high quality swim jig from NorthStar or Siebert Outdoors.

I prefer the Rage Tail Menace and Shellcracker for trailers. Fish the

lure where you might otherwise fish a spinnerbait or crankbait. Cast

and retrieve without adding any other action, the trailer will provide

all that's needed. 

[Brock Grigsby67]

I'm fishing moderate cover. Would a 7' mh rod and a 7.1 reel be good to fish swim jigs on?

[primetime]

I purchased some custom Jigs from a Member of this forum and I don't want to "advertise", but I will say this....Spend the extra money and buy quality, and I am referring to the chatterbaits when you say swim jig. I rarely throw a jig for anything but flipping, but I use a bladed jig all the time, day and night, and I have become a huge fan of the bladed swim jigs....Swim em over submerged weeds, fish like a flutter spoon, slow roll, they have replaced spinnerbaits and cranks in alot of situations, and are dynamite in satwater as well.You can fish them anywhere and also to your own style as they can go through some rough stuff, and can also be burned near the surface, or great for rigging your favorite swimbait or beaver/creature.

 

I have not tried the new Rage Blade jigs or new "Chatterbaits" from Zman yet as they are now offering models in the $6.99 range and I would guess they are more durable than the older versions as all the booyah, Poison jigs, and zman jigs were 1-2 fish and destroyed, while the jig that is now one of the best selling swim jigs at tackle warehouse will not only catch you more fish, it will hold up and last much longer, and I have not had any destroyed by fish, I have only lost them from fish wrapping me around cover......

 

One of the things I love about these custom jigs are the design, they have a bend in the blade for more thump and vibration, awesome colors, and big stout top quality hooks that will hold up to a big 40" Snook or 7lb Largemouth no problem....

 

It takes a while to learn how to fish these with success and you have to be willing to put in the time, read articles, watch some videos on you tube, but I knew they were the real deal when I started throwing one on a regular basis, and some days I would see 2-3 fish racing for the jig from 20 feet away as I burned it on the surface......If you fish them over cover, I have found that my favorite techique is to burn em fast on the surface, and then slow down or pause a few seconds, change direction, or just kill it and let it sink....Strikes are sometimes hard, and sometimes it feels like a spinnerbait and if using braid, you will know a strike is coming as your jig will stop vibrating so wait until the rod loads, or you will set the hook early which I have done many times.

 

As for trailers, just pick one that fits your style, bulky for topwater, and I even go with a 4" floating worm when probing bottom or letting it sit...Hope that helps.

[iceintheveins]

I don't like a 7.1 for swimjigs, a 6 ish reel is better. Think of the swimjig as a spinnerbait without blades. Fish it generally by slow rolling it at the desired depth, but a faster retrieve can work if the slower one is not getting bit. I reach for it when a crank isn't working or there isn't enough wind or cloud cover for a spinnerbait to be a good choice. Sometimes I will kill the jig for 1 - 2 seconds to let it fall, and that can really work too.

 

As for trailers. I love the Mr. Twister split double tail, the zoom swimmin' chunk, or a small soft swimbait.

[Frenchman83]

I fish 3/8 oz swimjig with either a 5" curly tail or a 5" paddle tail. I use Greenpumpkin a lot. MH rod selection is fine. I generally use braid as I love fishing these through pads. The 7.1 will keep the bait higher easier. However a 6.4 also has its place.

[dam0007]

Have the best luck with 3.8" Keitech fat paddle tail as trailer, same on chatter baits. Usually throw either white/chartreuse or black/blue swim jig.

[A-Jay]

Use a 1/4 to 3/8 ounce swim jig of your choice - a couple of sponsors here make nice baits. 

 

I recommend a bluegill pattern Skirt combined with a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper 3.5" in either Dirty Sanchez or Watermelon Green Pumpkin color with the paddle tail dipped / colored chartreuse.  

 

Slow roll the bait on a steady retrieve around shoreline cover - weeds, rocks lily pads, reeds & woods.

 

I prefer a  5.7:1 to 6.6:1 reel for the this.   7's seem too fast and very slow cranking reels are too slow (except early spring). 

 

You can improve your hook ups and fish landing odds by matching your tackle (Rod & line size/type) with the swim jigs hook wire size.  A thinner wire hook would be a good choice for sparse cover.  It will take less to set but may straighten out when fished on heavier gear and torqued on real good.  A thicker wire hook usually chosen in heavier cover situations, may require stouter tackle to set in the fish but will usually be up to the task of hauling spirited bass out of potential danger.

 

Good Luck

 

A-Jay

[Montanaro]

I like revenge swimjigs. Lots of color options, solid hook, and realistic head. As for trailer...I've used swim senkos but they are very expensive so I've looked into other options. Rage tail shellcracker is too bulky imo but I've liked the missile shockwave...problem is that it has a belly slit so you can't shorten it much to make it look smaller.

[Brock Grigsby67]

Thanks guys!

[ww2farmer]

I prefer a 7:1 reel..............but I fish clear water. I don't want them to get a good look at it. 7' MH rod, 30 or 50lb braid. 3/8's is my go to size, unless I am dirt shallow, then I go with 1/4. I use two trailers, a single tail grub in cold water, and boot tailed swimbait (like a RI skinny dipper or havoc grass pig) in warm water threw/over grass. I'll also fish the grub as a trailer in warm water when I want to "keep the bait down", it doesn't have as much "lift" in the tail.

[Munkin]

Hey guys I want to get into swim jig fishing. Is there any advice y'all could give me?

 

To me a swim jig is just a spinnerbait without blades.

 

Allen

[Mr Swim Jig]

I use a Daiwa Tatula rod, 7' 2" MH/R and I use a Tatula 7.3:1 and a Type-R 8.1 reel. I also use 10 lbs fluorocarbon.

A lot of people use 30lbs braid, but I just have more confidence with fluorocarbon line.

I also use North Star Original Swim Jigs in 5/16oz with my favorite trailer being a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper. Color is up to you. I prefer black and blue, white, watermelon red flash and new gill.

[UNCfan1981]

Good advice in here. Not sure what I can add but I will tell you what I used during the 4th of July at Lake Eufaula and had great results. 7:1 lews speed reel, 7 ft berkley MH rod with 50lb spiderwire braid. I constantly changed my retrieval speed and sometimes didn't even swim it just hopped It and what not. Swim jig was a strike king sexy shad with a Yamamoto pearl colored single tail grub I forgot the length but I believe it was 4 inches. Best combo to date for me.

[River Rat316]

Here is a video we did about our swim jigs, we will be doing more videos here in the near future. This video goes over the design of our swim jig, what situations to use it in, and what trailers I use with them.