3/16-5/16 ounce swim jigs on spinning tackle?

[Cgolf]

For most of my soft plastic fishing where I use 3/16 and 1/4 ounce sliders and 1/4 ounce to 1/2 ounce swing  jigs I use a medium or medium light spinning rod and have had great success. Last year I grabbed a 1/4 ounce swim jig and decided to rig it up on the spinning rod to save some time rigging it up and figured it would pitch with a little better accuracy than with a BC. 

 

To my surprise this worked out well for me. Is there any downside to fishing 3/16 - 5/16 ounce swim jigs on medium action spinning gear?

[Dangerfield]

For me, it was getting used to setting the hook differently, upwards thrust with the egg beater set up, instead of cross body lean with a baitcaster. I use a 1/4oz DJ finesse swimjig, so far a medium fast rig has done the trick. I've got some 5/16oz santone finesse jigs and I think the gauge on the hook is too beefy for the medium set up. I've got 2 new MHF rigs for this season, of each type, so a few hours on the water and I should have it dialed in. I'm leaning towards the bc.

[Finessegenics]

^^^^I agree with dangerfield. The weight itself is more than fine for a spinning rod but I’d be worried about driving that hook home if it’s too beefy for a spinning rod. I think you’re better off deciding on a bc or spinning based on the gauge of the hook. That being said, a “finesse” swim jig definitely  has a thin enough hook 

[Cgolf]

1 hour ago, Dangerfield said:

For me, it was getting used to setting the hook differently, upwards thrust with the egg beater set up, instead of cross body lean with a baitcaster. I use a 1/4oz DJ finesse swimjig, so far a medium fast rig has done the trick. I've got some 5/16oz santone finesse jigs and I think the gauge on the hook is too beefy for the medium set up. I've got 2 new MHF rigs for this season, of each type, so a few hours on the water and I should have it dialed in. I'm leaning towards the bc.

I just went and watched some gopro footage I had from vacation to see how I set the hook with with an egg beater. Turns out I do the cross body lean with both styles. Guessing I rarely high stick a fish.

 

As for the baitcaster, I have some reels that can likely handle that light of jig, but pitching a 1/4 ounce jig on a MH moderate setup 20 to 30 feet gives me some concerns for a nasty backlash or 3 and being able to drop the jig on a dime. Fan casting a flat would be fine though.

 

I do throw a variety of swim jig brands but the Santone Rayburn is my favorite. The ones I was tossing last year had a less beefy hook than the Santone. I will likely toy around with both next year and see how it works out and whether the spinning rod can get a good hookset. I think on flats I will stick with the baitcaster, the target fishing is where the experimenting will happen.

 

I like this time of year, because you can think back and figure out what did and didn't work and then plan for next seasons fishing.

[fishwizzard]

Have you thrown your 1/4oz on a scale to see what it weighs?  I use Siebert Shot Callers and with a Rage Menace they are about 1/2oz and with a 3.8 Rage Swimmer they are closer to 3/4oz.  I throw them on a “light” MH casting rod and they pitch very very well.  

[Cgolf]

3 hours ago, fishwizzard said:

Have you thrown your 1/4oz on a scale to see what it weighs?  I use Siebert Shot Callers and with a Rage Menace they are about 1/2oz and with a 3.8 Rage Swimmer they are closer to 3/4oz.  I throw them on a “light” MH casting rod and they pitch very very well.  

I haven’t but should do that some time. Started throwing pulse jrs on the smaller swim jigs and one of the smaller rage swimmers, about the same size as the pulse jr. 

 

I do have a medium heavy spin rod as well I could use. Surprised/not surprised that spinning rods always get thought of as finesse only. For years they have been my workhorse plastic / crank bait river rods and easily hold up to big toothy critters and smallies. I just like how you can drop lighter plastics more vertical with a spinning reel vs a BC, I fish a lot of vertical cover. I use a BC a lot but have been finding I like spinning rods for more and more presentations. 

[fishwizzard]

1 hour ago, cgolf said:

I haven’t but should do that some time. Started throwing pulse jrs on the smaller swim jigs and one of the smaller rage swimmers, about the same size as the pulse jr. 

 

I do have a medium heavy spin rod as well I could use. Surprised/not surprised that spinning rods always get thought of as finesse only. For years they have been my workhorse plastic / crank bait river rods and easily hold up to big toothy critters and smallies. I just like how you can drop lighter plastics more vertical with a spinning reel vs a BC, I fish a lot of vertical cover. I use a BC a lot but have been finding I like spinning rods for more and more presentations. 

I only started weighting lure when I bought a 3 power loomis rated 1/4-3/4 and wondered why a 1/2oz jig was overloading it so much. 
 

I do agree that people in bass fishing tend to pigeonhole spinning rods as only a finesse thing.  One of my favorite presentations is throwing a  trickworm into a pad field and slowly dragging it back to me.  I am on a quest to find the perfect rod for this, something with a light enough tip to let me accurately cast and pitch the worm but with enough backbone to drag them out of the pads.  As much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m starting to feel like a spinning rod might be the answer.  I found some casting rods that fit the bill, but the issue is trying to find a real that will work with such a light lure while letting me use heavy enough line to get them out of the cover.  
 

 

[Munkin]

I have some 1/8oz ones around here with small hooks and fine cut silicone I made for a spinning rod. 

 

Allen

[zell_pop1]

On 1/7/2020 at 9:33 PM, fishwizzard said:

I only started weighting lure when I bought a 3 power loomis rated 1/4-3/4 and wondered why a 1/2oz jig was overloading it so much. 
 

I do agree that people in bass fishing tend to pigeonhole spinning rods as only a finesse thing.  One of my favorite presentations is throwing a  trickworm into a pad field and slowly dragging it back to me.  I am on a quest to find the perfect rod for this, something with a light enough tip to let me accurately cast and pitch the worm but with enough backbone to drag them out of the pads.  As much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m starting to feel like a spinning rod might be the answer.  I found some casting rods that fit the bill, but the issue is trying to find a real that will work with such a light lure while letting me use heavy enough line to get them out of the cover.  
 

 

I always thought a bottom crawling jig would be best on spinning gear but I suck at casting spinning gear, no accuracy at all. I think that is why alot of us just go with baitcasters unless it is a really light lure/light line deal.

[Cgolf]

5 hours ago, zell_pop1 said:

I always thought a bottom crawling jig would be best on spinning gear but I suck at casting spinning gear, no accuracy at all. I think that is why alot of us just go with baitcasters unless it is a really light lure/light line deal.

Not sure where your accuracy issue lies, but for distance control I keep my free hand near the spool and feather the line with my hand to slow the cast down and then put my hand down to stop it, similar to using your thumb with a baitcaster.

 

As far as the timing of when to cut the line loose on the casting motion, not sure how that is learned. When I was a kid I used a lot of spincast reels and then spinning reels. Baitcasters weren't until later in life when I really got back into fishing. Their is a timing aspect with baitcasters, but it seems a different beast than spinning reels.

[DogBone_384]

On 1/5/2020 at 7:28 PM, cgolf said:

some concerns for a nasty backlash or 3 and being able to drop the jig on a dime.

Practice, practice, practice; great reason to fish more.

[Cgolf]

6 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

Practice, practice, practice; great reason to fish more.

Or a more expensive reel;) There is a huge difference in cast control between a Lews crush, and the 60 buck Lews Mark rose model I got on sale. The Crush is very difficult to backlash, almost have to try, where as the cheaper model actually takes some skill not to backlash even with heavier lures. Daiwa also has great spool control and are fairly easy to cast, even in some of their cheaper models.

[fishballer06]

The one thing I would consider a disadvantage when using a spinning rod for swim jigs is line weight. 6-8 pound line is not what I want when fishing around heavy weeds and/or wood/rocks. 

 

With that being said, a M or MH powered spinning rod should fish just fine as long as the total weight of the jig/trailer isn't too heavy. 

[Fishingmickey]

1 hour ago, DogBone_384 said:

Practice, practice, practice; great reason to fish more.

X2, I was thinking the same thing.

[Cgolf]

37 minutes ago, fishballer06 said:

The one thing I would consider a disadvantage when using a spinning rod for swim jigs is line weight. 6-8 pound line is not what I want when fishing around heavy weeds and/or wood/rocks. 

 

With that being said, a M or MH powered spinning rod should fish just fine as long as the total weight of the jig/trailer isn't too heavy. 

I usually fish 10 or 20lb fireline on my spinning rods. I have been using a 10 or 12lb FC leader, but not always.

 

This is fishing around reed beds mostly or on flats with sporadic heavy weeds (not millfoil).

 

If I have to attack millfoil beds I go with heavier gear and jigs. Unfortunately the clear water lake we fish has millfoil taking hold, but we fish early enough in the season that it isn't too bad. The years we fished the lake later in the season with the millfoil I was amazed at the stuff. It was outside one reed bed and there were 1-2 footers blowing into the bed, the stuff was so thick it actually knocked down the waves and it was calm behind it.

1 hour ago, DogBone_384 said:

Practice, practice, practice; great reason to fish more.

 

1 minute ago, Fishingmickey said:

X2, I was thinking the same thing.

 

The one thing I don't like with a baitcaster and light lures, is the spool drag causes the bait to pendulum down to the bottom. Not a big deal on the home lake, but when fishing reeds where fish hold at the base of the reed and aren't moving to get a bait, that vertical drop you can get with a spinning combo makes a big difference in the number of bites you get. Could make a difference when fishing docks too.

 

I like baitcasters a lot, but still use the spinning combo for many presentations.

[MN Fisher]

On 1/5/2020 at 4:41 PM, cgolf said:

To my surprise this worked out well for me. Is there any downside to fishing 3/16 - 5/16 ounce swim jigs on medium action spinning gear?

That's exactly what I toss my 1/4 oz swim jigs on. Loaded with 10# YZH (Tackle Tour says it tests to just over 13#)...I don't do leaders. Since the line was treated with KVD, the memory issue was greatly reduced, and YZH's abrasion resistance and higher breaking strength than the rated test give me no issues pulling it through moderate weeds.

Last year's rig: Trion-30/6'6" M/F Aird-X

This year's rig: Trion-35/6'6 M/F Aird-X (ya, just swapped the reel)