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  • Super User
Posted

last time I asked about the shaky-head.  total success after hearing your pep talk and suggestions.  I crushed them.

 

now?  the swim jig.  summer is coming and CLEARLAKE, CA has good weed growth.  not super thick, and last Sunday it was about 1 foot from reaching the surface of the lake.  listening to you all talk and chat, the way I understand it..it is fun and fantastic to buzz a swim jig thru the weeds.  I;ll buzz the open lanes as well as cast straight into the thick stuff.

 

what else?   do I start the retrieve right when I hits the water?  how fast of a retrieve?

Posted

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the swim jig  There is no wrong way.  Fast, slow, stop and go, open water, rip it through weeds.  Swim it anywhere in the column, bounce it off the bottom.  If the water has decent visibility and/or tons of vegetation it is my favorite way to fish.

  • Like 3
  • Super User
Posted

Swim a Bitsy bug with a Baby Rage Menace trailer kills Smallies on the river. 

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted

If you're fishing Clear Lake (and even if you're not), go watch some of Matt Allen's older videos on swim jigs (like back from 2012 or 2013).

 

I like 3/8 oz northern style swim jigs with a skinny dipper. I settled on this combination starting from Matt's videos and then a lot of trial and error. Also occasionally throw a 1/2 oz California swim jig with a R2S D-Walker (the bigger size).

 

You want a bigger than normal paddletail trailer; the tail should be big enough to rock the jighead side to side. Let the bait sink to the desired depth, reel until you feel the weeds and snap the weeds off. A few rod pops here and there doesn't hurt too, weeds or no weeds.

  • Like 2
Posted

Ah, the swim jig.  My favorite- you can do just about anything with this bait and get bit.  So many combinations with different types of trailers, cover, high or low in the water column- the possibilities are endless.

  • Like 1
Posted

clear water and sun means green and white (if there's shad), use a paddletail for a bigger profile.  But, you'll be surprised how well a black/blue does in cloudy conditions. 

 

Pay attention to hook diameter, a thick hook is what I call a "braid hook", a thin hook is generally fluorocarbon for me.  Braid is good for weeds/grass, fluoro/thin hook is good for open water.  Generally I'll use a MHF (very standard and versatile) with a higher speed reel (6.8/7.5).

 

For your question on retrieves; yes. 

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted

Thanks everyone. I got a swim jig that mimics a baby crappie.  

Posted
1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Thanks everyone. I got a swim jig that mimics a baby crappie.  

 

That'll work. I've used -- and continue to use -- all kinds of colors. White, white/chartreuse, crappie, bluegill, junebug. Like everybody else said, the only wrong way to fish it is to not fish it.

  • Super User
Posted

Swim jig is just a bladeless spinnerbait in my eyes. Most of the time I am fishing a whitish or bluegill colored bait.  Keitech 3.8 fat impact trailers that match the jig.

 

Allen 

Posted
5 minutes ago, Jim Van Ryn said:

I have really fallen in love with the swimbait over that couple of years. You can put a wide variety of different trailers on them, but my favorite is a bait that we make called the Swammer (swimbait). It is a swimbait with a lot of thump. Feel free to send me a DM for a discount code if you want to give them a try.

 

The best swim jig trailer!

  • Like 1
Posted
On 5/21/2021 at 10:04 PM, David Austin said:

I've recently been bitten by the swim jig bug and love them.  It's almost crazy the amount of them I have ordered lately.  lol


Same here! Btw, thanks @Siebert Outdoors for the great jigs!! Siebert and Greenfish Tackle make my favorite swim jigs!

  • Thanks 1
Posted

Can swim jigs be productive in clear water reservoirs with rocky banks and no real grass cover to speak of?

Posted
1 hour ago, 5/0 said:

Can swim jigs be productive in clear water reservoirs with rocky banks and no real grass cover to speak of?

I fish a clear water, natural lake, visibility over 12',  and have done real well with a swim jig.  It seems to shine when panfish or crappie are being targeted and I fish the jig relatively fast and lower in the water column.

 

scott

  • Thanks 1
Posted

So what makes a jig a good swim jig?

I'm pretty sure all my jigs are arkies 

Posted
On 5/22/2021 at 6:39 PM, Jim Van Ryn said:

I have really fallen in love with the swimbait over that couple of years. You can put a wide variety of different trailers on them, but my favorite is a bait that we make called the Swammer (swimbait). It is a swimbait with a lot of thump. Feel free to send me a DM for a discount code if you want to give them a try.

I've been testing Swammers as swim jig trailers and they work really well. Quite durable and they get that skirt shaking. The only two areas they get really poor marks is cold water (plastic gets too stiff) and that they don't move much or at all at slower speeds. But as a warm water, medium to high speed trailer, they are fantastic.

9 minutes ago, GTN-NY said:

So what makes a jig a good swim jig?

I'm pretty sure all my jigs are arkies 

That they go through vegetation horizontally pretty well. Anything beyond that is just refinement.

  • Like 1
  • Super User
Posted

not easy.  I got one.  a dink on the swim jigs.  but it was exhilarating.  it was so amazing how the weeds just slipped by the lure.  I am going to stay with it.

  • Like 2
Posted
5 minutes ago, Darth-Baiter said:

not easy.  I got one.  a dink on the swim jigs.  but it was exhilarating.  it was so amazing how the weeds just slipped by the lure.  I am going to stay with it.

It's a primary technique for me. Hope you have lots of luck with it!

Posted
1 hour ago, GTN-NY said:

So what makes a jig a good swim jig?

I'm pretty sure all my jigs are arkies 

 

I like a destabilized head to get some extra head waggle to go with the tail wiggle, this way the skirt has a pulse to it.  To be honest it seems like the trailer is just as important if not more than the head.  So far I'm just copying/parroting Matt Allen with R2S Dwalker and Xzone swammers on his Dirty Jigs Cali swim jig, but it works well for me.  I also use a Kalins 6" grub, rigged tail down, and find a similar thump that gets bit.  I keep looking for different options.

 

scott

Posted

Throwing around grass this morning I caught a few while using a menace as a trailer for the first time. Really liked it. Definitely does not give it motion on its own but IMO it probably doesn’t matter as much when you’re constantly shaking and ripping it out of grass. Either way, I liked it a lot. Pretty clear water, I’d say about 8-10’. Overcast conditions. 

  • Super User
Posted

Did somebody mention Siebert and Swammers?? 

 

I have my favorite trailers, but this spring I just really started using the Swammer and I really like them.

 

UTMhfaP.jpg

 

8nGX5fq.jpg

  • Like 1
  • Global Moderator
Posted
11 hours ago, GTN-NY said:

So what makes a jig a good swim jig?

I'm pretty sure all my jigs are arkies 

Those work well for swimming 

On 5/22/2021 at 5:39 PM, Jim Van Ryn said:

I have really fallen in love with the swimbait over that couple of years. You can put a wide variety of different trailers on them, but my favorite is a bait that we make called the Swammer (swimbait). It is a swimbait with a lot of thump. Feel free to send me a DM for a discount code if you want to give them a try.

I’ve got 3 different color swammers with me down in south Alabama and a few swim jigs, ready for action!!! 

  • Like 1
Posted

The 10-12 o’clock method is a good way to start. 


Cast out

Allow the jig to sink to your desired depth 

Rod position at 10 o’clock

Quick jerk of rod to 12 o’clock 

Reel up slack while watching your line for any movement. If it does anything unusual set the hook.

Repeat. 
 

Most of the time when you jerk the jig from 10 o’clock to 12 o’clock is when you feel weight. Set the hook

  • Like 2
Posted
On 5/24/2021 at 1:05 AM, NorthernBasser said:

Did somebody mention Siebert and Swammers?? 

 

I have my favorite trailers, but this spring I just really started using the Swammer and I really like them.

 

UTMhfaP.jpg

 

8nGX5fq.jpg

How much skipping do you do with your swim jigs? Also what trailers do you prefer and in what situations? I’m about to order me some Siebert swim jigs. 

  • Super User
Posted
On 5/23/2021 at 8:29 PM, Michigander said:

It's a primary technique for me. Hope you have lots of luck with it!

You know a guy that makes plenty of them. 

 

Allen 

  • Haha 1

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