Swim jigs for smallies

[bassnleo]

I've recently began building swim jigs which I intend on using in our free flowing rivers for smallmouth. The pic is what I've made so far. Too many times I've been fishing a small skirted jig and when reeling it back in a fish will overtake it and eat it. So, if anyone casts swimming jigs for smallies, throw up a pic of what you're tossing. I'd like so ideas for other color combos and trailers. I will mostly be using these in clear to slightly stained water. 

[Tatsu Dave]

They should work very well, some fisherman like myself don't fish skirted swim jigs enough in river settings in my case. Like the colors....let us know how you do.

[TnRiver46]

Nice looking jigs!!!! I gotta have a black one too 

[Dwight Hottle]

Sweet looking. Black & brown makes for good goby imitations. The erie smallies always liked that color combo. 

[bassnleo]

3 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

Sweet looking. Black & brown makes for good goby imitations. The erie smallies always liked that color combo. 

I'd venture that the spring smallmouth in Presque Isle Bay (and largemouth for that matter) would probably like one of these. I don't get up there much anymore. I've become more addicted to the shallows of the Allegheny and Susquehanna. 

[bassnleo]

4 hours ago, Tatsu Dave said:

They should work very well, some fisherman like myself don't fish skirted swim jigs enough in river settings in my case. Like the colors....let us know how you do.

One of my all time #1 big smallmouth producers was a Booyah Pro Boo Bug in 3/16. That jig has been discontinued by Booyah, so I make my own now. Using that jig is one of the factors which prompted me to make up swim jigs. The Pro Boo isn't great for swimming, but, I've gotten bites while reeling it in. When you have a livewell packed with crawfish parts at the end of a tournament day, which is just about every time on the rivers I fish, it's time to come up with a moving presentation imitating a craw. Ironically, most of the time when this happens, we were fishing moving baits like cranks, spinners, chatters, flukes, etc and couldn't get bit on a bottom bouncing application, even though the bass were clearly gorging on craws. Last event I had 4 basically whole crawfish in the livewell. I took pics of their colors (and the parts) and those colors are what inspired my current color choices on the swim jigs. 

[TnRiver46]

I use the swim jig in areas where there is long strands of grass growing on the bottom of the river almost to the surface for miles and miles (looks like eelgrass but im guessing it’s not). Nothing comes through it well except a jig 

 

then when I fish jigs in timber I just hang them all and lose them 

[bassnleo]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

I use the swim jig in areas where there is long strands of grass growing on the bottom of the river almost to the surface for miles and miles (looks like eelgrass but im guessing it’s not). Nothing comes through it well except a jig 

 

then when I fish jigs in timber I just hang them all and lose them 

We've got plenty of grass like you decribe and that gives me some ideas! Thanks! 

[Tatsu Dave]

Yeah love the old Susky and its great smallmouth fishery. Crawfish come up a lot when we get into SB on a bite, those colors look exactly like crawfish colors up here. I gotta do more with swim jigs this fall, I've got into a grub/stick bait/creature/and worm routine and when something works well its hard to switch up the menu. Welcome back onboard the forum. 

[Jig Rookie]

 

22 hours ago, bassnleo said:

I've recently began building swim jigs which I intend on using in our free flowing rivers for smallmouth. The pic is what I've made so far. Too many times I've been fishing a small skirted jig and when reeling it back in a fish will overtake it and eat it. So, if anyone casts swimming jigs for smallies, throw up a pic of what you're tossing. I'd like so ideas for other color combos and trailers. I will mostly be using these in clear to slightly stained water. 

Those are beautifully done man, excellent work. I started tying my own jigs this past winter--up here in the forest preserve lakes of northern IL, our forage is bluegill, green sunfish and a small population of shad in a few spots. I made my swimjigs to represent those baitfish species and almost exclusively use the craw colors for football and Arkie jigs, things I'll be bottom fishing. Do you notice a difference in bites (either quality or quantity) between using craw-type presentations on a swimmer as opposed to baitfish-type presentations?

[Bdnoble84]

These are what i throw in the river. Usually with a 3 or 5” kalins grub. Dont have a pic but i tie a black and chart jig with a pearl hologram 5” grub that pike just murder. I tie everything on the same poisontail head, so the only thing that changes how I define it is the trailer. If i thow on a grub or swimbait, its a swimjig, if i throw on a craw its a flipping jig/ dragging jig.

[Bluebasser86]