Swim Jigs

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by Mac2

In one of my previous threads, I explained using a jig actionator. I've recently added an actionator to a sickle hook 1/16 ounce ball head jig and then put on a Vicious brand shad in pearl white. Being thin, they are very supple and show the writhing and twisting action provided by the actionator very, very well. Just adding this bit to the thread if anyone would like to try. Good Fishing, Mac
p.s. The sickle hook is a 3/0.

Hey Mac, I must have missed your previous post about a jig actionator. Not sure what that is. Any chance you could post a pic of one?

[WaffleJaw]

Heres a little kiss with a swimjig

[WatterBoy]

Originally Posted by keithdog

Hey Mac, I must have missed your previous post about a jig actionator. Not sure what that is. Any chance you could post a pic of one?

Keith, check out this thread for details and pics of the jig actionator. I haven't had a chance to try mine out yet.

[Bassboss]

Originally Posted by WaffleJaw

Heres a little kiss with a swimjig

Very nice bass Waffle!

[wormycrm99]

I have become a real big fan of swimjigs this year. It all started when I was fishing some scattered grass with rage toads and money frogs. I was getting alot of bites and blow ups on the frogs but was not hooking up with many of them. I was also getting frustrated because half the time the frogs would run upside down. I went home and saw an episode of Classic Patterns were Edwin Evers was fishing a swimjig. The next day I went back with some Strike King tour grade swimjigs and killed em. I have duplicated the pattern several times since then. I have found swimjigs to be quite versatile and just about all ways have one tied on. So far the most productive combination for me is a bluegill colored tour grade swimjig with a bama magic colored Yum money craw. I usually fish it on a 7'MH Ducket rod with a Quantum Smoke reel.

[Tavery5]

Welcome Wormy, I too have have good success with swimjigs, a couple of my favorites are the All Terrain Swimjig in Watermelon, and the Bass Assault Nate Wellman heavy cover swimjig, both of these have a very good design. I fish these on several different combos, but my current favorite is a 6'10" Falcon Carra MH F with a Lews speed spool Tournament Pro spooled with 12lb test P-Line floroclear. I like to use Kalin's 5 inch single tailed grubs and Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper for a trailer.





Welcome again, I am sure you will enjoy your visits here, there are allot of very knowledgeable folks that are willing to help with just about anything.

[wormycrm99]

I usually pinch half the length of the money craw trailer off. I ordered 2 of the bass assault swim jigs just to try them but have not yet. I use 15lb. Seaguar Invizx.

[b.a.s.17]

I've had some swim jigs in my tackle box for about 6 months and still have not taken the time to learn this technique. I need to spend some time fishing it. Have you guys had any success with it around rock banks?

[Dogmatic]

Just started using them this past spring, mainly because the spinner bait is the go to bait of 90% of the anglers on my lake, so I wanted to mix it up. Have had only moderate success, mainly tossing them through weedy cover. Has anyone seen the basspros episode where KVD demonstrated how he uses swim jigs, burning them through shallow grass, essentially as a wake bait?

[skeeter1804]

I still throw a spinnerbait in the spring when bass haven't seen thousands of lures. I think a swim jig really shines in the fall when a spinnerbait is a little bulky and bass seem a little reluctant to hit one.

[carolina-rig-01]

I fell in love with swim jigs in one weekend, that's all it took. Earlier this month I prefished for a tournament on a Thursday. The water temperature was falling and the bass were following the shad up shallow, they weren't in the backs of creeks and pockets yet but rather just at the mouths of them or on main lake banks that were close to creeks and pockets. The fish had just started moving up and were still pretty spooky once the sun got up. In low light conditions right before the sun got up they were crushing buzzbaits fished around shallow wood, but once the sun got up they really acted funky. Normally in the fall they will kill a spinnerbait fished around shallow wood after they turn off of a buzzbait, but like I said these fish were really spooky from just moving up and they were really shying away from spinnerbaits. I knew that there were good fish in these areas because of the quality of fish I was catching on buzzbaits early but I was getting nowhere fast with spinnerbaits or soft plastics. I didn't even own a swim jig until earlier this year when I won one from a contest we had on here, I just never really found myself in a situation where I felt like I needed to learn the technique. So having absolutley no experience with them I dug my only swim jig out of some tackle I have in the garage the night before the tournament and I texted a few members from this site to get a crash course in swim jigging 101. The swim jig played a huge part in our tournament win the next day as it was the perfect bait to fish around the shallow wood where the fish wouldn't touch a spinnerbait, the swim jig is just a little more subtle than the spinnerbait and that was the key. It was a great tool around docks as well as shallow wood as I culled several times by fishing it in both types of places. I am now going to buy a bunch of swim jigs and this winter I plan on building a swim jig rod or two as well. They are a great bait to use in areas where you would use a spinnerbait because they are a little more finesse and not nearly as commonly used.

[gonefishin3]

the pictures y'all are posting the heads are pointed? The swimjigs I have have a flat head so they "glide" better...

[joedog]

I know almost nothing about swim jigs but I have fished a fair amount with Tom Monsoor, fished a Tue. nights open tournies growing up. (Monsoor is from my hometown) Monsoor fished the jig everywhere but the oddest place is in heavy cover where most people use frogs like Tournament Frogs, Tom says he can out produce anyone fishing a frog by fishing one of his swimjigs (he has his own line of swimjigs) in identical or same water. I've seen him do it. I still fish frogs and rarely a swimjig at all. I also fish jigs, usually finnese jigs which I some times swim. But don't fish swimjigs. I have probably 20 plus swimjigs, but don't fish swimjigs. I read a thread here about a gentleman who won a Tourney all due too swimjigs, but yet I rarely use swimjigs. Now spin baits have never been a go to lure other than inline spinners for me. But I really need to re think this!

[hdmoorefootball]

Can someone help me out and explain the diffrence between "swimming a jig" and a "swimjig" ?

The jigs at the beggining of the post with the swimbaits as trailers look real nice, I am deffinatly going to give those a try. As far as white jigs though ive never had any confidence or any luck with... I want to go try and throw a white/silverish jig with like a shad colored swimbait on the back on some rip rap points but i feel like it will be ineffective due to the fact that bass locate there because of the "pods" of shad that tend to congragate there. Would I be wasting my time?

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by hdmoorefootball

Can someone help me out and explain the diffrence between "swimming a jig" and a "swimjig" ?

The jigs at the beggining of the post with the swimbaits as trailers look real nice, I am deffinatly going to give those a try. As far as white jigs though ive never had any confidence or any luck with... I want to go try and throw a white/silverish jig with like a shad colored swimbait on the back on some rip rap points but i feel like it will be ineffective due to the fact that bass locate there because of the "pods" of shad that tend to congragate there. Would I be wasting my time?

I am still learning with a swim jig myself so I am not an authority on swim jigs. But I feel like I know enough about fishing to at least offer an answer to some of your questions because there seems to be a lot of similarities between swim jigs, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits. White is a better color for stained to even muddy water because it's a solid color that will be easier for the fish to see in dark water but it's also a shad color which is important when the fish are feeding on shad in muddy water. Your silver or other translucent shad colored skirts are better fit for clear water and sunny sky days because it will be a really good shad pattern but also being translucent will make it look more natural and help keep the fish from getting too good of a look at it. If you find fish feeding on shad a swim jig is a great bait. Recently I had some great success with a swim jig in a tournament where the fish were starting their fall migration to shallow creeks and pockets. I found a lot of fish on shallow laydowns but they were still pretty spooky because they hadn't been shallow very long and a spinnerbait was just too much flash and thump for them to eat it. I fished the same areas with a swim jig and caught a ton of fish because it can be fished just like a spinnerbait but it's a lot more subtle. In that tournament I was using a 4" grub as a trailer. I have a two day championship this weekend and I am expecting to spend a lot of time fishing a swim jig over the next two days, only I will be using a 3" Double Diamond swimbait as my trailer this go round because I expect the fish to be more aggresive, however if the fish act like they are still a little skittish I will go back to the grub. I don't think you would be wasting your time by fishing the swim jig in the areas you described, especially if they are waiting to ambush balls of shad.

[hdmoorefootball]

Good luck on your tourney and thanks for the advice! Defiantly gonna try it out, I love always learning about new techniques ive never tryed before, taking them to the lake and working them till I become successful

[carolina-rig-01]

There are a lot of members on here who know more about swim jigs than I do, like I said I am just starting to get into them but so far I am loving them. I am sure some of the more accomplished swim jig guys will be along to offer some more advice soon enough.

[F16 1UB]

Moved to FL in 2009. Got to using swimjigs amd love em. I seem to get bigger fish on them. 65# braid slung back into the pads or crawling it thru submerged vegetation. Even though I'm in FL it oughta work anywhere. I eventually bought a jig mold, rarely use skirts anymore, and throw Reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers in Houdini & Pearl Blue Shad. When I drag it thru pads I smear a KVD product shad looks like lip balm tube on them. When burning it it doesn't matter. One thing I've noticed is that many times the fish is swimming so fast towards you with the bait. As for rigging, many rig them Texas style. I super glue mine to the 3/8 oz jig with 5/0 hook.

[joedog]

Carolina, I would like to hear or see the info you took in during your crash course. It obviously was good info. Maybe you could ask the members who crash coursed you if they would share that info with all of us! I think that would be fantastic and very informative. Vast majority of the posts seem to start with, "I just started swimjigging" and it would be great to hear from those that use it religously. To me there just has to be more to it than just fishing it as a spinbait.