What would you say if I told you that I have found a backup bait to compliment my spinnerbait? We have all had days that when we hit the water we grab a spinnerbait to cover water to try to get an idea as to what the bass are doing. As the day goes on we start to put a few things together and by the time we come off of the water we can look back and see that today shaped up to be pretty good and you think now I have a pretty good idea of what is going on and tomorrows day on the water will even be better.
The next day you head back to the area that you took fish in yesterday, you retie your spinnerbait before your first cast and spend the next hour just doing that, casting. From time to time you can feel bass come up and push your spinnerbait but you cannot get any of the bass to commit to the spinnerbait like they did yesterday. When I get days like this the first bait that I reach for is a swim jig. Looking at the spinnerbait and the swim jig they are a great 1, 2 combination and should be used as such. I will make this bold statement, anywhere you can fish a spinnerbait, you can fish a swim jig and maybe in some cases you can even fish a swim jig better.
Let’s take a close look at the swim jig and some tactics in how to get the most out of this offering.
How many times has this happened to you, you make a cast to a target that you want to hit but your cast falls short, in frustration you reel your jig back in to make another cast but you see a bass follow your jig. Seeing the boat the bass stops and turns away from the jig. This is the early stages of how the swim jig craze started. It was a few clever fishermen that started to take advantage of this new tactic and the rest is now a viable pattern that is used in tournaments all over the country.
Hearing of this new pattern I went to work the last few years to see what this swim jig tactic was all about. Working close with Outkast Tackle I have come up with the following points in how I took my swim jigs presentation to the next level.
Swim Jig Options and/or componentsMake Up Of The Outkast Swim Jig
The Outkast swim jig is made around a 30 degree Mustad Ultra Sharp hook, and comes in 4 different sizes 1/8oz, 1/4oz, 3/8oz and 1/2oz. sizes. When it comes to the swim jig skirt Outkast uses a 30 strand skirt to give the jig allot of action in the water when the bait is swimming. They have found through many hours of testing that by using a 30 strand skirt the jig has more action than a bigger, bulkier skirt and this added action will attract and catch more fish.
Plastics play a big part of the swim jig make up and the Outkast Swim Jig has a double barb plastic keeper to hold your plastic offering secure and in place. The Outkast Swim Jig comes in 12 top fish catching colors allowing you to match the hatch on your favorite body of water.
Equipment
When it comes to fishing a swim jig you have a few options and how you end up fishing the swim jig will come down to your personal preference. I generally use two different setups the first is a 7ft medium action baitcaster setup with a matching baitcaster reel in 6.1 speed. Spooled on this reel is 15lb to 20lb Sunline Shooter Fluorocarbon line. I generally use this setup when I am fishing in clear water conditions. This will cover water depths from shallow to deep.
If I am faced with fishing in heavy cover or I am using a swim and flip retrieve combination for my swim jig presentation, for these conditions I will use a 7’3” to 7’6” flippin stick, teamed with a matching reel spooled with 30lb to 65lb braided line. This combination gives me the extra power that I need to be able to get the bass up and out of the cover and still be able to catch bass in open water conditions.By Scott Peterson. To read the remainder of the article click on Pro Bass Networks.