I suggest using a lightweight extra fast action rod with a light reel combination. Fast forward 25 years, and swimming a jig is a prominent pattern in fishing from coast to coast, from Wisconsin to Louisiana. For trailers, you want to use creatures and craws. Typically you’ll trail using something that resembles a grub or baitfish. This forces your lure to mimic a fleeing crawfish or small baitfish. Once you’ve released the line, set it aside, and pinch your line between the first guide and the reel. Black and blue offers the ultimate in contrast, which gives bass a target any time the water’s got some stain. Choose a jig with rattles. Jigging is best in clear and shallow water, but that doesn’t mean you can troll the entire shoreline and expect to catch fish all day. Read more: How To Skip A Bass Jig – Tips for Skipping Docks And Other Structures. As the water warms, the faster you can crawl your jig. Don’t pop your jig, just drag it. Often the jig head is round, but they come in a fish head shape, a cone, and a variety of other forms. In fishing, the term “punching” means to crash through the surface of thick weed mats to plunge the jig to the bottom. Use 17-25 pound fluorocarbon or mono. During the hot summer months, bass bury themselves under thick weed mats to keep out of the sun and stay cool. Jigging is such a versatile fishing method, and there are so many different types of jigs to appeal to every situation. There are several types of jig heads for you to use. He shares fishing reports, tips, tricks, and more during his never ending quest to be a better fisherman. rigid head designed to make their way through the vegetation and come out alive. PS. Crayfish – rocky banks, boulders, rocky mid lake humps, weed beds. Read more: 27 Best Bass Jig Modifications Made Easy (With Pictures). Take a 3-inch soft plastic bait and insert the hook portion of a 1/16-ounce mushroom jig head (made with a size 1 or 2 hook) into the top of the bait. If the water temperatures are ideal, you can go for a brighter color to try and draw more attention to your bait. When you use a leader, it decreases the visibility of the line, which makes the bass trust the lure more. Flipping a jig requires you to release enough line to reach the desired target. Jigs and wood just go together. To get the secrets on how to skip a jig in less time than it would take you to eat your lunch then click here. Tight Lines, H.O.B. Plus, a swim jig is a great technique to cover a lot of water to find fish. 1. If it’s cold, head to the north end of the lake and find a south-facing bluff wall or cliff face with a flat nearby. Do you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns? Most importantly, you must make sure you bump into as many pieces of structure on the bottom. Several folks have laid claim to creating the swim jig or the swim jig technique. Swim your jig throughout the water column to search for fish in-between depths. Therefore, jig fishing is all about feel and sensitivity, so you need to keep a tight line to detect vibrations traveling from the jig to the rod. During colder weather or rainy conditions, you want to pay attention to brush, vegetation, and structure. The jig head comes in a variety of different shapes and sizes. If you want to learn more about all of the best bass fishing jigs then click on this link to go to Insiders Guide To The Best Jig For Bass. During times when the fish aren’t feeding much, they might not chase after a large weight jig because their metabolism has slowed quite a bit. | What reels to use for bass fishing? At this point, you should understand the following: If you utilize everything outlined in this article and you pair the right jigs with the proper rod and trailers you should have no problem bringing in a ton of bass this year regardless of where and when you fish. I recommend a scale that has a large LED display like this one fishing scale here. All you want to do is let the jig sink in the spot you target. Keep in mind that the bass can only be a few yards away for this to work. They are flat-out deadly and one of the few baits you can fish from early spring through late fall, in clear water as … The hooks will vary depending on what you want to fish. I recommend that KastKing Cutthroat 7” Fishing Pliers. This type of retrieve can sometimes be a pain to learn because often you wind up with a jig that is just covered in grass. Fish the bottom of the water column  – This works great when you’re fishing a rocky flat or an area with structure like stumps. Deploy medium-diving crankbaits when fishing in a 5–10 feet (1.5–3.0 m) range. To sum it up, over time you’ll be able to tell the difference between distinct types of underwater objects and cover as well. Set the hook! Become a member of a local bass fishing Facebook group. Your email address will not be published. A good reel should be light and have a buttery smooth drag. If pride or money is on the line I would use Sunline Sniper FC. To fish a swim jig, you want to keep the lure moving through the water, so the bass hit it while it’s still moving. Vince loves to share his knowledge of the sport, while helping encourage selective harvest and protection of the resource. The newest things I've been doing lately is learning how to break down and clean all my reels, teaching my boy how to kayak fish, and bushcraft wilderness survival. This is where practice, practice, practice comes into play. As with every style of fishing, you’ll have people who will tell you right from wrong. The body can come in a variety of different colors as well, and you should choose your color depending on fishing conditions and the weather. If you are not getting any bites, aggressively pop the rod tip right after you feel your jig slam into the structure. At this time, you need to get more creative with your presentation and appeal to what the bass are biting. Well, we answer that important question in another detailed guide. That’s why accuracy is so important. There are several great reels on the market, but I recommend the Daiwa Tatula SV/TW baitbasting reel. Bluegill/bream – submerged vegetation, flats, docks, laydowns, and standing timber. First, choose a spot with heavy cover to go jig fishing, as this is where large fish are likely to hide. For a trailer, you’ll use a grub, paddle tail, and anything with plenty of action. Finesse jig fishing involves a smaller jig skirt and a lighter hook for fishing places with small fish, crowded quarters, and cold water. The best anglers know that you can fish a jig all year long and there are so many ways to work the bass jig. Shad – points, humps, coves, docks, bluff walls, and bridge pilings. Fishing Lures – It’s pretty hard and darn near impossible trying to catch a fish without using some sort of lure or bait. On the opposite side of the spectrum, you have a ¼ ounce max lightweight jig meant for smaller fish and clear, cool waters. Bass fishing using jigs is a skill that every angler needs if they are targeting those big bucket mouths. What I’m trying to say is, you have a lot of freedom to experiment with different fishing styles and trailers. Remember, during warm weather in the middle of the day —fish spend a lot of their time along drop-offs and significant changes in the bed of the lake. The whole advantage of jigs is that they allow you to get into those tough-to-reach areas that other baits can’t reach. This strategy of fishing. Jig Heads to jig Tube Baits, pushing the eyelet of the jig through the head of tube covering the jig head. The key is to make sure you can feel every little bite at the end of the line. Cast or pitch the jig and let it hit bottom. A jig consists of two different parts. Secondly, you choose the color jig based on the local forage prey the bass are feeding on. For a trailer, you’ll use a grub, paddle tail, and anything with plenty of action. Reel – Having the correct reel to match with your rod is just as important. I think simultaneously several guys were figuring it out and making jigs specifically designed for this technique to get better hook ups. First, cast your jig. Learning how to fish a jig is actually pretty simple. Southern facing bluff walls will hold onto more heat and attract more bass. The colder the water the less action you want your jig to have so you can keep it in the strike zone. I see this strategy implemented every year on the pro tour, and that means you should do it too. Half the time, bass will take a jig by picking it up off the bottom. But if you don’t have the time to read the full guide then let me tell you I recommend the Lunker Bag by KastKing. This is the presentation that the really top swim jig anglers use 90% of the time. | Why Use A Drift Sock? And analyze the colors. Here, the versatility of the swim jig shines again. One of the ultimate cold-water tactics, crawling a jig for bites can be insanely effective. The goal is to jig without collecting a ton of grass and screwing up your presentation. When he's not out on the water, you can find Coty playing soccer with his two sons. If you get a strike, it will usually happen during the fall or soon after it hits the bottom. From south to north, as long as you’ve got at least a little stain to the water – a black and blue jig will get bit. I’ve caught bass on other colors but black and white seem to be the most consistent. Give you jig a long cast and allow it to fall into the vegetation…, Then you want to give that jig a sharp pop up and out of the grass. The strikes will come right after you make contact. Avoid any unnecessary UV exposure and stay cool by wearing a UV protective PFG Fishing Shirt by Columbia. It's more of a casting so using a 50 and 65-pound test, you can do it. Use a small finesse skirt and a light hook paired with a small creature bait or grub. Google the prey. Here are two of the best retrieval methods for swimming a jig. Fishing Gloves – Fishing gloves allow your hands to stay covered from the sun’s harmful rays and stay dry by using a special material. Bass fishing using jigs is a skill that every angler needs if they are targeting those big bucket mouths. You can opt out of a weed guard if you feel it’s unnecessary, but you want to trail a football jig with a full-size creature or craw. You see, a big bass will take the best ambush spot 99-percent of the time. You want to stay out 30-40 feet and cast towards the shoreline. Here are some ideas to get you started…. Cast out your line by aiming towards the spot you want to fish in and then pulling the line backward. Of course, adjustments need to be made from season to season, things like where you fish them, choices in style, and tweaks in the presentation. Needless to say, this is when working a stand-up style jig is deadly. As you catch more bass on a jig, you will be able to tell the difference between a bass bite and contact with objects on the bottom. It fits any size head and it feels really comfortable. What you’ll see is that you really need only 3 basic colors. Now let’s pull away from the grass and weeds and make our way to clear rocky waters. "In fact, I rarely ever fish a jig on the bottom anymore. Make sure you choose the right bait, such as a small finesse jig. Since the jig can be either slow-moving bait or a fast-reaction style bait that requires an angler to have patience while paying close attention to the rod and line during the retrieve. Sometimes in really cold water you just barely want to shake the rod tip. The black and blue in the spring and summer in dirty water. I wrote a complete review guide, Best Tackle Bag for Fishing, check it out by clicking here. Using a swim jig works the best because of the sharp nose will work its way through any cover without getting hung up. Point your rod tip up at a 10 o'clock position and pulse the bait through the water while retrieving it quickly with a high-speed reel. Cast out your jig and the moment it hits bottom start to slowly and meticulously crawling and stopping your jig. Floating grass mats, Bass Fishing In Heavy Grass 101 Like anything worth mastering, patience, understanding the process and practice and the means to the end. These gloves by Fishaholic offer UPF50+, Drift socks can be a massive asset when your faced with current, either by a river, or a tidal system. Shallow areas or feeder creeks with wood cover, docks, or rip-rap can hold hungry bass. Well if you yo-yo your jig it also works too! Jig fishing is a type of sport that uses jig bait hooks to mimic prey for large fish. Fishing Pliers – Nothing will ruin a day quicker than getting a hook embedded in your hand, or worse your eye. Let the jig sit for a period of time, then using the rod tip, lift the jig (stroke it) off the bottom. These jig fishing techniques create the look of an injured baitfish that a game fish would want to bite. Rod – The popularity of fishing is growing and people are becoming much more conscious of  different rods that can help them. Fish the top of the water column  – This is one of be most productive ways to fish a swim jig. Wide Brim Fishing Hat – Nowadays, you have to protect yourself against the sun’s harmful rays. Landing Net – As you are reeling in that monster fish, you don’t want to injure yourself or knock the fish off the hook by trying to grab it. It’s a great reel packed with great features. Or another cool trick is to use a really light weight flipping jig. But that’s not all…, There are many more styles that can catch you a BOATLOAD of fish…. Fill your tackle box full of them and make sure you pull out the right one for every outing. First, you choose the correct jig for the depth of water you’re fishing. The best type of bass fishing reels are based on, Over the last ten years the tackle bag has exploded in popularity, replacing the old and awkward tackle box. Swim it through the remaining vegetation or along rocky outcroppings. Secondly, right as it hits the water start to reel it back. 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