Swimming the Jig for Bass In Late Spring

A great postspawn tactic.

By Frank Sargeant
from The Fishing Wire

Swim JIg

Swimming a jig is basically a postspawn tactic; the fish that have spawned in the pads, primrose vines and other emergent weeds remain in the shallows for days or sometimes weeks after leaving the beds, and they’re typically very hungry. The places they prowl may be anywhere from a foot to 4 feet deep, typically in the backs of the feeder creeks that make up the bays around the larger lakes across much of the southeast and west into Texas.

The jigs that work best are not the heavy, fat models that work so well on the ledges. Swim jigs are flat-bottomed to help them scoot across the weeds, and are typically lighter in weight than those used in deep water, from 3/16 to ½ ounce, with large hooks designed to hold large soft plastic crawfish or swimmer tails. A nylon weedguard is also standard, helping to keep the single-hook lures from catching the cover.

These lures are cast into cover near spawning areas-sometimes the shadows of the beds can still be seen in the cover. However, the fish may be some distance from the nests-they no longer guard them after the fry swim off on their own, but they do hang in the area to feed for a time.

The trick in working a swim jig is to put the reel in gear instantly at the end of the cast, keep the rod high, and start the lure moving, slowly but steadily, just fast enough to activate the soft plastic swimmer legs or tails. Most anglers use either heavy mono, 25 pound test, or braid of 30 pound test or heavier, to allow pulling the lure free when it snags-and also to give them a chance to derrick large bass out of the thick stuff.

The strikes tend to be sudden and explosive-it’s just short of the blow-ups inspired in fall by crawling a frog over the moss beds. The nice advantage of swimming the open hook jigs is that the fish more often than not actually get hooked, not the case with the weedless but sometimes also fishless frogs.

Once a fish strikes, the tactic that works best is to set the hook hard, then crank as fast as possible with the rod high-ideally, you pop the fish up on top of the weeds and scoot him across them to open water. Of course, this plan is not always effective-they often bog down, and then the only way to get them out is to ease in on the troller, follow the line down and get a liplock on them.

It’s also common for fish to blow up on the lures and miss them completely. When this happens, a second cast back to the same spot immediately often gets a second strike, but if not it can be useful to keep a Texas-rigged worm handy on the front deck. Cast the worm to the spot of the blow-up, bounce it up and down in the cover a few times, and you’ll often coerce the fish into taking.

All colors of swim jigs work, but the ones that are easiest to see are the brighter colors-white, pearl or chartreuse are easy for you and the bass to spot.

Fishing the swimjig is a short window in the fishing spectrum, but it’s one of the more interesting and productive tactics for big fish when the bite is on-give it a try this spring.

Plastic Worms Offer a Good Alternative Throughout the Spring Months

On heavily-pressured waters, Yamaha pro Russ Lane chooses plastic worms instead of jigs or crankbaits

Small, lightly weighted plastic worms are effective in hard-fished waters where power-fishing with fast-moving lures can be tough, says Yamaha pro Russ Lane.
When Russ Lane gave up a promising baseball career to become a fulltime professional bass fisherman, he quickly realized he had to change his normal fishing strategies if he wanted to compete successfully against the best bass anglers in the world. The Yamaha Pro’s initial decision-looking for alternative lures-turned out to be one of the most important he’s ever made.

“Not only was I fishing against excellent fishermen, but we were all competing on heavily-pressured lakes where the bass had apparently already seen all the lures in my tackle box so they ignored them,” laughs Lane, who has since qualified for four Bassmaster Classic® championships. “I had always enjoyed fishing small plastic worms, so that lure became my alternative bait, and it’s really effective now during the spring months because very few other anglers use them.”

Lane likes a little 4 ¾ inch worm that features a ringed body design but with a slightly larger tail. It has practically no action of its own, but the worm is still bulky enough he can rig with a larger 4/0 hook, quarter ounce slip sinker, and 22 pound fluorocarbon line.

He uses a worm under 5 inches long on a size 4/0 hook, with a quarter-ounce slip sinker for casting weight.
“It’s a finesse-type lure I can power fish with stronger tackle,” explains the Yamaha Pro, “and while it’s a great alternative lure throughout the spring months, it’s actually a very good lure throughout the year. I can pitch and flip it to boat docks, brush, stumps, practically any form of cover in water less than five feet deep.

“I nearly always use the very same presentation, too, regardless of what I’m fishing. I like to pitch the worm to the cover, let it fall to the bottom, then just let it sit motionless there for several seconds. When I do move it, I barely raise my rod so the worm only glides a foot or two before settling back to the bottom. It’s during that slow, subtle glide that the bass hit it.”

Lane’s realization he needed to find an alternative lure to use when fishing “used water” behind other pros isn’t unique, but his lure choice is certainly unusual. Most of his contemporaries change to fast-moving crankbaits in hopes of generating reflex-type strikes, so his ultra-slow retrieve-he rarely even hops the worm-truly is something the bass don’t see that often.’

“I think it’s effective because the worm looks extremely natural in the water,” continues Lane. “Bass aren’t spooked by it because it’s not an intrusive or aggressive movement. I know bass hear the worm as it hits the water and then sinks to the bottom, but instead of darting away, I envision them swimming up to within a few inches of the worm while I’m letting it sit there motionless.

An assortment of dark colors can be effective for spring fishing around beds where fish have recently spawned.
“When I slowly lift my rod and move the worm, it just slowly rises off the bottom and glides a very short distance. For a bass, that type of movement represents a very easy target, and I think that’s why they hit it so well, even during the post-spawn season when fish typically are not very active.”

Lane also likes fishing the small worm because it catches all sizes of bass throughout the day. He’s caught numerous fish in the six pound range using his slow presentation, and he credits the worm with helping him qualify for the 2013 Bassmaster Classic.® He used his technique in all eight Elite Series qualifying tournaments, from Florida to Arkansas to Wisconsin, and ranked 28th in the B.A.S.S.® Angler of the
Year standings.

“I don’t believe there’s a lake or river system in the country where this little worm and my slow presentation won’t catch at least some bass,” concludes the Yamaha Pro. “I really started fishing this worm as an alternative bait, but now it’s become one of my favorite lures, and I use it wherever I go.”

Giant Southern Swimbait Smallies

By Jimmy Mason
from The Fishing Wire

Southern smallmouth bass can be tough to figure out. One day they’re here, the next they’re gone, but there’s one area where you can count on finding them almost year-round, the current-laden water that rushes through the dams of riverine impoundments.

Jimmy Mason with big smallmlouth

I’ve been guiding on Tennessee River impoundments for quite a while now, and have seen new lures and techniques come and go. One that’s here to stay for this moving water is a swimbait. I’ve never caught so many trophy smallmouth bass like the ones in the accompanying pictures as I have on a soft plastic swimbait.

Specifically, I most often use a 5-inch Yum Money Minnow in Foxy Shad color. It perfectly imitates our native forage, the threadfin shad. It is a simple lure and technique, but really catches bass in the kind of current we have in the Tennessee River and the upper reaches of my home waters, Pickwick and Wilson Lakes.

I prefer fishing the swimbait on a ¾-ounce jighead with a weedguard to keep it from snagging. In fact, I’ve been using a Booyah Boo Jig and just removing the skirt. We’ve had abnormally cold water this winter and bass can’t fight heavy current in those temperatures, so they often sit in eddies behind boulders. I bring the swimbait right to the front of the boulder and pop it over, making it sink right on the fish’s nose.

Sure, soft plastic swimbaits have been around for five or six years, but you don’t hear anglers talk much about fishing them in current. Even though it sounds simple, there’s more to being successful than meets the eye.

Smallmouth on the Tennessee River or any big river or tailwaters often scatter out over broad boulder-laden riverbeds. When I’m fishing swimbaits over these areas, I’m not fishing a specific spot. I’m letting the current carry the boat downriver and fishing multiple boulders or the bottom of the run-of-the-river section of the lake. You are fishing multiple low spots, high spots…anything that breaks the current, anything that these fish can pull in behind and set up in a current break.

Current can undermine your presentation if you let it. I like to cast out and, much like I do when I am fishing an umbrella rig, let it “parachute” to the bottom. By that I mean I want to execute a controlled fall. To do this I turn my reel handle only slightly after the bait hits the water. I want that bait nose-down but under control as it falls to the bottom.

As soon as I make bottom contact, I speed up my retrieve. I want to keep it just off the bottom. During the retrieve itself, I want to feel the bait bump bottom three or four times. I don’t want to bang bottom constantly, but I don’t want my bait to swim too far up either, because the fish are using the boulders and pockets for protection from the strong current. Feeling the bait bump three or four times lets me know that I am within a foot of the bottom as we drift.

Boat control

When I’m fishing these areas, I point the boat directly into the current and let it drift while I cast straight out. Keeping the bait in the strike zone during the retrieve is very important, and by casting directly in front of the boat and drifting straight downstream I’m able to fish the swimbait more effectively.

Drifting in this manner, I can pretty much keep my foot off the trolling motor except to adjust the boat position. The objective is to keep the nose of the boat forward, pointed into the current.

I want my bait and my boat moving backwards at the same speed. My casts are all perpendicular to the boat – at a straight 90-degree angle with the craft. I am not throwing upstream. I am not throwing downstream. I want to cast straight out so that my retrieve brings the bait straight back to the boat.

High waters and weighty matters

Big smallmouith caught on a swimbait

As I said, my go-to bait for fishing in the current is the 5-inch YUM Money Minnow, more often than not, in the Foxy Shad color on a ¾-ounce jighead. This past December, however, I fished in heavy current following three or four inches of rain, and conditions forced me to adjust.

Heavier-than-normal current calls for a heavier presentation. In situations like that, I will take a lead slip sinker – say a 5/16-ounce bullet-nose sinker, and put it ahead of the lure. The water is dirty after a heavy rain, and in that faster current the fish get just a quick glimpse of the bait as it rushes past them. The weight and extra bulk doesn’t hurt the presentation at all. It does, however, help me get that swimbait down and working in the fast current.

Gearing up

Fishing across large flats on big rivers and below dams calls for long casts. It requires equipment that not only enables you to make those casts but to set the hook successfully even with all that line and current between you and the fish.

I use a long rod with muscle, a 7′-4″ Dobyns DX in heavy action. It has a good flexible tip that helps you make long casts, but at the same time it has the backbone to drive the hook home even with the heavy diameter wire on my jigheads.

My line choice is 15- to 17-lb fluorocarbon. That fluorocarbon helps me get down in the current better because it sinks, and the low stretch helps me get a good hookset. My reel is a Lew’s Tournament Pro with a 6.4:1 gear ratio. It also aids in casting long distance and the high-speed gear ratio helps me stay in contact with the swimbait.

The Tennessee River and its fabled impoundments have a lot of challenging current areas that are loaded with big smallmouth. Try these tips for rigging and working the Yum Money Minnow for the fast water. When it comes to big smallmouth, I probably catch more 5- and 6-pounders on this bait than on anything else!