Bass Buck -n- Bird Hunter

How to Swim Bass jigs

Ask an angler to deviate from the norm of bouncing a bass jig on the bottom of the lake or pond will often receive a bewildered if not defiant look.

The bass angler has been taught to feel the bottom with the jig, not to swim the bass jig. But if they ever feel a largemouth take hold of a jig that is being retrieved with a swim, and he'll change his mind. I have taken many a bass by the swimming technique in muddy and shallow water.

Use a dark colored bass jig with a rubber skirt and a pork frog and cast it past a log, a stump or other such cover. Before the jig hits the bottom Start twitching it with your rod tip raised, and swim the lure over the cover in that manner. You might recognize this as a method of fishing spinnerbaits. But this technique will often catch bass when the spinnerbait fails. It maybe because the largemouth does'nt like the blade of the spinnerbait, and the swimming bass jig is less intimidating.

Swimming the bass jig will prevent sediment from being stirred up on the bottom of the lake or pond as well. While disturbing the sediment up will sometimes get the largemouth's attention, this is not always good when the fish are skittish and slow to strike.

Use lighter jigs in shallow water, they will sink slower and allow you to swim the bass jig slower. This will help you entice the bass to strike more than a heavier weight jig. I trim the head of a 1/4 ounce jig down to about 1/8-ounce with diagonal cutters, because the 1/8-ounce size jigs normally have hooks that are too small for full sized pork frogs. Then repaint the jig head.

A large pork frog with good buoyancy will further help decrease the speed that the bass jig sinks. This should help you wake the water surface when swimming the jig which often leads to some hard hitting topwater strikes from largemouth bass.

Swimming is also a good tactic when fishing structures in deeper water. Use a 3/8- to 5/8-ounce jig and let it sink to the bottom. Then retrieve by swimming it for a few feet then let it touch the bottom again. Repeat this until you have retrieved the bass jig completely. Letting the jig touch bottom keeps it deep, but makes most of the retrieve a swim.

When the lake or pond is clear, remove the rubber skirt from the bass jig and use a fat or double tailed grub. Some grubs come with a skirt molded into them, with or without the skirt, they are killer on clear water largemouth.

Also try the grub on a jig over deep slopping gravel or rock covered lake and pond bottoms. Cast long and let the bass jig sink to the depth you want, then retrieve it in the same manner as a crankbait. This technique works great in clear water where the wiggling action of a crankbait keeps largemouth from striking your lure. For a little less action when using this method, use a tube jig rather than a grub. The swimming tube will mimic the natural action of a minnow.