Swim Jig Fishing! All The Tricks No One Is Talking About For Bass Fishing!

hey guys Matt Allen here welcome back to Tactical bass and today we're talking everything you need to know about swim jigs [Music] fishing a swim Jig Is An Awesome technique if you haven't tried it it's definitely something you should give a try this spring it has all the same benefits as fishing a swim bait both a big swim bait and a finesse swimbait uh it gives you that full profile gives you that great tail kick really natural movement in the water but it packs in a bunch of extra things too the biggest of which is secondary movement right because a swim jig has a skirt on it so when done properly that skirt will move and pulsate in the water and add secondary movement secondary movement is something that real fish have that swim baits do not right a swim bait has this big tail kick a real fish in the water has its tail kicking its fins moving it's gills opening and closing scales glistening all of those extra things that's secondary movement that a typical swimbait cannot imitate a swim jig stands in that Gap it gives you great movement great profile it also gives you secondary movement that imitates those other things it's also a more weedless option and it typically will have a better hook up to land ratio than a bear swim bait will because that weed guard will provide back pressure and hold the hook in place there are a lot of reasons to throw a swim jig that said not all swim jigs are created equal what I want to do today is simplify it for you but as I say that I have six options sitting here that I want to talk to you about but they're all for different scenarios it's not that you need all of these baits or all of these trailers it's about listening to what different swim jigs are for and finding the one I'll describe them you find the one that best fits the way that you fish or the places you fish and then just take that one or those two and run with it because it really can be a very simple technique swim jigging is not complicated now there are a lot of subtle things you'll find people that will talk about the Alabama Shake you'll find people that fish 50 different crawdad trailers on the back of swim jigs all sorts of different things if if you want to learn about those things I'm not your guy I fish swim jigs with swim baits on the back of them you could put a period on the end of that a fishing with swimbaits I really don't do much of that other stuff almost never I mean 99 I fish a swim jig with a swim bait on the back but it's all about pairing the right bait the right trailer the right swimbait to the right head for the job and today I'm going to teach you how to do that let me give you just a quick bit of History because I feel very strongly uh that I can speak boldly on the subject matter of a swim jig and here's why some of you know this many of you don't this is the dirty jigs California Swim jig see that giant heavy hook in there it's called a no Jack hook Kurt the previous owner of dirty Jigs and myself came together and built I'm dating myself here the first heavy wire swim jig ever on the market swim jigs used to be done with medium and light wire Hooks and there's great situations for those but we're gonna get to that but no one had a true heavy wire swim jig fact check me on this we literally built the first one ever now there are dozens of companies that make them but that all followed suit and came later we filled a niche and the reason why was Kurt a good friend of mine wanted me to throw swim Jigs and it was on the California delta and I kept bending them out on giant fish and just we kept going back and forth I need a stronger swim jig he still needs it to do different things we went back and forth and ultimately designed the California Swim jig the first heavy wire swim jig ever made and that changed the course of things and that history is important because you want to know how we got here in the first place I mean take Paul Elias right we're going back to the 80s if Paul Elias in a classic in the 80s had not decided to get down on his knees and kneel and reel a crank bait all the way through that entire tournament and win the Bassmaster Classic no deep diving crankbaits would exist today the fact that he had to get down and stick a rod in the water and reel to get a few more feet out of his crankbait created the need for deep diving crankbaits right that's how the industry progresses so I'm very proud of the fact that we built the first heavy wire swim jig because from that has come an entire category and something that should be in almost every boat today all right let me jump down off of my soapbox we'll quit the history lesson uh but I wanted to give you a little bit of background because I have very strong opinions about swim jigs but they're founded in facts they're founded in decades on the water throwing swim jigs so first off I want to talk heavy wire heavy hook style swim Jigs and I've got three of those for you then we'll talk finesse swim jigs to wrap this thing up okay now as I describe these heads because right now I'm just talking baits but as I start to talk about the heads you're going to understand how to use them where to use them see a swim Jig Is All About profile and getting fish to commit a swim jig because of its weedless nature can be fished virtually anywhere you can fish it in laid down trees when the water's up you can fish it in and around grass a lot of baits need to be fished around grass right you fish the lanes through grass in the spring and the summer and the fall a swim jig can go right in there and plow through grass we're going to get to that but again understanding the different styles is everything so a heavy wire swim jig pretty self-explanatory it has everything to do with catching big ones you don't want to hook a giant fish on a swim jig and get bent out I've lived that over and over and over again that's how we developed the California Swim jig this is a California Swim jig this is a dirty jigs swim jig and this is a no Jack swim jig okay let me start with a swim jig and a no Jack swim jig a swim jig well here let's flip it this way first they both have the same head okay swim jig no Jack swim jig see that rounded but pointed head these swim jigs are designed for catching big fish in heavy cover I I love to throw them I throw both of them a ton when I'm in Florida fishing those grass Flats sometimes I'll be using them fishing over the top of hydrilla or fishing lanes and hydrilla or bumping through hydrilla sometimes I'll take them in those giant Reed fields and just throw them back in that stuff and just work them through steady reel and they'll just hunt and move and bump their way through again I said it again steady reel I don't do any of that Rod shaking I don't do any of that stuff I believe very firmly that if you pair the right trailers to the right bait you don't have to do any of that the vast majority of people that are doing it are using trailers that don't give the bait enough action on their own but the right trailers exist and we will get there so you've got this style of head which is fantastic for cutting through grass okay so these are the most weedless now the difference between a swim jig and a no Jack swim jig I actually told you the wrong one was the wrong one the Shad one that's the swim jig the black and blue that's the no Jack Swing jig now that I'm looking at my hooks that's how similar they are they're literally identical the difference even the size of the hook is the same the difference is the wire thickness of the hook the no Jack is significantly thicker than a standard swim jig significantly stronger than a standard swim jig now I throw a standard swim jig a ton a ton the reason why is I don't need quite as heavy a line to set it so as you're deciding between a standard swim jig and a no Jack hook here's what you need to decide do you throw your swim jig in places where visibility is an issue I.E I might be throwing it on 50 to 65 pound braid but I'm probably using somewhere between a 15 to 20 to 25 pound mono or fluoro leader because of visibility if visibility is an issue you throw the swim jig if visibility is no issue whatsoever you're not using a leader straight braid all the way in the thick stuff in the jungle that's how you fish no Jack all the way it's that easy to decide okay so one head shape two hook sizes next we come to the California Swim jig totally different head shape still pointed still pointed that's to split grass but nowhere near as smooth as the standard swim jig or a no-jack swim jig that is because I want the California Swim jig to catch in the grass completely different animal again no Jack Cook in this one also so exact same hook as the no Jack swim jig but the California Swim jig we designed this as a grass busting swim jig it will go where no other bait will go except maybe a punch rig but a punch rig is going down and back up this is coming through so here's the difference because there's a time and a place for a swim jig there's a time and a place for a California Swim jig here's how I decide if I'm trying to fish over the tops of the junk I'll fish a swim jig if I'm trying to split thules like weave through thule's Reeds bulrushes Cattails whatever you want to call it because these baits are so weedless that you can literally send that bait back there out of sight right take a swimbait profile throw it out of sight in the Reeds hold that Rod tip up and start a steady retrieve and it will find its way back to you it's amazing how weedless these things are so if you're in that situation swim jig if you're fishing the lanes in the grass and you just you might catch here and there but you want to get right through it swim jig needle grass the little tiny that's what I call it the little tiny guys that stick up out of the water and you want to weave through that swim jig here's the California Swim jig if there's hydrilla mats and instead of wanting to go around them or over them you want to go through them California Swim jig here's the deal you take a half to a three-quarter ounce California Swim jig the grass clumps I'm I'm thinking late spring early summer that grass starts getting thick right you get clumps on the outsides you get these huge mats of grass but on the outside it starts breaking up into individual clumps we all know or you're finding out right now that the Giants often take the outermost clumps the higher the Sun the better when the sun is low those fish will come out of those clumps and they'll Patrol they'll hunt they'll do their thing but when the sun gets high they suck right inside those grass clumps the farthest out grass clumps they'll be in them no other bait goes in there again except for a punch rake it comes down vertically a guy throwing a crankbait he's running the outside guy throwing a spinner bait outside or over the top guy fishing topwater he's fishing nearby it the guy who's worm and can't get inside he's just fishing around the edges you take a California Swim jig you throw it right over the center of the clump you swim it right up in there until it gets hung up and when it gets hung up you hit it hard hard and down into the side and you bust that grass clump these fish see a thousand baits they never see a bait come right into their house and rip a hole through it it is a completely different presentation the amount of giant fish I have caught while busting clumps of grass with a California Swim jig off the charts it is such a deadly technique again I throw any more I used to only throw a California Swim jig it took me years to find the value in a swim jig in a no-jack swim jig these days I throw a standard swim jig the most because I fish a lot of places where I'm winding through cover a lot of like Shoreline grasses and I'm just winding through it but when I see those grass clumps the California Swim jig designed a long time ago is still incredibly unique and so special today now we understand the jigs let's talk trailers for these big swim baits are for these big uh swim jigs I basically have three trailers that I use uh no particular order so gambler The Gambler easy not The Big Easy The Gambler easy the easy swimmer I used two colors I use Gold Rush which actually there's they're on baits already this is Gold Rush it's like a June bug and a green pumpkin with green and gold glitter in it it's an amazing bluegill profile completer okay so if I want a bluegill profile you know like an Alabama Brim I'll put that on the back of it that gold rush it just fills out that profile the other one is that black shadow that's that black and blue and I love that I mean I love it on the back of a black and blue swim jig be that a California Swim jig a standard swim jig doesn't matter these full profile swim jigs that black and blue on the back is a fantastic bait now the deal with swim baits is it's very difficult to find baits that move your swim jig properly the kitech standard kitech 4.8 I've I will be the first to admit I've caught a pile of swim jig fish with a kitech and some big ones but I'm telling you right now that wide tail kick that it has is not the best profile for a swim jig I'm not saying it won't work in some situations it will I've done it countless times I've caught a lot of fish doing it because I didn't come out prepared and I'm trying to piece something together in my boat I grab a kitech and I've got them with me and I do catch fish on it it will work but it is not your best scenario the three again the first one that I really like is that Gambler I throw that in Florida a lot why do I throw it in Florida because when you're in Florida everybody tells you to throw Gambler if you don't throw a gambler you're wasting your time well I spent a bunch of time trying to prove that wrong and now I throw a gambler how about that it's that easy seriously when I'm in when I'm in Florida I throw those profiles a lot easy swimmer in one of those two colors that's what I use that for next one this is the XOne swamer the 5.5 they call it the mega swammer but it's just the 5.5 swammer but I don't use the entire bait I cut it about there I leave just the front part of that head section in there let me rip it about like that okay I started using this one this year and I love it it's a great great swim bait yeah this is the green pumpkin blue and again it pairs beautifully to any of my bluegill profiles or bluegill colors I mean it looks good I pounded them on this color this year this color this bait the value of the swammer so the Gambler is a very durable bait it's reliable it just catches them I can't explain the whole Gambler Florida thing it is a thing those fish eat it outside of that the swimmer the benefit of the swamer is that this swim bait has a ton of body roll a ton of rock okay and in the 5.5 when I shorten it up even up to like a half ounce swim jig it will still really get that body rocking because what you're going for here are swim baits that will cause your bait to roll or will cause your skirt to pulse either way you're getting the secondary action so the swamer and again the particular one that I've really liked is that green pumpkin blue has worked really well for me with my bluegill profiles the other one this is my my standout number one favorite big swim jig trailer this is a river to see D Walker specifically the D Walker 120 that's the bigger one the D Walker it's a large profile on a swim jig right nothing small about it this bait is super durable it's made out of a very rigid plastic it has a ton of movement when you see this bait by itself on a swimbait hook I mean it's it's rocking this way it's rocking this way it has so much movement it's incredible when you put that onto a swim jig same deal it's rocking it's rolling tons of movement that skirt is working it's incredible it pushes so hard that you I won't even fish it on a 3 8 on a 3 8 it's too much movement it messes it up but for a half to a three-quarter a half 5 8 3 4 ounce swim jig anywhere in there that bait is the deal that D Walker will get that entire bait pumping and moving on its own again the value here is that you can take those baits and instead of doing this stuff while you're trying to reel and driving yourself crazy all day long yes that's it the only time you're even gonna see me pop it is to clear it of grass I get it hung up and grass I pop it free that's it so much easier on you all day long and the fish catching goes up the profile is right the movement is right it's super natural in the water and the fish blast it the only other heavier profiled swim jig that I'll use this is the Mega bass uoze swimmer the only time I pull this one out the big difference here hook wise similar wire to the dirty jig swim jig but a size smaller but what makes this jig stand out is that it's got a blade on it it's an under spin so that guy I'm gaining the benefits of a swim bait the benefits of a swim jig and the benefits of an underspin sometimes water's clearer but I get that afternoon Chop on the water that blade will make a difference so anytime I'm swim jigging I have this Jewels a swimmer with me either in a Shad or a bluegill profile depending on what I'm after because the benefit of another benefit of a swim Jig Is that profile matches better to some Bait fish than a standard swimbait like a 2.8 kitec looks like every little tiny minnow in a lake right it just does does a fantastic job but it's a terrible imitator of a baby bluegill baby bluegiller taller so are thread fin Shad gizzard Shad shiners those are all larger taller profiles a swim jig in the water working properly if you put the wrong trailer on it it all goes away that swim jig comes through the water that skirt lays down flat like this it sucks down to the bait and he's got a paddle tail just like any other swim bait but when you do it right that skirt puffs up you get a full profile out of it it's a much better profile a much better shape to imitate Shad shiners and bluegill larger panfish so again it's just that one more thing that makes it stand out from the crab that makes it even more natural even more realistic and then when you get that Chop on the water that blade can make a difference so far huge subject we've narrowed it down to just a handful of Jigs and literally three trailers I think we're doing pretty good so far now I want to talk finesse swim jigs that's the other end of the spectrum even better here two baits two trailers that's it if you saw how this started I mean my experimenting over the years of swim jigs is just boxes stacking up right I have tried it all not all jigs are created equal some have garbage hooks some don't have the right head shapes where the head shape won't come through the grass it'll hang up in the grass or it'll hang up it'll come through grass but it'll hang up in Timber right there's all these different things that come into one bait being better than another but the biggest thing for me is a bait that gets that incredible secondary movement and that starts with the right jig and ends with the right trailer the right swimbait so talking finesse there's a time and a place to swim jig with lighter wire hooks right clear water uh parts of the country that have smaller fish pond fishing fishing almost anywhere in the entire Midwest fishing Highland reservoirs fishing lowland reservoirs but they have smaller fish in them fishing spotted bass chasing Smallmouth because not every Smallmouth is in crystal clear water in the Great Lakes right some Smallmouth live in muddy water some Smallmouth live in places full of cover but there's a time and a place for those smaller profiles and lighter wire hooks this so I've narrowed it down to two and I'm very specific about these two if you're going to try them trust me on the components keep them paired up because if you take this trailer put it on this swim jig doesn't work and vice versa okay this is a dirty jigs finesse swim jig notice how thin the skirt is compared to the others way thinner skirt it's because they take out all the inner strands so it's only half of the Strand see all the inside strands are gone there's none there it's just the outer strands the result is that it puffs up even better if you pair it to the right bait I've got this guy paired up to a 3.5 storm Largo shed not the three not the four the 3.5 just trust me on this that exact pairing it doesn't matter which weight you go with on the swim jig okay because this is on one of the lightest weights and it's still a dream this pairing that Largo Shad I leave the little piece of plastic here at the tail because you can take that out to mute the action don't do that leave it in this pairing I would argue is the best swimming swim jig I have ever seen period it's incredible uh now it's lighter wire it's actually the exact same hook that's in the Finesse football jigs that we like to fish all winter so I would typically pair this up with 10 to 12 pound line I mean you can throw a heavier line but you don't want to pull on them any harder or you'll bend that hook out but 10 to 12 pound line fighting one to five pound fish you are good to go this profile the skirt is standing out away from the swimbait and the entire skirt is working while that swim bait is back there doing its thing this is the finest example of the right jig paired to the right swimbait creating perfect perfect secondary action that I've ever come across now how do I follow that up right check this one out this is the missile baits mini swim jig this little mini has a heavy wire hook it's just small so you can throw it on 10 12 pound line but you could also throw it on 15 to 17 pound line right you can actually lean into them because it's still a stout hook even though it's small so you're creating smaller profile so in my mind I'm thinking smaller thread fin Shad up in the grass that's my bait uh targeting bass that are really shallow eating baby bluegill that's my bait because this isn't always the right size to imitate a bluegill sometimes you need a smaller size to imitate little bluegill it's just a downsized profile but still heavy wire this bait has a thin cut skirt to the wrong trailer a thin cut skirt has no body to it meaning it's less rigid on its own so it's just going to glue down to the swimbait and have no action in the water this is a swim jig now with the wrong trailer you would have to shake to get it to work but paired to the right trailer this is an XOne swammer that's the electric Shad color but that's the 3.5 not the four the 3.5 that missile mini swim jig paired to a 3.5 swammer again is remarkable remarkable where the dirty jigs finesse swim jig has that perfect pulsing skirt better than I've ever seen before this one has the best rock that I've seen out of any small profile swim jig the skirt will get going and the head will rock when when I'm throwing it out there and winding it back I can see the weed guard right because the weed Guard from above looks White I can see the weed guard coming at me through the water rocking left and right the action is primo either one of these you cannot go wrong they're fantastic profiles and they are fish catchers so I think that that is probably the fastest I've ever plowed through the swim jig subject and the least number of baits we've had to talk about I really over the years just continue to narrow down and narrow down and narrow down and try and find very specifically the right trailer for The Right jig for the right situation so what you need to decide is if you need a full-size swim jig or a finesse swim jig that's your first decision after you've decided that you need to decide how you fish it around cover is this a bait that you're throwing through edges of wood up on the shoreline is this a bait that's just coming through Shoreline grass are you fishing in a place where busting hydrilla makes sense to you are you fish in a place where you're fan casting around scattered Reeds or thick Reeds that's how you're going to decide the right swim bait or excuse me the right swim jig head and then after that it's just pairing it right up to one of the better swim bait options it really is that simple so a handful of baits or a handful of swim jigs a handful of swimbait trailers but you don't need them all take the ones that fit you best and again in the video description I'll link the exact baits the exact jigs my favorite size my favorite colors you know like really good chat imitator like tactical Shad that's one we designed years ago yeah the right color for a bluegill imitator right I'll give you a couple of options for each one um and then the right swim baits as well I'll give you my favorite colors and the exact sizes for those swim baits too the last piece of the puzzle is the rod and rods are very specific for this uh I I didn't even bring my rods with me I forgot them uh but the Finesse swim jigs you could throw that on almost anything right you could throw that on a from a seven foot medium or medium heavy up to like a seven five medium or medium heavy you can even go down like a 610 honestly um you can fish it on almost anything you can fish it on straight floral if you're on Clear Water you could fish it on braid to leader if you've got cover in the water and and even this one I mean you can fish this guy with that stouter hook on straight braid no problem so not a big deal for the Finesse swim jigs for the standard swim jigs that's a different deal so like the USA swimmer or a standard swim jig I'm going to fish those on the mega bass Braille list that's my rod it's my jig Rod right you all know that that is my favorite jig rod um that is also my favorite swim jig rod for all the same reasons uh it loads really well through the midsection one it's sensitive two it loads really well through the midsection and as a result when I load up on those fish I hit that backbone I stick them but that Rod is actually bowed up on them really good and it's very hard for those fish to throw it a standard jig on the bottom swim jig up in the water column doesn't matter the way I fight the fish is the same so hands down that megabass brailless is my favorite rod to fish a swim jig the one other is if you're throwing a no Jack swim jig or a California Swim jig I finally found a favorite rod for that because I'm always trying and for two years now I've been using the same rod for it and I'm so happy with it I've caught countless fish hook up to land ratio is really good now I'm talking either fishing like 25 pound leader or fishing straight 65 pound braid right true power fishing hitting them as hard as I can winching them out of cover flipping those fish into the boat true heavy duty power fishing the right rod for the job is the Shimano X Pride the 76 extra heavy I have not found a better Rod than that for winch in those fish that Rod has well I mean it's an x-pride right so the price is right and for the price you get a rod that's like featherweight it weighs nothing and it's super sensitive and then that extra heavy I mean it's a pool cue when you go to hit them you break those fish you hit them hard which is the right thing when you're trying to horse big ones out of and from a round cover so again I'll link those rods and the reels in the line everything I use in the video description as well but I hope this helps you it is a subject I'm very passionate about it's one of the few things in bass fishing that I feel some ownership of right uh I think it's really neat that we designed a bait to fit a niche for me I needed a stronger swim jig and it has opened up over the years into an entire category that basically every major company has taken a piece of I think that's awesome but the swim jig is a remarkable bait it will help you catch more fish in a lot of situations and if you haven't tried it you should add it to the Arsenal if you enjoyed the video hit the like button subscribe to the channel and we'll talk to you soon [Music] thank you

Channel: TacticalBassin

Views: 147,136

Keywords: fishing, bass fishing, fishing tips, swim jig, swimjig, swimming a jig, how to swim a jig, jig fishing, bass jig, jigs for bass, jig fishing tips, beginner jig fishing, jig fishing for beginners, jig fishing for bass, jig trailer, beginner fishing, Dirty jigs, California swim jig, No jack swim jig, coosa swim jig, finesse swim jig, D walker, xzone, swammer, best swim jig, Spring fishing, Spring bass fishing, prespawn, bass fishing tips, tactical bassin, tacticalbassin

Id: Fm8_C82pHmA

Length: 37min 14sec (2234 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 21 2023