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Swim Jigs


Craigums

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Most guys just use 4-5" grubs. Which is what I use most of the time, but have also used craws, frogs, beaver type baits. Options are pretty endless. If fish are negative I will use a trailer with less action.

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Hiya -

Hopefully Deitz will chime in here - I know he uses swim jigs a lot...

Personally, if I can get away with it, I don't use a trailer at all. If fish are active, they woof down the whole thing trailer or not, and a trailer is just something else to monkey with. Bluegills peck at them and are forever pulling them down, and I think I miss more fish with a trailer too.

When I do use a trailer, it's usually a 4" Zoom Fat Albert single tail grub. If I want to fish a little slower, or keep the bait higher at slower speeds, I switch to a double tail grub. If I want more bulk to cast into the wind or just for a bigger bait, but don't want a lot of action, half of a torn-up Yum Dinger works good too.

Lots of guys probably have far more sophisticated theories on this than I do, but I start with no trailer, and see what happens. Simple's good when you're simple-minded smile

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

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I just think you need to reel it too fast when you don't have a trailer on there. And you will make a profile that is easier for the fish to find if you have a trailer. Have not had too many problems with missing fish. If they are not taking it that well, then you need to change trailers or you need to switch colors.

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LOVE swim jigs.. one of my fave things to throw. For me, they just fat out catch fish. And to be honest, I do switch up my trailers quite a bit. However I have not gone without a trailer as RK mentioned..

4-5" Grub

3-4" SwimBait(Castiac Jerky J Swim, MrTwister Sassy Shad) These two I probably use a trailer more than just about anything.

Then also, not even sure the name of them, but the silly long twin tail things that go on the back of most chatterbaits.. they make a VERY nice swim bait trailer, when you want subtle for sure.

Twin Tail grubs at times too, but I rig them sideways(IE, vert) not horiz..

OOOPs forgot to add colors.. I like white, and bluegill colors the most. I am interested in a new color that I will tell you about if it works.. Cecil and I are working on it as we type.. LOL

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I rarely put down a chatter bait in exchange for a swimjig but I also like the bluegill-y colors, white or blue body with a white twister to keep it higher in the water column. "Ten-K" jigs are hands down my favorite jigs 4 this presentation. They can be hard to find but are amazingly tough. They have almost like a V-hull style head and dimples to move more water. Look them up on google. I would also try a sassy shad stye bait as a trailer if you can find a big enough size...or just the back half of a smaller swimbait wink

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Sounds like I need to experiment more with my swim jigs. tried them some last summer with little sucess. Have the the colors of jigs & grubs/split tails mentioned (haven't tried swim baits) so I should be good to go, just need to do some more experimenting.

Thanks for the tips! Any addtional recommendations on what can make a big difference on working them? and times of the season they tend to work better than others?

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Do you guys "pump" or "jig" your swim jigs on the retrieve or do you just reel them straight in like burning a spinnerbait?
I mainly just reel them straight in, but trying to make contact with cover of some sort, bump a stump or dock piling like you would with a shallow crank or spinnerbait, also drop it into pockets occasionally. Just remember majority of the time your fishing with an exposed hook. Its a reaction strike so do what the fish seem to like I guess, experiment wink
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I like to use them late in the summer in the thick lilly pads actually dragging them on the surface until I hit a hole...then I let it fall in the hole for a while and then crank it to the next hole and repeat.

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Trailers I use are from Action Plastics. With lighter colors, I use white, pearl or pearlessenst. With darker colors, I use electric blue, june bug, smoke/ purple flake.

Throw them anywhere. If you are throwing them over wood, pause it after coming over the log. That lets it drop and can cause a strike. Also rip it through grass. Over the top of pads and grass mats like a frog.

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Do you guys "pump" or "jig" your swim jigs on the retrieve or do you just reel them straight in like burning a spinnerbait?

When you are fishing in deeper water a short pause can trigger bits. Trust me smile

I love to fish swim jigs, they are a great search bait with all the weeds we have here in Minnesota. A Berkley chigger craw is a great trailer on one as well. I keep to more natural color, Green Pumpkin is still my go to color. White does seem to work well on river systems as well.

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Hiya -

Bob - I do all sorts of stuff retrieve-wise. Really a versatile bait in that regard. In heavy vegetation, skitter it over the top and drop it into holes. In rushes, pause it when it bumps a stalk - mix it up. Vary retrieve speed too. Swimming jigs have about the widest retrieve speed range of any bait I can think of. Wide range of speeds and the ability to fish vertically or horizontally on the same cast, and you have a pretty versatile tool.

One thing I do with them (something I carried over from fishing bucktails for muskies) is to 'pulse' the reel handle during the retrieve. What I mean by that is - gah - how to explain this...

Imagine that the reel handle is a clock face, so you're cranking the handle clockwise. To pulse the bait, make the 12 to 6 portion of each revolution (or every other, third or fourth - whatever) half again as fast as the portion from 6 to 12. The jig will kind of jitter and scoot ahead, then stall a little when you slow down for the back half of each revolution. The skirt fluffs up (who doesn't like a skirt fluffin' up smile ) and the trailer will do a little stutter-step... Can be a great trigger, it's easy to do, and you can do it at any retrieve speed from slow rolling to scorching it across the weed tops. Especially when fish are following the things (which they seem to do for some reason) it can really kick.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

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RBG - Great question on rods. I'm curious to hear others' takes on that myself. I'm still not satisfied that I have the right answer there. I'm using a 7' MH fast action, and I think there might be better options.

I'd add line choice to the question too. When I first started using these things I thought braid was going to be the obvious choice, but I missed a ton of fish using braid - I'm pretty sure I was pulling it away from them. (I know, I know...wait until you feel them... I drink a lot of coffee, OK? I'm jumpy. smile ) I missed far fewer using Copoly or Mono. This summer I think I'm going to try #20 fluoro.

One more thing to add to the discussion - pike bloody love swim jigs. When I first started using them I was losing tons of them to bite-offs. Add a 4-inch leader of flexible, knotable wire like Cortland's Toothy Critter. Bass don't seem to care in the least and you won't get bit off much at all, if ever. Connect the wire to your main line with back to back uni-knots. 4 wraps on the main line, 3 on the wire. Keeps ya from going broke buying jigs.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

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Swim Jigs are a reaction bait so I've never really had to "set the hook" with a swim jig, the fish hook themselves. I throw a swim jig on braid and braid only, cause I'm using them around pads,wood,grass and whatever else would be around. I'm using a MH,7' Avid with 30lb power pro.

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Like Greg said. A swim jig is a reaction bite. I use a 7' Med Fast action and a Med/Heavy Fast action. I always throw a swim jig on 30# Power Pro. Clear lakes, stained or river. The fish are not going to see the line. They are focusing on the bait.

It is right that the Swim Jig is one of the most versitile baits out there. Throw it anywhere, any time. I have one on the deck everytime I fish no matter what time of year.

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I use the same set up as Champ, except for I use a M action instead of MH. I do this for the exact reason that RK mentioned, I didn't want to pull the bait away from the fish.

I'll note here that the M Avid I use if of older model. I got my hands on the new model with IPC technology, and the new model is not nearly as stiff. I played around with the MH, and it seems to be more like the old M's, maybe a tad stiffer. So one could probably get away with the MH newer model.

I'm going to look into getting a 4S710HM (LTBC710HM stock number) to use. 7'10" is a bit much, and I'm not sure if I could trim it down to 7'3" or so and still get the same action I want. I've handled the blank and really like the action. I'll to get my hands on a LTBC76MHMF and see if that would work. I like the power in the back bone and length, but want that moderate action so to no pull the bait away or out.

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