Fishing Lilly Pads in northern waters if I'm not using a drop bait will go to a frog or spinner bait.

Want to try swim jigs this year in the pads.

In the past if I used a swim jig I would fish the coontail and cabbage on the outside edge of the pads and my swim jigs range from 5/16 to 1/2 oz with relatively heavy hooks on bullet head shape .

There are bullet head swim jigs, and heads that are some what like a blunted arrow point and other shapes.

Also, some will have small fine hooks that appear to be 1/0 or 2/0 and others with heavier 3/0 or 4/0 hooks.

For fishing over pads where one is crawling the bait over the pads and then letting it drop down what type of swim jig and/or brand seems to work thru the pads the best. And what weight predominates. I would assume to get the jig to drop a typical weight would be around 3/8oz?

Does any one particular head style avoid getting hung up on the pads?

Thanks for any suggestions.

I don't have any experience fishing swim jigs through pads, but I would think you would want a heavy gauge hook. Another consideration would be the trailer. I could see something like a Kalins grub getting the tail caught on the pads as it goes over them. A paddle tail style trailer might work better. I like the bullet shape heads on my swim jigs because I feel like they come through cover better than other styles. I use both Brovarney and Yank'em swim jigs.

stick with an angled or bullet shaped head it will be the best for that.  I usually throw 1/2-3/4 in lilly pads that are not real thick.  Real light pads 3/8-1/2.

Stick with a heavy hook imo.  The reason is if you get a good fish and it gets you into the pads you will be hauling 5lbs of fish and 5-10 lbs of lillies in.  Dont want to bend out a lite wire.

Check out ***s store. I just got some and they are top-notch.

http://www.***store.com/

Scroll down the left side until you see jigs and swimming jigs.

Im orginally from michigan but moved from there 3 yrs ago cuz of the military. but i have found one of the best way to fish jigs in pads is bring the jig on top of the pads just like a frog but wait for the bass to bust on it if he misses pull it right into the hole and 9 times outta ten he will nail it. caught alot of fish doing this. we used to use small finesse jigs black and blue wiht black trailer.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. The swim jigs I currently use range from 5/16 oz to 1/2 oz. They have bullet heads and a vertical line tie. They have strong hooks ranging from 3/0 - 5/0

I had seen the swim jigs from ***s store and had read his article which made me think that the bullet head style may not be the best for a swim jig. And in my area the tackle stores are promoting small light swim jigs with small light hooks.

Based on the above comments it appears that a bullet head style will do just fine. As I have about 30 jigs left from my original tying I believe I will use those up before trying another style. But, I am intrigued by the style of the head of ***'s swim jigs.

While it might seem strange especially because I've fished pads on my trips to Minnesota for forty + years I've never cast swim jigs into anything but really sparse pads up north or swimming them over thru coontail or cabbage out from pads. I fish drop baits, senkos, frogs or spinner baits in pads.

That will change this year!

Check out Dirty Jigs Tackle, this past year I started tossing swim jigs and these were the best I found. I didn't manage any fish over 5lbs, but had a few 3's and 4's. Definitely a fun bait to throw!

I haven't had much luck fishing swim jigs in the middle of MN lily pads. I've found that, when I get snagged, they snag hard. Sometimes I'll actually hook a stalk right through but, more often, I'll get caught where the stalk meets the pad when the line was riding up one side & the jig was on the other. They're super strong plants and you can easily spoil the whole area trying to get your jig back.

You've been fishing MN for a while, so you've probably heard of Outkast swim jigs. Check out their design. I throw Super K jigs though. It's a guy named Gregg, in Western WI, and he makes sweet swim jigs. Both use very smooth, simple, bullet heads. 1/4 oz. is the usual and the hook is big and sturdy.

http://www.superkfishing.com/2.html

Thanks for all the info. Lots of pads here, so this should help me catch a few more bass this summer.

Here's one from a company in Minnesota: http://www.***.com/descpageATJ-ATTSJ.html