I was just wondering, I know you can fish jigs pretty much year around. My question is this, is spring time the time for the swing jig to come out? I have never fished the swim jig before. Thanks for your replies.

Year round. Anytime the bass want to eat a bluegill or shad and are in cover that a jig would fish well is the time to throw one.

I have tons of grass here and the swim jig and grass just go together.

Absolutely. Vegetation will be emerging and the bass will be moving shallow. If the water is flat a swim jig can out produce a spinnerbait. I run a Sieberts in a bluegill or green pumpkin with a craw trailer for that reason. Black- blue will also get some innings in.

Edited March 13Mar 13 by Columbia Craw
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Absolutely. A jig has no calendar, no water temperature, no time of the year. You can catch them on any kinda jig just about anytime of the year. Probably my favorite lure ever. Throw to cover, grass. Swim it slow or fast. Hope it whatever it takes to get them to bite.

49 minutes ago, Justbass11 said:

I was just wondering, I know you can fish jigs pretty much year around. My question is this, is spring time the time for the swing jig to come out? I have never fished the swim jig before. Thanks for your replies.

Absolutely. Just about all the lakes and ponds around here are millponds. They're rarely an average depth of over 3.5', with very little hard bottom and or rock. The most abundant cover is either submerged tree stumps, or lily roots. The big fields of lily roots serve as excellent cover for late winter and prespawn bass.

Prior to the pads growing in too thick, I find bouncing cranks and chatterbaits through the roots to be fun and very effective. Some of the flatside/subtle cranks I use early and chatterbaits I use early have a hard time coming through the roots. A swim is one of the few baits that can get through the tangles of roots without sinking a hook into them. The roots are so hard that once a hook gets buried it can be really dificult to get out. You can always run the boat into the pads, but that blows the area out and the fish will shutdown for quite a while.

Ill also use a swimjig when the conditions are too calm and clear for a bladed jig/spinnerbait .

They also work really when after the pads get too thick for other baits.

The type of jig matters too IMO. I want a jig with a stout brushguard and a hook that isnt gigantic, so that it wont snag as much if it rolls over a root. If I could fit a heavier brushguard into Beasts Coasts working man swim jig, I would go with that, but until I figure that out, Greenfishs' Swim Jig is my go to.

A swim jig is the 4x4 of the tackle world. Can be used for darn near everything. The real magic comes from three things.

1. A swim jig can be fished high/ low/ middle of the water column with ease. It can be fished fast slow medium or dead sticked. It can be fished like a traditional jig, swam, vertical jigged anything.

2. A swim jig can be used with literally any soft plastic trailer to suit your needs. From paddletails to craws and worms the right trailer can produce anytime, anywhere.

3. Colors. There is a trailer and jig in every color known to man and and the possibilities of color combo are endless.

I'm a swim jig fan. My lake is all rock, no grass, and I always have one or two tied on with shad or craw type trailers. Since I discovered Siebert's swim jigs, they are all I use; huge selection, made to order, high quality.

When I first got into bass fishing, only about 6 years ago, I had no confidence in a swim jig, or any type of jig really. Now it’s one of my favorites. And you can swim any jig, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a specific swim style jig.

The bass doesn’t know the difference.

I like to swim a jig in the spring. It works year round but it works really well in the spring and the fall when they’re feeding up shallow.

I think of swim jig and lipless and square bill and spinnerbait and bladed jig and even buzzbait to some degree as interchangeable horizontal approaches that appeal to fish at different times / during different conditions.

A swim jig to me is sort of the finesse version of a buzzbait or a bladed jig or a spinnerbait - as such - I fish it accordingly.

I will throw a swim jig when conditions or the cover they’re holding in are pointing to one of those more aggressive and flashy baits - but for whatever reason - maybe water is too clear, maybe they seen too many spinnerbaits, maybe they want something bulging but not breaking the surface etc - I will pick a swim jig and start throwing it in the areas those other baits should be working and often times it will work.

I actually throw a swim jig more than any of those other baits and it’s mainly because I can also flip and drag a swim jig and get bites.

It’s just another way to fish any jig - you don’t need to worry about the design of the jig.

I have used a swim jig spring, summer, and fall here in MN and they worked well.

15 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I like to swim a jig in the spring. It works year round but it works really well in the spring and the fall when they’re feeding up shallow.

I think of swim jig and lipless and square bill and spinnerbait and bladed jig and even buzzbait to some degree as interchangeable horizontal approaches that appeal to fish at different times / during different conditions.

A swim jig to me is sort of the finesse version of a buzzbait or a bladed jig or a spinnerbait - as such - I fish it accordingly.

I will throw a swim jig when conditions or the cover they’re holding in are pointing to one of those more aggressive and flashy baits - but for whatever reason - maybe water is too clear, maybe they seen too many spinnerbaits, maybe they want something bulging but not breaking the surface etc - I will pick a swim jig and start throwing it in the areas those other baits should be working and often times it will work.

I actually throw a swim jig more than any of those other baits and it’s mainly because I can also flip and drag a swim jig and get bites.

It’s just another way to fish any jig - you don’t need to worry about the design of the jig.

This may be the best thing I’ve read today. And is spot on.

I also swim free rigs and t rigs - same exact thing as swimming a jig or worm or small soft swim bait.

Bass will sometimes attack a thing moving horizontally better than something falling and rising or sitting still.

Until you said that @Pat Brown i never thought about it. But siting here thinking I swim the crap out of a Texas rig lol. Free rig is a game that’s gonna be played this year

I have pretty much stopped throwing swim jigs completely. I have probably the worst hook up ratio compared to any other lure. I have far more confidence with other moving baits.

The lakes and ponds I fish are loaded with vegation and debris. The swim jig fits the bill for me, except when I catch an occansional tree. This is the one I have been using https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Dirty_Jigs_Finesse_Swim_Jig/descpage-DJFISWJ.html?from=basres

You can bring a swim jig through almost any type of cover. This time of year I fish them in the lily pads before they start growing.

Deep summer, I bring swim-jigs through heavy milfoil....they really are "all-terrain" lures.

I have found swimming most effective when water temps reaching near 60°, similar to topwater. I’m referring to swimming, continuous, slow. Nowadays, stroking a jig can be seen as swimming too.

I fish a lot of clear water and prefer sparse skirts and lighter hooks.  You will benefit from a little wind when the water is clear.  Line tie angles can influence presentation.

You can also throw a quarter ounce swim jig into grass edges, let it sit and rip it out like a trap.  This can be very effective.

Tom Monsoor made this technique popular 20-25 years ago.  You should be able to google some of his advice about this technique.  He’s probably the best at swimming a jig, even as an older man.

Tom Monsoor and Tom (RIP WRB) from bass resource are both advocates of SUPER long casts and very carefully manicured skirts and padde tail trailers and when a fish gets it way out there - Hookset mechanics become incredibly important. You will not be able to quickly snap the rod over your shoulder with enough force to move the hook - when you feel a fish take the jig - point the rod at the bait and reel as fast as you can and the instant you feel that fish - while continuing to reel fast - pull firmly into the weight of the fish - it is EXTREMELY important for this all to work to reel fast the whole time - this drives the hook home and this ensures that all slack is kept out of your line throughout the Hookset.

Tom Monsoor just says “just keep reeling when you feel the fish”. That is not a bad move with the right hook - that being a lighter wire hook with minimal weedguard.

For most heavy cover swim jigs I like the reel and pull with torque and zero slack approach - hooks fish extremely well on very long casts.

In general with jigs - I don’t set the hook any other way - even right next to the boat you’ll hook them much better reeling and pulling hard when they load up than snapping the rod fast.

My 0.02$

3 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

Tom Monsoor and Tom (RIP WRB) from bass resource

Doesn't Tom have an article or something that he wrote about fishing a jig?

It seems like I've heard him mention it and he would PM it if asked.

I'd love to see it if anyone has it.

THANKS

Swim jigs are very versatile baits, but there are different kinds of swim jigs at play and they each have a use.

Northern style swim jigs:

-predominately 1/8 oz to 3/8 oz with most using 1/4 oz

-light wire hooks

-lighter weedguards

-sparsely tied skirts oftentimes with krystal flash or mylar flash.

Southern/regular swim jigs:

-predominately 1/4 oz to 5/8 oz with most using 3/8 to 1/2 oz.

-heavy hooks

-heavy weedguards

-full skirts

Northern style swim jigs is what I fish most of the time because the light hook and weedguard keeps hookups great. If the fish bite it, it is coming in the boat and it is very forgiving for a swim jig. Lethal weapon swim jigs are probably the best example of this style of swim jig a guy can find online. I make my own however, it is a relative knockoff of the formerly great Brovarney swim jig. A medium to medium heavy rod with fc line is preferred here and is a tom monsoor style hookset (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdMiu1M0fp0). I still fish it around grass and wood, but if you need to wrench on fish around really heavy stuff, its not the jig for you as you can straighten out hooks if you don't have the right setup. About 90% of the time I use 1/4 oz and the other 10% I am using either 1/8 to 3/16 oz or 3/8 oz, never heavier.

Southern/regular swim jigs are basically heavier, more full versions of a northern style jig. The fuller skirt has the bait float higher in the water which helps in in submerged grass and other cover. This kind of bait you can throw on a mh to heavy rod with braid or heavy fc line and is good to wrench fish out. The hookset is a tight and hefty lean set compared to the northern style swim jig. I rarely fish this and really only when around heavy grass where the fish is coming up with a bunch of cabbage. Landing % is less with this jig and as a result, I fish it far less than northern style jigs. This is also the type of swim jigs you will find most commonly available. If I need to keep my bait shallow, 1/4 oz gets the nod. If I need to keep it deeper around submerged grass, I go 3/8 to 1/2 oz.

I don't fish swim jigs immediately after ice out. But once water temps get into the upper 40s, it comes out and stays until fall when I put the boat away.

Although the swimjig is a 3, or more-season bait, I've found the most productive time for them is late and post spawn, specifically fish guarding fry.

I like to use a swimjig in tandem with a Free/T rig or mojo rig. I cover water with the swim jig and target specific cover or areas with the t/free rig.