Finally, I feel like I can share with you the hands down best swim jig bass fishing. It has taken me a few years to get this swim jig technique on point. In the fall as the water temperatures have been dropping, swimming a jig has been solid for me to keep the bass bites hot! This post lists exactly all the little things to do to get bites, and the gear to use for swimming a jig to catch bass. In addition, there is some video footage to help you see how lethal a technique swimming a jig can be. Hopefully, this info will help keep you “Kraken” Bass. Enjoy!
Finding the best swim jig bass fishing has been a little bit of a struggle for me. I’ve experimented with this technique for the last few years, and have never felt like it has produced results like I’ve heard it should. This summer and fall was different. I feel like I worked some things out and have found a solid jig and trailer that has worked at several different lakes and ponds I’ve visited this year. My goal here is to help you avoid the frustration with all the jigs and info out on the market for fishing a swim jig. Here is the right one that has worked consistently for me. In addition, in this post you will learn all the little modification’s which make a big difference for getting bass to eat your swim jig.
Hands down the V&M pulse swim jig is my favorite. This jig comes in some of the best colors, and swims perfectly true every time out of the package. The two colors that work best for me are summer craw, and watermelon bluegill. These jigs get eaten. Especially, if you pair them with the right soft plastic trailer, and do a few other minor modifications.
There are two small modifications to make with the V&M pulse swim jig out of the package which have seemed to make a big difference. The first is to trim the skirt, so it ends right at the back of the hook. The second modification is to trim down the weed guard. You want your weed guard sitting, so it sticks up only a little bit above the hook point along with thinning out some of the weed guard strands.
The first modification of trimming the skirt length will allow your trailer to have more action on the jig, and the shorter skirt creates a smaller profile to get more bites. The second modification of trimming out the weed guard will help you hook up on more fish, but still keep the bait weedless. The swim jig with this modification will still go through grass and other pieces of cover sweetly.
The Keitech 3.8 Fat Swing Impact is an amazing soft plastic trailer for the V&M swim jig. I’ve experimented with a lot of trailers, and the tail kick plus the body shake on this swimbait makes a swim jig look even more incredible in the water. I use two main colors of the Keitech swimbait paired with my two favorite swim jig colors. For the summer craw color swim jig, use an AYU color swimbait. With the watermelon bluegill color swim jig, the smallmouth magic swimbait color crushes. These are the color pairings which have worked well for me.
Another small modification to these keitech swimbaits for your swim jig trailer will also make a impact. Dip just a small tip of the swimbait tail in a little chartreuse dye. The added color will add a little life to you swim jig trailer and draws more strikes. Use either the spike it chartreuse marking pen, or dip a portion of the tail in the spike it chartreuse garlic dye. These coloring options work great to get the extra stoke flowing for your swim jig trailers.
The best swim jig bass fishing set up is a solid baitcasting rod and reel. Use a stout medium heavy 7 foot rod to get good casting distance. This type of rod will also give you some meat to hook up those bass in cover. Spooling up your baitcasting reel with 12lbs flourocarbon will also make a difference. 12 lbs flourocarbon line is heavy enough for tough jobs, but also subtle enough to keep the bass from noticing your line. The lews speed spool reel for swimming jigs is what I’ve been using. I find it casts well and has solid retrieve speed to keep the bait kicking nicely.
I’ve found the most successful time for swimming a jig is late summer through the late fall when bass tend to key in more on baitfish. Another key component to knowing when to use a swim jig is identifying the main forage in the body of water you are fishing. If the the bass are keying in on bluegill or other small panfish for forage, the swim jig can be lethal.
A swim jig will also work sweetly when bass are relating to grass. A swim jig goes through grass incredibly well without gunking up to help you get more bites. Plus, a swim jig is a great technique to cover a lot of water to find fish. You can fish a swim jig pretty quickly to identify the key areas bass my be relating too. Check out my bait selection chart to help you identify the best bait to use in every situation: Bait Selection Chart
Here’s a compilation of several clips of action fishing this exact swim jig set up. This video is taken from footage from a few different lakes, and ponds to give you a good idea of how to fish this bait. Make sure to click the thumbs up button, and subscribe to the KrakenBass YouTube channel to help keep you stoked on bass fishing.
One important note about this post. The links in here are affiliate links were you can pick up baits, rod’s, reels, line, and anything else I used to “Krak” some bass on a swim jig. KrakenBass.com receives a small percentage of the sales through these links. I only use links to baits, and gear I personally trust and know work. The links are here to be helpful for you, and not for the small amount made on the sale of the products. I hope these things can help you “krak” some bass like they have for me. Good luck in your jig swimming!
As always,
Stay Stoked!
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