For most applications, jig swimmers favor a skirt of living rubber since it undulates as the lure moves, and puffs out when the retrieve is paused. Some anglers tie skirts with an underlayer of mylar to increase flash. Blues, browns, greens, and blacks work well where bluegills and perch are key forage. Where shad are the prime forage, white is popular, particularly in fall when bass feed heavily on the pale baitfish in tributary creeks.
A bulky trailer helps keep a swimming jig near the surface, and pork has been a traditional favorite, with the big Uncle Josh #1 chunk in brown, blue, or black to match darker jigs, and Uncle Josh's white Spring Lizard Pup popular on white jigs. Pork also resists tearing when passing through tough vegetation like bulrushes, alligator weed, and maidencane, or brushy cover. Stanley Jigs has designed a swimming head with a bladelike lip that creates a wide wobbling action for use over grassbeds and brush.
Since jig-swimming works best in heavy cover, medium-heavy to heavy baitcasting combos are the rule, with longer rods popular to increase casting distance, to keep the lure up in the water column, and to set hooks. Braided line is prime around thick vegetation, as it slices through the salad, maintaining contact with the fish and keeping its head up during the battle.
One further jig-swimming application involves big hair jigs known as Preacher Jigs. Where large shad are key forage, it's a deadly fall presentation. For more details, check the Hair Jigs section of this article.
4. DRAGGIN' A JIG
At the opposite end of the depth spectrum, dragging a jig is deadly from late summer into fall, and on into winter in milder regions. From the mesotrophic natural lakes of Wisconsin and Minnesota to the rocky impoundments of the western states, hefty football heads backed by twintail grubs or plastic craws are one of the deadliest ways to find and catch big bass.
The key is to locate horizontal rocky outcrops that extend beyond the edge of vegetation in natural lakes, or along an underwater point or hump in reservoirs. Bottom transitions from sand to gravel or gravel to cobble often hold bass. In natural lakes, spots in the 12- to 25-foot range typically are best, while rock as deep as 40 feet commonly holds bass in western reservoirs.
Jim Moynagh, a bass pro from Minnesota who helped design several football-style jigs for bottom dragging, or what he calls "rolling," discusses the merits of this presentation. "Like the jig-swimming approach, draggin' covers water fast, helpful in finding fish over expansive bottom areas. Make a long cast and wait for the jig to land. Then gradually pull it along with the rod tip held parallel to the water, with the rod at a 90-degree angle to the line and the lure.
"As you pull, the football head telegraphs bottom features through the line, down the rod, and to the attentive angler's hands. You can sense the difference between silt, sand, clay, gravel, and various sizes of rock. When you pull a football jig up against an object on the bottom, gradually pull the line a bit and barely shake it. That makes the plastic grub or craw wave up off bottom, an irresistible look for a marauding bass. No other jig style can produce that action."
