3. SWIMMIN' JIGS
Most anglers regard jigs as vertical drop baits. In the applications discussed above, a balanced vertical fall is important in triggering bites. But the jig's combination of density, compact size, and alluring features also lend themselves to a horizontal presentation called swimming a jig. From the Upper Mississippi River to Alabama and Arkansas, jig swimmers have accounted for huge bass and have won many major tournaments.

Tom Monsoor, the man to beat in Upper Mississippi River tournaments, swims a jig throughout the summer season and into early fall, targeting weedy and wood-laden backwaters of the Mississippi where largemouths abide. "Swimming jigs work best in relatively clear water, since it gets reaction strikes from fish that see the bait passing overhead," Monsoor notes.

"Instead of dropping a jig into a hole in cover, you make long casts and move the bait over varied cover, calling bass out. Depending on water depth and the thickness of cover, pointy-nose jigs from 1/4 to 3/8 ounce work well." Monsoor crafts his own swimming jigs, as do many practitioners of this unusual technique.

Mitch Looper of Barling, Arkansas, a big-bass expert, swims a jig from the Prespawn Period until Thanksgiving. "The best jig-swimming days are cloudy and windy," he notes. "Bass are up and active and ready to hit a moving bait. Fish it wherever you find dense shallow vegetation or woodcover. The key is to keep the bait high in the water column, within a foot of the surface, swimming with a steady retrieve or with slight undulations imparted with the rod.

"Hold your rod at about the 10 o'clock position while winding the bait. When you get a strike, don't set right away, but lower the rod tip and retrieve slack, then set hard." Looper employs a flat swimming head that planes through the water. Like Monsoor, he uses a thin, light weedguard, since the bait passes above the densest cover, and the thin guard will not interfere with a long-distance hookset.

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."

Moynagh favors 20-pound monofilament for roller jigging with a 3/4-ounce All-Terrain Moynagh Rock Jig, making long casts with a 7 1/2-foot flippin' stick. He matches with a 5.3:1 ratio reel, to stymie any inclination to move the jig too fast.

On the West Coast, lunker hunter Mike Long also favors a football head for working deep flats and drops in the 12- to 40-foot range. He is credited with catching 27 bass over 13 pounds on jigs. Long likes pork trailers on his ProLine football jigs, and like Moynagh, he retrieves the jig at a painstakingly slow pace, particularly in cold water. In the tradition of "Lunker" Bill Murphy, Long stitches his jigs, retrieving just an inch or two of line a minute, interspersed with gentle shaking.

5. HAIR JIGS
Best not to be caught out in fall without a box of hair jigs. A smallmouth favorite in many regions, jigs sporting skirts of bucktail or fox hair are one of most overlooked fall largemouth lures. When the hair-jig bite is on, they outproduce soft plastics or standard jig designs.

Perhaps it's the compact look of the package, as many of the best coldwater baits tend to be small, or perhaps the subtle waving of the natural fibers or the hair's natural buoyancy. When bites get tough to come by in water below 50F, tie on a 1/4-ounce hair jig and slowly work the edges of persistent green weeds, letting the lure drop into holes and then sit for a minute or more before giving it a little shake.

Back hair jigs with a downsize craw like the 3-inch Berkley Power Craw with the last 1/2 inch of the tail bitten off, or a #101 Uncle Josh chunk. Both trailer types add buoyancy for a slow fall, to bulk up the package and to give bass something succulent to chew on while they wait for you to feel a bite. At times, there will be merely a feeling of weight on the end of your line. More eager fish, however, give the little lure a classic pop that's easy to feel or see.

Light line (10 or 12-pound-test mono) enhances the motion of small hair jigs and is sufficient to set hooks and land big bass in the thinning cover of fall, as they aren't nearly as sporty as just a month earlier. Fluorocarbon lines have shown great promise in hair jigging, as they have with finesse jigs. I prefer medium-power baitcasting tackle, but spinning rods also work fine in these conditions.

One last hair-jig technique deserves mention, though its application isn't as broad as some listed above. But wherever large gizzard shad are key forage, the Preacher Jig can be a deadly tool. It's a 5- to 6-inch, 1/2- to 3/4-ounce offering of bucktail and duck or chicken hackle that looks like something for striped bass. Mann's Bait Company has adopted the name, Preacher Jig, originally used to describe the lure designed by Reverend Bill Conine of Georgia, now a custom rod maker.

Cast the big white hair jig out over deep structure, such as channel bends or submerged humps, and retrieve like a crankbait, but with a subtle lifting and falling action, as you might impart to a marabou crappie jig. When a big bass inhales it, the rod just loads up and the battle is on. This, like all the jig tactics reviewed here, is a big-fish tactic.

COMPANY CONTACTS
Berkley, 877/777-3850; Bert's Jigs & Things, 912/287-1604; Bulldog Lures, 479/996-2125; Daiwa, 562/802-9589; Falcon Graphite Rods, 918/251-0020; Falcon Lures, 337/232-7326; Fenwick, 877/777-3850; Gamakatsu, 253/922-8373; Jack's Fork Jigs, 573/226-3306; Jensen Jigs, 920/731-5889; Jewel Bait Company, 800/458-7370; Johnson Custom Jigs, 903/763-5028; Mann's Bait Company, 800/841-8435; Outdoor Innovations (Terminator), 800/944-4766; Owner, 714/668-9011; Pflueger, 800/334-9105; PJ's Lures, 417/546-4522; PRADCO, 800/531-1201; Quantum, 918/836-5581; Rapala, www.rapala.com; Shakespeare, 800/334-9105; Shimano, 949/951-5003; St. Croix Rod, 800/826-7042; Uncle Josh, 920/563-2491.