Modifications in jig design, along with a new open-mindedness on where and how to fish this lure, have raised questions about choosing trailers to match the jig style and particular application. Fine-tuning jig presentation can mean the difference between catching a few bass and putting together a tournament-breaking pattern. An overlooked part of the jig package is the trailer. Just as the prop on an outboard makes it go, a jig trailer brings the bait to life.

The jig remains a key bass lure for two reasons: versatility, and an uncanny ability to trigger big bites. Time was, backing a weedless leadhead with a pork chunk was a given -- the jig'n'pig was just that. But the array of materials, shapes, and sizes of things you can hang on the hook has expanded the jig's versatility immensely.

In addition to pork chunks and plastics that imitate them, productive choices include craws, single- and double-tail grubs, creature baits, worms, and more. Within each category, product differences lend different actions and looks to a jig combo.

CONSIDERATIONS IN CHOOSING A TRAILER

Profile or Bulk: At times, a large-looking jig with full skirt and bulky trailer gets more bites, particularly from big largemouths. Energywise, it makes sense for a fish to hunt and capture large prey. Pack the jig with a meaty 3-inch soft plastic chunk, Uncle Josh #10 Big Daddy Pork, a 5-inch stickworm, or a creature bait.

A new option for a bulky presentation is backing a jig with a new swimming frog like Berkley's Gulp! Batwing Frog, Voodoo Baits' Zombie Toad, Spike-It's Bog Frog, YUM's BuzzFrog, or one of the many other new amphibious arrivals on the soft plastics scene. Originally designed to fish weightless over and through weedbeds on a big offset-shank worm hook, they nevertheless bulk a jig when hooked through the nose or skewered on the shank. When swimming, the legs give a great kick, as well.

Typically, however, downsized finesse jigs entice more bites, and often those include bigger bass, too. The trend to finesse jigging, using 3/16-, 5/16-, or 7/16-ounce heads with cut collars and thin skirts, is nationwide. Finesse jigs demand a small, flat-bottomed craw like the Eakins Craw from Jewel Bait or Berkley's 3-inch Power Craw. Be sure to cut off the first 1/4-inch of tail before rigging.

This trailer not only balances the jig to give it a slow, level drop; it also provides a lifelike profile and soft texture to tease out tough bites. These delicate trailers won't be torn too often, given the soft pitches or lobbing casts used to propel them to targets along deep docks, rocky bluffs, drop-offs, and other deep, clear locations.

Bulk also affects fall speed -- you can add a large trailer to a heavy jig to slow its descent, if bass seem to be biting baits on the drop. And the big ones often do. A large double-tail grub is the best trailer to slow the drop, as both tails fight the water all the way down, like a double-prop Huey helicopter.

Ribbed creature baits like the YUM Wooly Hawg Craw contain lots of crevices and appendages to slow a jig's fall, too. Contrarily, a worm or soft stickbait provides a long profile, while allowing a fast fall that triggers reaction strikes.

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