During the spring and fall, out west and on lakes across the country when the bass are shallow, TFO Ambassador Steve Lund has found that a combination of various swim jig techniques and specific jig patterns really excel. Here’s how he has found success.
TARGETING THE SPAWN PERIODS EFFECTIVELY
During the spring time, bass move shallow for pre-spawn, spawn, and immediate post spawn periods. In most lakes this means fishing around some type of cover. A weedless swim jig is a very versatile bait as it can be fished slow, fast, or even skipped, and is very forgiving by not hanging up so easily. This means more time fishing and also allows you to present your bait within the strike zone even in tight covered areas.
Pre-Spawn > Spawn
During Pre-spawn and spawn I prefer to use a 3/8 ounce Confidence Tackle Supply swim jig in bluegill pattern paired with a Keitech Easy Shiner swimbait as bass are feeding up during pre-spawn and during the spawn they are guarding their nests from bluegill.
Post-Spawn
Post-spawn I transition mostly to a 3/8 ounce Confidence Tackle Supply swim jig in baitfish, white, or chartreuse/white (depending on water clarity/visibility) as bass tend to push and gorge themselves on baitfish after the spawn, but I will still give the bluegill color swim jig a try as bass will still be guarding their hatched fry at this time and bluegill are usually enemy number one.
Fall
In the fall after the water begins to cool this sparks a feeding frenzy where bass will push bait fish shallow, so I will again throw a 3/8 ounce Confidence Tackle Supply baitfish color, white, or sometimes white/chartreuse depending on the water clarity. Most of the time I prefer to use a 3/8 ounce swim jig, since I rarely fish it deeper than a few feet this time of year and the heavier the bait the less the action.
Rod Selection & Tackle
I have tried many different brands of swim jigs one of the things I like about the confidence tackle supply swim jigs is the stiffer weed guard so I can fish in and through thick cover like tulies and throw it over wood and rarely hang up.
Since these baits have a stiffer weed guard I opt for a Temple Fork Outfitters 7’3” Heavy action rod GTS C736-1, this rod has an extra fast tip for a quick hook set and plenty of backbone to drive the hook home resulting in more fish making it into the boat. I pair this with a Shimano Cronarch MGL 6.3:1 reel, spooled with 15# P-Line 100% Fluorocarbon line.
Varying Retrieve Styles
Swim jigs are a very easy bait to fish most of the time – just throw it out and reel it in like you would a spinnerbait with a steady retrieve. You can also vary the retrieve with intermittent pulses or twitches while you reel it in, or even burn the bait back to the boat if the fish are really active.
What makes this bait so good is that for one, it’s a swimbait – which presents a natural swimming action and the ability to fish that kind of action in places where it’s difficult to fish most other baits.
So next time the fish are pushing shallow, pick up a swim jig and don’t be afraid to fish beyond the open water!
