(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
The worst question that you can ask Florida pro JT Kenney is “What’s your favorite jig?”
You’re likely to get a dumbfounded look, and then a question back in response: “For what?”
The accomplished FLW Tour angler believes that there’s a specific tool that excels in every jig-fishing situation. To gain certain advantages, you might give up others, and he’s all about efficiency. “I want to do the least amount of work and get the most amount of payment back,” he explained.
While the Florida pro is probably best known for his prowess with a flipping stick, pitching and flipping is not all that he does with jigs. For example, in places that don’t have a lot of cover or structure, both deep and shallow, he’ll use a Nichols football jig. He fishes it on 12-pound line, so while he doesn’t want a true light-wire hook, he doesn’t want a heavy hook, either. Oftentimes he’ll hop it, but much of the time – especially on the TVA lakes – he noted that the bass are best triggered with high hops.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is his favorite Nichols light-cover swim jig. It has a pointy head to get through vegetation, and it therefore excels in scattered grass and along outside edges. While it’s not something that he dreams about, noting that “it’s hard for me because you don’t feel anything” on the retrieve, he admitted that it’s produced a lot of money for him over the course of his career. He’ll typically fish it with a small swimbait like a Gambler EZ Swimmer on the back, but when he wants a little more lift he’ll use a craw-style bait like a Gambler Burner Craw.
“You want to keep it as close to the grass as you can without getting hung up,” he advised, but he also noted that it’s exceptional around docks, largely because it skips well. In the spring and fall he makes sure to hit the area where the walkway of the dock hits the bank, a zone that has produced big fish for him all over the country.
Nichols also makes a heavy-cover swim jig with a hook that he described as “a gaff,” and while he doesn’t use it much, when bass want a horizontal presentation in thicker cover – especially if there are big fish around – he’ll bring it out. He said that it should never be fished on monofilament or fluorocarbon because you won’t get adequate penetration. This one is all braid, all the time.
Kenney’s pride and joy is his Nichols signature series grass jig, which he described as “25 years of wasting my life” and claimed “looks like a mess of rubber,” but everything from the line tie to the design of the weedguard is dedicated to getting into thick grass, attracting bites, and then extricating those fish. It comes with a two-toothpick system for keeping your trailer in place, so it’ll stand up to abuse over time and last through a dozen or more fish. He prefers a craw over a chunk much of the time.
If you want to learn some of Kenney’s other jig secrets, including the design of his favorite pitching jig and why it excels around wood but not in grass, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
