(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.)
While the spinnerbait is making a comeback in some circles, for several years it appeared that the ChatterBait had mostly replaced it, giving the fish a new look. Veteran pro Mark Davis knows that sometimes a different presentation opens new windows of opportunity, and when he wants to go more subtle than either a spinnerbait or a bladed jig, he turns to a swim jig. It’s not necessarily new, but it mixes things up and gets bites he wouldn’t otherwise obtain.
No matter what swim jig he’s throwing, or where he’s throwing it, Davis uses the same 7’11” Lew’s Custom Pro rod that he uses with a 10XD. It has a parabolic action, which provides “a lot of bend in the middle of the rod, so it loads,” he said, adding that “I don’t recommend using light line at all.” Sometimes he’ll use 50-pound braid, like in heavy “monkey grass,” and in softer vegetation like milfoil he’ll use 20-pound fluorocarbon, but the rod is always the same.
He keeps his colors simple, too. “Black and blue is always true,” he said, and in doubt that’s his go-to, but at other times he’ll use some shade of white or else a variation of green-pumpkin. That’s it. On the back he’ll most often employ a Strike King Rage Bug, which is compact and provides resistance, although he also likes the Menace.
What constitutes a swim jig? Well, he believes it’s a pretty broad category. The standard is a conehead jig with a light wire hook and a rubber skirt, like the Strike King Tour Grade Swim Jig. It’s perfectly balanced to swim right, he explained, although virtually any flipping jig can offer some effectiveness if trimmed correctly. “The weed guard is the true key on swim jigs,” he said. Thin them out, and you can make do with what you have. That’s what he uses in sparser cover and softer grass, but in the really nasty stuff he makes a contraption that gets bites and gets them out of the cover. He’ll start with a bobber stop, then add a punch skirt or Strike King spinnerbait skirt, then a Tour Grade Belly Blade – a screw-lock hook with a small willow-leaf blade. On the back he’ll add any one of a number of trailers, often a swimbait, although the Menace works exceptionally well, too.
While the swim jig can be utilized effectively for a substantial portion of the year, one of his favorite times is when the shad are spawning. Early in that process they’ll spawn on warm nights, regardless of the moon phase. While big female bass on lakes like those of the Tennessee River are “done and gone” out to the river ledges after they lay their eggs, they’ll come back to take part in this buffet. “They’re just like me,” Davis said. “They follow those boxes of pizza.” Shad spawn on almost any surface they can find, everything from debris to foam to docks to grass. When that bite is on, he relies heavily on a white or white/chartreuse jig and trailer.
If you want to learn some of the other keys to Davis' swim jig success, including how and why he’ll swim a jig out deep, and what color pattern he thinks is best under those circumstances, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
