The Best Spring Swim Jig Tips and Tricks - How To from Wes Logan

I do lotta the times. I mean, and I'm keeping it up, but I'm not... Hey, man, there was one following it. Damn, another one's following. Hey, man, there was, like, three of 'em after it. There you go. Dirty Jig Swim Jig.

What's up, guys? Wes Logan here with Bass Resource. I wanna talk to you a little bit about springtime swim jig fishing, and when I say springtime, I mean pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn.

You know, where I'm at, in the country, you know, south. You know, I'm in central Alabama in the south. That time period's gonna be from, you know, probably late February, middle of February, to all the way it could be at the end of April, middle of May. So, it's a pretty good time period. It's probably the best time to be bass fishing. The fish are shallow. They're wanting to eat. Once they get up, they're ready to spawn, you know, they're on the bed up shallow.

They come off the bed. They're trying to eat there as well, and one of the great ways to catch 'em is a swim jig. It's one of my favorite ways to fish. I've had a lot a success with it, and I'm gonna let you on a little insight, a few tips.

Ninety percent of the time, I'm gonna be throwing a 5/16 ounce Dirty Jigs No-Jack Swim Jig. I've went through a lot. I've used homemade ones, you know, growing up around the house, and this is probably the best jig I've found on the market.

It's just got a really beefy hook. That 5/16 with the trailer that I use, that I'll get into in a second. It kinda lets that jig float there around the cover. Whatever cover I may be throwing it around, and they've got some great colors. I mean, it's just a really all-around great swim jig. You're never gonna flex that No-Jack hook. I mean, you could literally tie it to a bumper of a truck, and I don't think you would bend it, but into a little bit more detail.

Like I said, this is my favorite swim jig. In one of the trailers that I use, a lot of the times is a Zoom Super Speed Craw, and basically, what it is it's just a craw style bait, you know, it's got the cut tails, but it's got some big flappers. And what that allows it to do is it's gonna, like, float in the water more than a smaller, slim line craw style bait with smaller pinchers. And that's gonna let me be able to work it slower in the springtime which I feel like is a bigger deal, where you want the bait to be making a lot action, but not bringing the bait towards you as fast.

So, you don't wanna be moving the bait through the water towards you fast, but you want the bait to be doing a lot of movement where it's at. And with that 5/16 weight, and this trailer, you're able to do that. If I'm in really clear water, and I do want to speed it up a little bit, I'll go to a Z Craw Jr in whatever color I'm throwing. You know, if I'm throwing a white one, obviously, I'll have some kinda pearl or white.

If I go to a black and blue, it'll be a black or, you know, a more natural color, be a bream or green pumpkin, something like that, and reiterating on the colors.

I'm a real simple guy when it comes to it in the spring. Most of the time, I'm gonna be white or black. Just depending on the water color. If there's a lot of people throwing. I'm might throw the opposite of whatever body's catching 'em on. So, if you see a lot of people throwing white, I might change to black or vice versa, something like that.

Going into the setup with the rod, reel, and the line. The rod, I like to use a 7' 6' medium-heavy and, you know, a lot people are like, "Man, that rod wears you out. It's such a big rod," but the rod that I use is an Ark Reinforcer. It's a 7' 6" medium-heavy, and it's got a really good parabolic bend to it. I jerk really hard, and I don't mean to. It's just what I've always done, and with that braided line, if you try and do that with a heavy...on the size rod that I use, you're just gonna have a lot of fish fly out of the water. You're gonna rip some big holes in their mouth when that really all not necessary. So, that's why I go towards the medium-heavy in that, and with that Ark Reinforcer, you know, the bend, the parabolic bend of that rod goes down probably 24 inches. So, when I set the hook, that rod's loading up a lot more than a heavy would.

Moving on to the reel. I use a Lew's Pro-Ti. It's a 7.5:1. You know, it's a pretty high gear ratio. It's not as high as they make, but I feel like that seven and a half, like, I said, that 7.5 is a good all around. You know, I'm still having to work it a little bit, but I'm not wearing myself out throughout the day with, like, a six or a five gear ratio. You can't do it all day, and not get tired doing that. So, with that 7.5, it really helps you out, you know, keeping your stamina up and all that.

The line. Ninety-nine percent of the time I'm throwing, you know, Sunline FX2 60-pound. Hardly ever will I swim on 50 just because I put so much shock on the line. A lot of times on the hookset, and I'm throwing this in some gnarly stuff, you know, around bushes, grass, bank grass. It could be under boat docks, stuff like that, and this is all in the springtime now. For pre-spawn, post-spawn, during the spawn. All this is going on in that March to, you know, end of April period, February.

So, with that 60-pound line, going back to that, like I said, I put a lot of shock on it. So, I feel like that 60 pounds got enough strength to hold up to it. I've never had it fail me. So, it's kinda like, you know, a foolproof system. That's just kinda what I always go with.

But, like I said, the main thing in the springtime is color, speed, and just, you know, getting into an area that has some fish. If it's pre-spawn, they're pulling up. If you've got shallow cover, and go and reiterating on the shallow deal. If you're at a lake, or reservoir, or whatever that the fish don't normally live shallow, most of the time, in the springtime, that's your best chance to catch them shallow, and like I said, one of the great ways to do it is on a swim jig. The Dirty Jig No-Jack 5/16 is an awesome one to try. I hope this helps, guys, and good luck out there on the water.

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