Top 3 Jigs for Shallow Fall Bass Fishing

That right there is a prime example of why I like to fish a jig in the fall. Gosh, look at that big old fish. Hey BassResource, James Niggemeyer here with the second video in a series of videos geared towards seasonal patterns and lure presentations. And when I hit the lake in the fall, I really like to throw moving baits. Whether it's a spinnerbait, or a square bill crankbait, or a topwater, buzz bait, something like that is what I really like to do. One of the most productive lures and my personal favorite is a jig. I love throwing jigs. This is a little swim jig. But when I get around targets like this laydown, I definitely like to pitch a jig. Wanna be pitching a jig up in the heart of the cover and just seeing if there's some sort of fish utilizing that cover.

Jigs have to be the most versatile lures in your boat, and the reason for that is you literally can fish them in every condition every month of the year. The jigs are just incredibly versatile. And this video really is targeted towards shallow water jig fishing in the fall. Throwing moving baits, throwing reaction style baits, throwing things that have a lot of action that are moving horizontally through the water. Those are baits that generally get the nod when it comes to fall fishing. Well, this video is different because I'm focusing more on fishing jigs in the fall, predominantly in say water 5-foot or less, 10-foot or less, fishing areas where bluegill or crappie or threadfin shad or gizzard shad, whatever it is that fish are gonna be pulling into an area to try to feed on because they're trying to fatten up for the winter. They know that cold water period is coming. Especially like with me, I had water temperatures in the high 50s. Those fish know that winter is around the corner, and with that, they're trying to put the feed bag on. They're trying to bulk up. They know that the lean times are coming, so they're trying to definitely feed up for the winter and be as ready as they can.

We get the wind blowing in here. It makes the boat positioning a little more challenging, but it also will position those fish on these perfect little targets like this, so that's real good also. That current, those fish will take advantage of it. This would definitely be considered wind-driven current.

There we go. Woah, God. look at that. I hit that one and it just shot out of there like a...look at that fish. Holy. On the jig. Golly. Golly, look at this fish. I mean just where she was supposed to be right on the laydown. Wow.

That right there is a prime example of why I like to fish a jig in the fall. Gosh, look at that big old fish. You got to have the right jig for the right application. And for that laydown tree that's a Strike King fluorocarbon flipping jig and a Rage Craw on the back was exactly what the doctor ordered. Look how thick that fish is. I'm gonna put him in the livewell and get a little picture session later. I mean, healthy, healthy, healthy fish.

I've got this little flat and slow tapering point, and it looks like the water's somewhat clear over there. I'm gonna throw a swim jig on here see if fish are just kinda moving and using it.

Having a couple of different jig set-ups is really important, in my opinion, because then I could fish down the bank. I can fish through an area and I've always got a jig to answer the scenario that's in front of me. And what I mean by that is whatever type of cover, whatever type of structure I'm coming up against, if I've got a couple of different jigs I can still be really effective about catching fish.

Kinda surprised I haven't busted one on this swing jig. Might be the time to maybe throw that little finesse jig, some. This is a Strike King Baby Structure jig with a Baby Rage bug on there for a trailer. There we go. Another one. Picked up that little Baby Structure jig and started pitching at around some of this isolated...he came off that piece of wood right there. Just because the water's so clear, that's another nice fish, I went with that Baby Structure jig, kind of a finesse jig. Gets more bites. That was cool.

There's another one. Boy, they're grouped up right in here. That's great. Nice little chunk. Definitely a little channel swing bank right here with some isolated wood. It looks like, for numbers...and that's generally what's gonna happen, for numbers, a little finesse jig like that is definitely gonna get you some bites. And then for bigger fish, you obviously go with the pitching or fluorocarbon flipping jig to get bigger bites.

So as I ease back into this flat, it's got this creek channel that lines around, but there's a lot of shallow water. I mean, I can see the bottom with some of these sections here, so I think I'm gonna go ahead and pick up the swim jig and try to kinda fan cast this area.

There's one. No. Get him on the old swim jig. Yes. Look at that. Gosh, these fish are big. They've been feeding up big time. Just throwing back in the very back of this little creek, and just swimming that jig with the Rage Swimmer swimbait on the back, and I was able to get one of those fish. You just know there's some feeders back there. We'll put her back. Nice quality fish. That was awesome.

This is great because I feel like now I've got my bases covered. I can go finesse. I can go flipping. And if I need to cover some water and throw a swim jig, I can do that too.

That fish hit that swim jig, and he just kinda came up and matched the speed. Just came right up behind it, sucked it in and kept coming at me, so I had to take a step back and pull that slack out of there, was able to get a nice hook in. Man, that front is coming in, which makes it an ideal time for me to get bites, so I'm glad I'm out here before this rain comes. And you just know there's more to be caught too.

There's one. Yeah. Caught on the swim jig. I'm sure there was some cover around there. Golly. Look at that. The fish are healthy. They've been feeding up big time. They're getting ready for the winter to set in. We've had that one really hard cold snap. Cooler temperatures out of it. Look at how thick. He's definitely got something in there. Oh, it's hard too. I bet he's got a bluegill wedged sideways in that thing. Right in his belly, that bluegill is sitting in there. Boom, boom, boom. I'll put her back. Oh, look at that. Look at the tail in there. She just ate. Look at that tail in there. Definitely got a bluegill in there, and still wanted the Strike King Heavy Cover swim jig and a Rage Swimmer on the back.

Like a spinnerbait with no blades. And I'll do some different things based on my trailer types. Sometimes I'll put a little Menace Grub on the back there, which is like a little double tail. Sometimes I'll put a little Rage Craw, little crawfish-type imitation back there. It really depends on what's going on. This time of year in the fall I like something that's bait fishy. I feel like the fish are feeding on shad, so I wanted a swimbait trailer there so that I could imitate something that they're actively pursuing in the water column. So, the swim jig is coming into play. That's pretty cool.

Typically you'll find that one jig really shines, and that's the one you'll really wanna push in the forefront. And then there're days when you have, like what we're doing right now, where all that cloud cover up there and we know it's gonna rain tonight. It's a Wednesday right now, Wednesday afternoon, and then it's gonna fall in temperature so the barometric pressure's falling. These fish are feeding.

Woah. That little guy took off with it and started swimming at me when I hit him. Came right out of the other side. Nice little chump. These fish are healthy in this lake. That one was on the Baby Structure jig, on a little fence line. Big ol' laydown log over here underneath the water. Got to be able to get them on this flipping jig.

I like to think of jig fishing... He hit it hard. Yeah. Look at that one. Oh my gosh. Look at that. Got her right in the roof of the mouth. Yeah. That's that Strike King fluorocarbon flipping jig. It's a Hack Attack version with a Rage Craw in the back. Look at that gigantor. Beautiful fish. Wow. I think I might try to get another picture with her too.

That was exciting. I was just talking about kinda like being a surgeon or a mechanic. You got to have a type of jig for everything you're gonna come up against. I definitely believe in simplifying my fishing, but I definitely think you're gonna hook and land more fish if you have the right jig, the right rod set-up, and the right line combination with the reel. All that really goes into play. Really makes a big difference. Let's just have a more fun time on the water.

I'm using three different rods for my jigs. For flipping, I like the Lew's Magnum Heavy Cover, and then the Lew's Pro-TI. It's a 7:5:1 gear ratio, 11 ball bearing system. And I've got 16 to 20 pound Gamma fluorocarbon line with Mr. Greg Hackney fluorocarbon flipping jig with a Rage Craw, three-eights ounce. When it comes to the swim jig, I use a couple different rods. One of them's the Magnum Bass Rod 3, so Lew's Custom Speed Stick, then I've got the Lew's Custom Pro reel, 7:5:1 gear ratio or 8:3:1 gear ratio. I like 30-pound test graded line. That's that Strike King Tour Grade Braided line. That's brand new. That's the Hack Attack Heavy Cover swim jig with a Rage swimmer trailer on the back. I believe that's the three and three-quarter inch, and I've trimmed it down. And lastly, the ….. rod which is a seven-foot really heavy, and I've got the Lew's HyperMag with 12-pound, or 14-pound Gamma fluorocarbon, and then the Strike King Structure bug with a Rage bug as a trailer. And if that thing doesn't look like a crawfish, nothing will.

I like the isolated cover in the fall. You find this isolated cover ... Generally in the fall you're gonna have a drawdown like this where that water level's gonna come down a little bit. In some lakes, it's gonna be more than others. But when you have that drawdown, those fish have less to really get around. There's not as much cover in the water and those isolated targets become the key place to put your lures.

I basically picked my top three jigs for shallow water jig fishing in the fall. The jigs that I used, I feel like cover all my bases. If the fish generally want something that's moving horizontally through the water column with a lot of tail wag type action, something that looks like baitfish, that swim jig is the go-to. When I wanted to cover water in areas that were somewhat void of cover, so that worked well for that. When it came to little creek channels and little bit clearer water, little stick-ups and different things like that, that's when I reached for the Baby Structure jig, three-eights ounce size. And then lastly, of course, the star of our show, Strike King Hack Attack fluorocarbon flipping jig. That is something that I'm gonna go to when I know that Braid is gonna be a little overwhelming. A full-size jig is gonna be maybe too much. It's just a little bit more compact, a little bit more downsized. Green pumpkins, your black and blues, the darker the water, the darker the jig color. The clearer the water, the lighter more natural I'm gonna choose.

Generally, this time of year, I'm fishing in and around the backs of pockets, the backs of bays, creeks. The baitfish are migrating into the backs of these pockets, into the backs of these creeks, and even those wind-blown sections like I was out on the lake. Sometimes it's the creek channel swings in these little bays and pockets, little drains or ditches, like what we like to call in East Texas. Areas where things are mainly flat, but then they have a little bit of a depression. Basically, if the lake wasn't there, say if it rained and water was pouring our of those meadows, it would settle into a low spot. Those ditches or low spots where water is gonna settle to, that's a lot of the times in these low land type impoundments where you'll gonna find fish that'll gather right on the lips, or actually in the channel itself, or up on the flats. Those lead-in areas where you had some depth relatively close to the shallow flats and different things like that, but also that isolated cover was key. Anytime you had that isolated wood, seemed like there were some fish there.

Those are my three favorite jig set-ups in the fall. Whenever I'm out and I feel like a jig is gonna get me more bites, those fish just don't wanna chase, maybe they're tighter to cover, maybe a front's coming through and some bigger ones are out feeding, I definitely wanna make sure that I've got a jig on my deck, all year round and even in the fall. Even though I know we think about topwater, and jerkbaits, and spinnerbaits and such, crankbaits and so forth, and that's a great time to throw all those things. But the jig can get overlooked. Make sure you got the jig on your deck during your fall fishing trips. It's my favorite bait as I've said. It catches a lot of big fish as you've seen, and there's something about that jig bite that's just a lot of fun.

If you're not a jig fisherman, my suggestion to you is to go out and take a jig rod, go to your favorite lake, pond, somewhere, and just spend a lot of time throwing that jig till you get comfortable with it, till you get comfortable with what it feels likes when it's on the bottom. What it feels like when you're pulling it over wood. What it feels like when you're pulling it over rocks and so forth, and the action that it gets. For those guys that don't throw a jig much, I hear that a lot from guys, "I don't like a jig because I'm not sure what a bite feels like." Or, "I don't have a lot of confidence in a jig." Well, the only way to get confidence in it is to get down to the lake, go fishing with it till you get a bite. And that first bite's gonna be addictive and you're gonna go into the next one, and then the next one. And then soon enough, the jig will be one of your favorite lures in your arsenal just like it is for me. Appreciate you guys watching my YouTube channel. Please like and subscribe. If you haven't subscribed to my YouTube channel, if you're new to it, please subscribe to it. Thanks for watching. Good fishing.