It’s a bird…It’s a plane…It’s one of the hottest trends in bass fishing that you just may be missing out on! Believe it or not, many anglers have heard of it and still treat it like it’s Kryptonite! Here in Wisconsin, you’d think many of our bass boats double as magic phone booths. The “411” is that you’ll commonly find a Swim Jig tied onto the end of the first sticks out of the rod locker. Why? Because you’ll be hard pressed to find any bait as versatile when it comes to covering water and putting quality keepers at the end of your line than a Super K Swim Jig.
History: Utilizing Swim Jigs has long been a great kept secret used by the likes of Tom Monsoor, Jimmie Johnson, Dave Synder, and Jim Jones in their efforts to consistently cash checks en route to qualifying for major FLW Championships and even the Bassmasters Classic. Jimmie Johnson finished 9th in the 2006 Bassmasters Classic on Lake Toho, Florida and he did so almost exclusively with a Swim Jig. This ‘Legion of Superheros’ formed, and found success at the regional and national levels due in large part to the art of applying a Swim Jig. Of course, members of the media covering the events and writing for their local “Daily Planets” focused on learning “How these guys kept doing what they’re doing?” When they found out that a Swim Jig was the answer, the top blew off and the secret was out. However, the success with Swim Jigs stayed a common practice to a small fraternity of clear water anglers who were enthralled with the ability of these baits to perform.
On the slightly stained and clear waters of the upper Mississippi River, Tom, Jimmie, and the boys were already beyond proficient when it came to pitching and flipping jigs around cover. While successful and confident in these tried and true techniques, they couldn’t ignore how many rod ripping bites they received while they were reeling in their jig following a pitch to a piece of cover. At times, a great looking piece of timber or submergent grass could be saturated with precise pitches, but fish remained reluctant until they started to reel the jig back to the boat. As soon as their jigs hit the water the cranking would begin and SMACK, another one for the livewell. Success like that was hard to ignore.
Development: The Swim Jig design has gone through constant refinements and anglers like Gregg Kizewski, founder and designer of SuperKJigs, are always looking to improve upon products for anglers looking to step up, fish a Swim Jig, and claim “Superhero” status in the circles they fish in. The Swim Jig boasts a profile that allows it to slide up, over, and through cover without hang-ups. The bullet head of Super K Swim Jig features an epoxied weedguard in a parallel fashion to the hook, which allows the bait to come through the water column straight without rolling. The skirts are hand-tied and a wire keeper is also fixed to each Super K Swim Jig to keep your chosen trailer from sliding down the hook.
Gregg’s Swim Jigs are offered in 1/4 and 3/8 oz head weights and this is for good reason. The lighter jigs don’t get bogged down and they come through cover effortlessly. Make no mistake, they’re still heavy enough to cast out and cover water while serving as an effective search bait.
Rigging: The most common trailer to complete your Swim Jig presentation includes a 4-5” grub tail trailer. It is highly recommended that you pay close attention to the forage base you’re trying to imitate while selecting your head, skirt, and trailer color. For example, at the beginning of June, majority of the bass in Wisconsin are in all 3 spawning stages. You have post-spawners lurking in shallow water relating to newly bedding bluegills for an easy meal. This calls for a 1/4 oz Kizewgill jig paired with a 4” Bluegill colored Kalin’s Grub Trailer found at www.unclejosh.com.
In fall, selecting a 1/4 oz White Flash with a 5” Kalin’s white grub trailer to imitate the shad in the backs of creeks and around rip rap during their spawn has proven to be effective time and time again. The most important thing about the grub trailer is that it should be rigged straight with the tail pointed down.
The tail pointing down will lift the back end of the jig as it is retrieved which greatly increases the ability of the jig to run straight and come through cover at optimum levels.
Rod: Rod selection is a matter of personal comfort, preference, and specific application. To use analogies, I fish a 7' MH St. Croix rod when fishing it in place of a spinnerbait situation.
A 7’ H gets the call when fishing around heavy cover, wood, rocks, docks, reed beds. Finally, I’ll tie my swim jig to a 7’6” flipping stick for long casts over slop and pad fields. Sensitivity to the bite comes into play as the transmission of a bite can be felt in the form of a wrist rattling tug or dead weight. In either case, a slight sweep of the rod comparable to a crankbait is sufficient enough to keep the fish coming your way. A hook set any stronger than that, and you’ll pull the jig away from the fish—you’ll typically find the 5/0 Gamakatsu hook--that Super K Jigs rely on--firmly placed in the roof of the fish’s mouth.
Line & Applications: Line consideration can be based on personal preference. 30lb. Power Pro gets the common call when fishing heavy cover. When fishing open water flats and across the base of weedy points, you can fish your Super K Swim Jig on 12-17lb. Triple Fish Fluorocarbon Line. One of the great things about swimming a jig is that you can really get creative in tuning your presentation to the exact mood of the fish. For example, using 12lb. fluorocarbon early in the spring while slow rolling the bait with a 6” grub trailer close to the bottom of a 4-7 foot early emerging weed flat adjacent to spawning bays is a great way to target staging prespawners. As the water warms, burning the bait high in the water column with a 3/8 oz head and a 4” Kalin’s grub results in a reaction strike that will test your heart condition. As the summer season gets in full swing, don’t be afraid to fish your Super K Swim Jig on top of pads where you’d fish a frog. Skittering it across the pad field with a Kalin’s 3” Scrub twin-tail trailer keeps the bait buoyant and kicking resulting in a powerful reaction explosion from a lunker that can’t stand to let it get away.
Reluctant or short-striking bass under the canopy are no match as open pockets in the mat allow the swim jig to be paused for a tantalizing drop into the strike zone. Yo-yoing the bait a couple of times is all it takes to convince Mr. Largemouth to eat.
Many articles have been written in which bass tournament anglers are often asked about what bait they would choose if they had only one to choose. The most common answer given is “the jig”, due to its’ “versatility”. A Swim Jig redefines flexibility based on the manner in which the bass tell you they want the bait presented at that time of year. Many of our lakes within Southeastern Wisconsin are between 800-1500 acres. Bass quickly become accustomed and conditioned to seeing the typical presentations thrown at them. Nothing is more pleasing than to follow a fellow tournament angler across a flat in the spring and watch them fish a suspending jerkbait in the early spring. A often match his jerk-jerk-pause cadence with my swim jig and catch fish behind him. I’ve already mentioned how well it can be used in a more subtle fashion in areas where you’d typically fish a spinnerbait. Are you a fan of the rattletrap? Do you love the feeling of pulling your trap off the weeds only to have your rod load up with a hefty reaction strike? Swim Jigs can also be used in this fashion. The bonus is that you don’t find yourself having to constantly clean weeds off treble hooks that anglers often find foul your trap halfway through your cast.
Summary: Super K Swim Jigs has begun to offer a select few bass anglers the opportunity to cover water in a variety of fashions and unlock multiple patterns throughout the entire fishing season. These seeming constant successful ‘caped avengers’ are simply fishing a presentation that is difficult to pass up once you’ve committed to it! Before I peel back MY shirt and remove my polarized Oakley sunglasses, a la Clark Kent, I will refrain from unlocking many more of the secrets I’ve discovered with Gregg Kizewski’s masterpiece and encourage you to log on to www.superkfishing.com and pour over the arsenal you may be failing to put in your “utility belt”.
Stay tuned as the Super K Fishing Pro-staff and Get Hook'd Fishin’ Forum Pro-staff will soon be answering the distress beacons in the sky put out by anglers like yourself looking for a kick-start to their current fishing season. I’m sure you’ll be impressed by their own collection of specialized experiences discovered while utilizing Super K Swim Jigs.
Chad Leton is the current pro-staff director for Get Hook'd Fishin’ Forum and pro-staff member for Super K Jigs. Check out the following links for information regarding the use of Super K Fishing Products within Little Lunkers Fishing Schools in 2009 & Chad’s 2009 bass fishing tournament events.
www.onthewaterpromotions.com
www.superkfishing.com
www.gethookd.net/forum
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