Bass can also be caught during these times on spinnerbaits , buzz baits and Chatterbaits, but fishing pressure and cold font conditions can cause bass to ignore these lures, yet the subtle presentation of swimming a jig will still trigger reaction bites. Tom The colors that I use, I use basically three different colors. People will throw the big baits for a handful of casts and then go back to their smaller offerings. The Shadalicious is my favorite swim bait. The double soft jerkbait rig or “Donkey Rig” as it is sometimes called is a great way to fish a D-Shad and you always have the chance at catching two fish at a time. Three-and-a-half and four-and-a-half inches are my favorite sizes, though I have caught fish on all sizes. Key times to work fast moving jigs are in the spring during the shad spawn and in the fall when shad are in shallow water. How and Why to Fish the Rage Tail Shad. In each case, his trailer of choice is the Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Meaty Chunk, his all-around favorite. As bass start to stage in the pre-spawn, they’ll start feeding more aggressively. Jacob Wheeler relies on small to mid-sized paddle tail swimbaits to catch bass throughout the country. I will sometimes switch to a heaver jig such as a 3/8- or 1/2-ounce model if I want the jig to slide by the cover faster and trigger more reaction strikes. In addition to saving money, durability also reduces rigging time, equating to more casts made as well as expanding suitable applications. I started swimming a 1/4-ounce gray-and-blue Arkie jig tipped with a blue Guido Bug around boat docks on Lake of the Ozarks in the late 1980’s. I retrieve my jig with a high-speed baitcast reel (7.1:1 or higher gear ratio) filled with 50-pound braid or 20-pound fluorocarbon line. When bass hiding in weeds or under docks are reluctant to hit fast-moving lures such as a spinnerbait or buzz bait, try slowing down your presentation and tempting the fish with a swimming jig. They will still eat a swim jig which makes it such a productive way to catch fish year-round. But I haven’t found one that produces as much action or noise as the Rage Tail Shad does. Product item Swim Shad 3" Soft Bait, which belongs in category Soft Swimbaits. Rip it, jig it, crawl it, hop it, troll it; even if you do nothing but cast and reel steadily, it'll get crushed. Theyre are in Virginia and Maryland in the winter time and migrate North of New Jersey in the Summertime. That’s when Storm unveiled its new swimbait, the WildEye Swim Shad. Niggemeyer: The Rage Tail Shad. I prefer the plastic craw and beaver-style trailers for a more subtle presentation, but switch to the swimbaits, creature baits and double-tail plastic grubs for fishing on the heavier baits to create plenty of tail action for more aggressive bass. Main Forum; All Content ... How to fish a swim shad and buck tail Sign in to follow this . You will catch lots of 3-pound bass on a 6 to 10-inch shad swimbait. The main difference between a standard casting jig and a jig designed for swimming is the head design. Striped bass is a popular game fish found in the nearshore waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. Followers 1. The standard bass jig has always been a staple bottom-bouncing lure for decades, but the lure became more versatile when savvy anglers started swimming it for suspended bass. 6-keys: sports/wired2fish//// “I start with one swivel that slides up and down the line and then attach a swivel. This can be a great time for swim jig fishing. Mike doesn't buy into the "slower is better" swimbait mentality so get ready to have your eyes opened! Storms are my go to snook and tarpon lures and really produce, very very slow retrieve and let the current do most of the work. Artificial lures like shad darts are known to work better, but you might want to also carry live bait just to give it a chance. Question: This is a goofy-looking chunk of rubber. Fast forward 25 years, and swimming a jig is a prominent pattern in fishing from coast to coast, from Wisconsin to Louisiana. Use a net if you want to catch smaller fish to use as bait. Get live shad either at the bait shop or by using a cast net from a boat or the shore. Most swim baits are primarily intended for casting but some work equally as well when trolled slowly astern of a moving boat. Casting jigs have more or a round head or a flat-bottom head so the lure can stand up on the bottom. I get the same production regardless of color or whether they swim straight or not, excellent bait. Spring Swim Jig Fishing. James Niggemeyer favors the Strike king Shadalicious as his swimbait of choice. Jacob walks us through conventional jig head and weedless Texas rigging then expands on how he rigs the Largo Shad on the back of spinnerbaits and swim jigs. Catch more fish from shore: catfish, bass, carp 11/11/2020 These fishing tips will change how you catch fish from the bank. “I swim it, flip it, everything.” Fishing Line. As you drift over the structure, look for marks on the fishfinder and pay close attention to the depths of those marks. Because in a lot of fisheries, they are used to running down big shad, small carp, big bluegill, skipjack herring, even baby bass and other large forages. I retrieve the jig at a fast steady clip so it stays close to the surface. Bass can also be caught during these times on spinnerbaits, buzz baits and Chatterbaits, but fishing pressure and cold font conditions can cause bass to ignore these lures, yet the subtle presentation of swimming a jig will still trigger reaction bites. Be the first to rate this post. Rocket Shad single spin spinner bait, any shad colored spinnerbait.....most of your tackle box could work. Niggemeyer: There are plenty of soft-plastic-surface lures on the market today. We caught up with Mike Bucca, Owner of Bull Shad Swimbaits on Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee to get a look out how he fishes his own swimbait. Some slight scissor modifications allow the bait to be custom fit to spinnerbaits and jigs of varying hook sizes and styles — important for increasing bites and reducing short strikes at the same time. Wheeler shares his top 4 rigging methods that allow paddle tail swimbaits to be fished through a variety of cover types and depths. Swim jigs feature a pointed nose with a vertical line tie so the lure swims through the water column and easily slips through cover. Smaller shad will fall through the larger mesh holes. Brand of the product is Berkley. The beauty of the Storm Shad is that there is no wrong way to fish one. The Storm Largo Shad is Wheeler's top choice in this bait category due to its seductive action and extreme durability. The quivering, undulating tails give them an alluring motion and send out vibrations that add an auditory appeal to lure a fish to strike. Several folks have laid claim to creating the swim jig or the swim jig technique. originalDevice: deviceType:desktop, Storm 360 GT Coastal Largo Shad (link in description). What is the proper retrieve speed and jerks? Question: James, what’s your second choice of new lures? It … Keitech Easy Shiner. BANK FISHING Trick to finding fish!!! There were guys in Alabama, Wisconsin, Arkansas and more using this technique 20 years ago and … In the springtime, bass will start moving up into the shallows. “This is the only chunk I swim,” he said. Why do you like it? Trolled too quickly swimbaits with paddle-tails will either spin or capsize, immediately losing all fish-catching ability. Some of the best weeds for swimming jigs are lily pads, water willows, milfoil, matted maiden cane and hydrilla with a tapered edge that forms a cavern underneath the weeds. Back in the 1980’s, anglers in Alabama, Wisconsin, Arkansas and some other states started swimming a jig around aquatic vegetation to catch bass. Then you have two swivels and attach a leader, hook, and D-Shad to each one,” he says. One of the all time best softplastic swimbaits is the Keitech Easy Shiner. Jacob walks us through conventional jig head and weedless Texas rigging then expands on how he rigs the Largo Shad on the back of spinnerbaits and swim jigs. Catching Fish With Storm Wild Eye Swim Shad in Ohio I have been thinking to try these wild eye shads for a while and finally I bought a pack of Pearl at Walmart. I use a green pumpkin, a white or shad pattern, and then a black and blue. A green pumpkin or watermelon seed jig tipped with a plastic trailer in the same color also works for swimming a jig when bass are feeding on bluegill. Split shot reaper or a 1/8 oz dart head with a shad worm, take your pick. Shad swimbait, Huddleston Deluze shad swimbait, Basstrix 5" shad paddle tail hollow body swimbait. So we're always anxious to try the new ones that come out, looking for a little different swim that might entice more bass. Apr 25, 2015 - Photo by Travis Rathbone For generations, the white bucktail jig has been hailed as the most versatile lure ever. For american shad a 1 to 1/0 size hook is a good option. This tactic works best for me in the fall when bass are hiding in the shady areas of docks and ambushing any shad that swim into their strike zone. As the shad spawn starts, he’ll switch to a white or shad-colored jig, which he pairs with a white chunk. I leave the bait on the rod and use the same ones on my way home for bass fishing, equally as effective. 4. Started by fishingbaby1999, November 9, 2017. Your casting net needs the correct mesh for the shad you are catching. The attraction also applies to their action when moving through the water. No votes so far! A 4-12 pound monofilament line will work just fine for shad. Small swimbaits have become a mainstay bass fishing lure and popular technique anytime fish are feeding on minnows and other small baitfish. Advertisement Priced at $4.59 per 7-pack, you can find the Strike King KVD Perfect Plastic Swim'n Caffeine Shad at Tacklewarehouse.com and many retailers nationwide. 2. Use a pretty hefty size of monofilament fishing line like 12 pound up to 20 pound test depending on the size of fish you are planning on catching. Tie on a Gamakatsu Weighted Superline Extra Wide Gap Hook size 2/0. As I mentioned before, these deepwater bass aren’t feeding, and as a result, they won’t swim very far … Hooks. Try using a swim jig in areas near shallow spawning grounds. Those are the real three colors that I fish with. A barbless hook may be a good choice since you will likely just catch and release fishing. I think simultaneously several guys were figuring it out and making jigs specifically designed for this technique to get better hook ups. 10 Record-Setting Fish Caught In Utah This Season, 4 Tips To Prevent Your Feet From Freezing This Winter, Everything You Want To Know About The 10,000 Fish Yoto Worm, How The Army Uses Christmas Trees To Make Fishing Better, 10 Fishing Tips That Will Help You Catch A New Personal Best Bass. It wasn’t until 2002 when the bucktail first got a run for its money. Why fish like them: These lures look like a real shad and the realism doesn't stop there. A white jig with a pearl or white plastic trailer is the standard color combination, but bass tend to short strike this bright color combo at times, so I prefer a more subtle color scheme of a gray-and-blue jig with a blue trailer. Key times to work fast moving jigs are in the spring during the shad spawn and in the fall when shad are in shallow water. This is necessary to support the energy demands of spawning. A 1/4-ounce jig is my favorite size for the swimming jig tactic because it is light enough to keep the lure near the surface during my retrieve yet is heavy enough that I can still make long accurate pitches to my targets. How to fish a swim shad and buck tail. So effective is its ability to catch any fish anywhere, bucktails were once stocked in military-issue survival kits. 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