My newest swim jig creations

[Jonn Graham]

Below are three of my new patterns for my swim jigs. I am calling my swim jigs "The Scout"

 

 

 

 

 

 

From top to bottom:

 

bluegill

clown

Green Sunfish.

[Jim Kast]

Sweet looking jigs, Jonn. And an excellent choice for a name. If there are fish in the area, they'll nail the swim jig. A great "scouting" bait!

[Jonn Graham]

I just started throwing swim jigs toward the tail end of last season. I began to throw them as I always love to pick up a new technique. I read all of Jim Kasts' posts about the power of the swim jig. Let me tell you...........HE WAS NOT WRONG!! The last month or so of the fall I absolutely killed smallies on the swim jig. Especially big fish! I can guarantee I will have one tied on a bunch next spring.

 

Now that I am making them, I can make any color combo I want. Next, I am going to be working on a swim jig that matches a small Rock Bass.

[Jonn Graham]

Below are three of my new patterns for my swim jigs. I am calling my swim jigs "The Scout"

 

 

 

 

 

 

From top to bottom:

 

bluegill

clown

Green Sunfish.

 

 

By the way, I am now selling these swim jigs. $3.75 apiece 2 for $7 and a SPECIAL LIMITED TIME ISA PRICE - $37 per dozen. I can make almost any color combination or you can order stock colors that I already have. Head sizes range from 1/8 to 3/8.

[Gary L]

Those are really nice Jonn! You are getting pretty good at this Jig making could this be your next career!

[Jonn Graham]

thanks for the compliment. Jig tying/selling is what you would call a "side job". I must admit I really do enjoy doing it. Great activity when you can't be on the stream.

[Jim J]

The best thing about Jonn's stuff is that not only is he a superb smallmouth fisherman, he is designing stuff for our area and streams. He knows what kinds of rivers we fish, clarity, flow rates, forage etc. That means that he's designing stuff to be specifically used here, (rather than in California). Other thoughts he puts into it are qualities of the baits like supremely sharp hooks, gap sizes, weight etc. On top of that he's on the water testing them to make sure they work like they're supposed to. I know I sound like and endorsement but I buy the majority of my stuff from small companies that do personal work with high quality stuff and from guys that love what they do.

 

Jonn fits that bill for me.

 

(Oh, and I'm trying to get him to start making spinnerbaits) HA

 

Here's a plastic that would go nicely with the bluegill:

 

 

 

This with this:

 

[Mike Clifford]

Great looking jigs, Jonn.

Don't forget the crawdad pattern....

 

So what type of plastic do we attach to these?

[Jonn Graham]

Jim:

 

Thanks for the kind words..............much appreciated.

 

 

MIke:

 

I do have a crawdad patterned swim jig. I will try to post it for you asap. ON the subject of plastic swim jig trailers, from what I have seen, most guys use larger twister tail grubs. I started out using big grubs as well. Caught smallies with the grub as well. Then Jim keyed me into the idea of adding a swim bait to the swim jig. Works awesome! The paddle tail on the end of the grub gives off great vibration and makes the jig itself shimmy back and forth on the retrieve.......really cool. Believe it or not, the swim baits I have used (right now Bass Assassin makes a great one that is marketed as a walleye/saltwater bait) wobble so much I can feel it in my rod. Kinda like a finesse crankbait feel in the rod.

 

I feel in 2008 the swim jig will be my number 1 search bait. I would think it could really comb the waters of the 3K catching the active fish quickly in an area.

[Jonn Graham]

One more thing...................when it comes to fishing swim jigs, I am a novice to say the least. If you really want to learn the craft, Jim Kast is your man. He has helped me immensely. Hopefully he will maybe offer some pearls of swim jig wisdom on this thread.

[Norm M]

Jonn ,

 

Looks good , dressing to the sparse side .

 

Try rigging the Assassains upside down on the jig and also taking a little chunk of plastic out where the tail starts thinning down .

 

Mr Twister Sassy Grubs [ not Sassy Shad] are good if you want a smaller package on the presentation . Some of Charlie Brewers grubs would prolly go well too if you wanted a finesse touch .

 

With the weed sitution being what is is on the Kankakee , I think swim jigs are going to be a very efficient presention to use .

 

I think white with a pearl fluke would also be a good combo , very easy to see if it disappears inside the maw of a big ole sow .

[Jonn Graham]

Yah, I have already thought about the sassy grubs and Charlie's grubs. Charlie has a new grub called a double action grub. Really cool.

[Bterrill]

Jonn ,

 

Looks good , dressing to the sparse side .

 

Try rigging the Assassains upside down on the jig and also taking a little chunk of plastic out where the tail starts thinning down .

 

Mr Twister Sassy Grubs [ not Sassy Shad] are good if you want a smaller package on the presentation . Some of Charlie Brewers grubs would prolly go well too if you wanted a finesse touch .

 

With the weed sitution being what is is on the Kankakee , I think swim jigs are going to be a very efficient presention to use .

 

I think white with a pearl fluke would also be a good combo , very easy to see if it disappears inside the maw of a big ole sow .

 

Great point, I like chart and white chatters for this kind of fishing. Being able to see the bait helps teach me what its doing when I can't see it.

 

[Jim Kast]

I'm not gonna sit here and just spout off pearls of wisdom.... but if anybody has any questions let them fly.

[Paul Trybul]

What weight works best in rivers 2-4 foot deep with mild to moderate current? Instead of a steady swimming retrieve, do you guys have any luck just crawling them along the bottom? How snag resistant are they?

 

Those are my only questions. Depending on the answers I think I'll be ready to add them to my arsinal in 2008

[Jonn Graham]

Paul:

 

In my limited swim jig experience, I have only used the bait as strictly a "swim" bait. I have not dragged or hopped the jig on the bottom. I have found the 1/4 oz. to be the best weight. Problem with the 1/8 oz model is it tends to want to ride too high in the water column on the retrieve. Now I may be able to remedy this by tying the 1/8 ouncers with a much sparser skirt and maybe go with a smaller trailer?? Don't know, but am going to try. I do know the 1/4 ouncers should be right for the Kish. Due to their bullet-head design they seem to be fairly snag resistant. When they get snagged, they often will pop out of rocks and such fairly well. I have been fishing mine without weedguards, but do have the weedguards that fit into the jig. I think next year I will fish them with the weedguards when around wood and other sticky cover.

 

Paul, I wil say they are a very enjoyable bait to fish. They seem to definitely catch the attention of active smallies. They hit the bait VERY HARD! Also, the 1/4, and 3/8 models with a trailer provide a bait that is heavy enough to allow long casts, which allows you to cover alot of river water very quickly.

[Jim Kast]

If you're retrieving them downstream you can use either an 1/8 or 1/4oz. These seem to work best with the current. And at that depth, 3/8 would require an extremely fast retrieve to keep it from snagging on the bottom. If you want to bounce it off the bottom and over the tops of the rocks, the 1/4oz works great with the flow. I did this last fall on the Dup. When nothing else worked, that presentation did.

 

If you're retrieving upstream the 1/8oz is next to impossible to keep below the surface without an excrutiatingly slow retrieve. Even then it's a struggle. The 1/4oz will stay down depending on your retrieve, control is the key, just like with any other lure. 3/8oz is easier to keep down, and will also work for popping off of the bottom.

 

If you running into some thick weed mats next to the bank, either the 1/8 or 1/4 work great. As soon as the jig hits the mat start reeling just fast enough to keep it moving. Nothing beats having a fish bust through a weed mat and nail your jig.

 

Hope this helps!

[Jim Kast]

Thanks Jonn, you type faster than I do. Forgot about the snagging issue. I almost always use braid with swim jigs. Some people say I go to extremes with 30# Power Pro, but I don't care, and neither do the fish it seems. Like Jonn said, snags are pretty easy to remove, but like any lure, nothing is really snagless! Usually a simple snap of the line will pop it free.

[Jonn Graham]

I also use braid for my swim jigs. I use 20 pound suffix braid and usually throw the swim jigs on a casting outfit. Though I have thrown the swim jig with a spinning rod and it worked ok as well.

[raymond k]

I to had great luck useing swim jigs last season/when the moss got bad it was my most succesful search bait/I like to throw it in top of the matt and pull it right over/you will get surface strikes right through the matt/I found the 5" grubs to my likeing/in the kank the white and char. colors had the best luck/the 1/4 size is the best for all around use/I was useing Outcast jigs but plan on makeing my own this year/ I canot wait

[Paul Trybul]

Weeds aren't that big of an issue in the waters I fish. It looks like a good big fish bait early and late in the season when they are on a baitfish bite instead of a crawfish bite. I asked about the slow retrieve because it looks like in the summer you could throw a craw trailer on it and drag in along the bottom.

[Jim Kast]

Spring, summer, fall.... I ve caught fish with it anytime of the year, though I haven't tried jigging it through the ice yet!

 

The fish I caught dragging the bottom was on a green pumpkin jig with a craw colored grub trailer. The trailer was pretty close to the "Clifford Craw" that Jonn has up in the other post.

[Jonn Graham]

I caught them on the swim jig all the way down to 42 degree water temp. Can't wait for spring to really give them a workout.

[Jonn Graham]

Just a reminder for anyone thinking of purchasing a few of my swim jigs, the special price for ISA members ($37 per dozen) will end on January 15th. Spring is right around the corner

[Jonn Graham]

The best thing about Jonn's stuff is that not only is he a superb smallmouth fisherman, he is designing stuff for our area and streams. He knows what kinds of rivers we fish, clarity, flow rates, forage etc. That means that he's designing stuff to be specifically used here, (rather than in California). Other thoughts he puts into it are qualities of the baits like supremely sharp hooks, gap sizes, weight etc. On top of that he's on the water testing them to make sure they work like they're supposed to. I know I sound like and endorsement but I buy the majority of my stuff from small companies that do personal work with high quality stuff and from guys that love what they do.

 

Jonn fits that bill for me.

 

(Oh, and I'm trying to get him to start making spinnerbaits) HA

 

Here's a plastic that would go nicely with the bluegill:

 

 

 

This with this:

 

 

 

 

I would like to remind everyone that the heads I use for my swim jigs are produced by Brovarney Baits out of Wisconsin. While the rest of the jigs I make are poured by yours truly. We may start pouring our own swim jig head in the future, but right now Brovarney has such a great product and has been a pleasure to work with.