Since jig-swimming works best in heavy cover, medium-heavy to heavy baitcasting combos are the rule, with longer rods used to increase casting distance, to keep the lure up in the water column and to set hooks. Braided line is prime around thick vegetation, as it slices through the salad, keeping contact with the fish, and keeps the head of the jig up during the battle.

One further jig-swimming application involves big hair jigs known as Preacher Jigs. Where large shad are key forage, it’s a deadly fall presentation.

The Preacher Jig is a 5- to 6-inch, 1/2- to 3/4-ounce offering of bucktail and duck or chicken hackle that looks like something for striped bass. Mann’s Bait Company has adopted the name, Preacher Jig, originally used to describe the lure designed by Reverend Bill Conine of Georgia, now a custom rod maker.

Cast the big white hair jig out over deep structure, such as channel bends or submerged humps, and retrieve like a crankbait, but with a subtle lifting and falling action, as you might impart to a marabou crappie jig. When a big bass inhales it, the rod loads up and the battle is on.

Draggin’—From the mesotrophic natural lakes of Wisconsin and Minnesota to the rocky impoundments of the western states, hefty football heads backed by twintail grubs or plastic craws are one of the deadliest ways to find and catch big bass.

The key is to locate horizontal rocky outcrops that extend beyond the edge of vegetation in natural lakes, or along an underwater point or hump in reservoirs. Bottom transitions from sand to gravel or gravel to cobble often hold bass. In natural lakes, spots in the 12- to 25-foot range typically are best, while rock as deep as 40 feet commonly holds bass in western reservoirs.

Jim Moynagh, a bass pro from Minnesota who helped design several football-style jigs for bottom dragging, or what he calls “rolling,” discusses the merits of this presentation. “Like the jig-swimming approach, draggin’ covers water fast, helpful in finding fish over broad bottom areas. Make a long cast and wait for the jig to land. Then gradually pull it along, with the rod tip held parallel to the water, with the rod at a 90-degree angle to the line and the lure.

“As you pull, the football head telegraphs bottom features through the line, down the rod and to the attentive angler’s hand. You can sense the difference between silt, sand, clay, gravel, and various sizes of rock. When you pull a football jig up against an object on the bottom, gradually pull the line a bit and barely shake it. That makes the plastic grub or craw wave up off bottom, irresistible to marauding bass. No other jig style can produce that action.”

Moynagh favors 20-pound monofilament for roller jigging with a 3/4-ounce All-Terrain Moynagh Rock Jig, making long casts. He matches a 71⁄2-foot flippin’ stick with a 5.3:1 ratio reel, to stymie any inclination to move the jig too fast. For this presentation, I’ve found fluorocarbon lines excellent for providing minimal visibility and reduced stretch that enhances feel of the lure and the bottom, as well as bites. Sure hooksets and the line’s abrasion resistance put the odds in your favor when the deep bite is on.