To the untrained eye, there may be little difference between baits popular 25 years ago and today’s models. Jigs are conservative lures, in terms of design changes. Some might say the jig is the perfect bait. But in the fine points, those points that put more bass in the boat, jig modifications have enabled skillful anglers to keep the jig the number-one lure in many repertories. An array of jig types and tactics catch bass in depths of 2 to more than 40 feet. The hottest tactics today are . . .

Finesse Jiggin’—Though jig fishing carries the image of a power-fishing approach, the hottest application today is using downsized jigs designed to draw strikes from bass that shun other baits, including big jigs. Jim Eakins of Nixa, Missouri, has been dominating tournaments in the central United States, including Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma for much of the last decade. Lately, he’s had to share the spotlight with his son Troy.

This father-and-son team has spread the gospel of the mini-jig across this region. As their success has grown on national tournament trails, the renown of the Eakins Jig has spread into bassdom from northern California to southern Maine.

Eakins comments: “I’ve been a jig fisherman all my life, and in the mid-1980s, I recognized that I caught lots more bass with small jigs fished on light line. I went through 10 molds before I was satisfied with the shape and balance of the jig. The keys to a good jig are balance to create a natural fall and the ability to hook and hold fish.”

Eakins also settled on the short-cut collar on the jig skirt, which has become a trademark of this style of finesse jig. The cut skirt gives a crawfishlike appearance and also helps parachute the jig to the bottom in a slow, even descent.

Backed by a small plastic craw, the package truly resembles the real thing. Eakins has worked with Gayle Julian of Jewel Baits to create this jig model, a round jighead weighing 5/16 ounce, with a turned eye.

“The Eakins Jig is a system,” Eakins continues, “and matching lure size and weight to a rod and line are critical. I fish the jig on 10-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon line, occasionally going to 12-pound in dingier water. I’ve designed a rod for Falcon Rods, a 6-foot 10-inch model rated as a 5-power, on the light side of medium-heavy. You need a rod with a softer, more-tapered tip section than the typical pitching stick, but with a powerful midsection and butt.

“Bites on a finesse jig often are light, and you need to feel the bait and a light bite without being detected. A softer tip allows that.” As for the flat eye, Eakins has found far greater hooking success than with a straight eye, on his compact jig with its smaller hook. The eye protrudes at an angle slightly less than 60 degrees, which helps it pull easily through brush and around dock posts.

Eakins primarily pitches his little jig around brushpiles, docks, and along rocky terrain. For a finesse approach, he tries to place the lure carefully in key spots, then he lets it settle with minimal movement, followed by a few twitches or a series of short hops. If he has no takers within 15 or 20 seconds, he reels in and pitches again.

PJ’s Lures offers the Lil Jig, a finesse model with a cut collar and a more angular head to probe brush. The Lil Jig is available in 1/8-, 1/4-, and 5/16-ounce sizes, with a 1/0 or 2/0 Mustad Needle Point hook. Alabama bass pro Terry Tucker favors these downsize jigs for most jig applications from the spawn through fall. For heavier duty, PJ’s offers the Super Brush Lil Jig, available in 1/4-, 5/16-, and 7/16-ounce models.

Terminator’s successful jig line has been enhanced with the Finesse Jig, a downsized version weighing just 1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 ounce. Its Mustad light-wire hook ensures easy hookups, while Terminator’s Titanium Trailer Keeper holds plastic trailers in place. The ruffled skirt of the Finesse Jig, called AirAlive, adds action at the slightest shake of the bait.

Terminator’s 3/16-ounce Tiny-T Jig also has won acclaim, along with numerous tournaments. Like the Eakins Jig, it has a turned eye, recessed in the head to smoothly pass through brush. Falcon Lures, known for their big grass jigs, also has entered the finesse market with a 3/16- and 5/16-ounce Falcon Finesse Jig. Strike King’s Bitsy Bug is another favorite

Jiggin’ Grass—By late summer, many lakes and reservoirs look like they need a mow—grass to the top, whether northern or Eurasian milfoil, hydrilla, or coontail. You know it holds fish, but the sheer extent of the vegetation and its stringy character make it a challenge to fish efficiently.

Louisiana jig maker Wayne Falcon lends a perspective on fishing dense grass. “To fish hydrilla and other dense weeds, nothing works like a jig,” he says. “The density of a big jig, and we’re talking 3/4 ounce at the minimum, punches through the canopy. Then the tapered nose of a good grass jig allows you to pull it back up through the grass without hanging weeds. Efficiency is the name of the game, and you should be ready immediately to make another short pitch.”

His Falcon Flipping Jig and Rattling Flipping Jig have a slim-profile head and 60-degree eye to penetrate weed stalks without catching. And they’re backed by a big Gamakatsu hook to haul up a big bass.

To understand grass fishing, fish as though there were no grass above the structure. Bass still relate to stumps, ditches, rocks, creek channels, points, and other features. If you’re familiar with the water, you may know where they lie. Otherwise, tune your flasher or LCR to read through the grass. That’s far easier to do with a flasher but can be accomplished with today’s sophisticated graphs after studying the manual.

Milfoil and other grasses rarely ruin a structurally attractive spot, and they may enhance a spot’s appeal to bass. These long-stemmed grasses sport a massive canopy, but provide lots of room for fish to swim and feed below.

For big jigs in dense grass, most experts prefer 61⁄2- to 71⁄2-foot stout baitcasters and braided line. Make short pitches with the jig and allow it to free fall straight down through the canopy. Bites may come on the way down, as the jig settles on bottom, or after you give it a couple hops.

Falcon recommends weighing your jig to ascertain light bites. “Focus on the feel of your jig as you raise and lower it, whether it’s a 5/8-ouncer or a big 11⁄4-ounce model. If it suddenly feels heavier or lighter, set the hook.” Rattles are a powerful addition to grass jigs, as added sound alerts bass to the lure in thick weeds where vision is restricted to inches.

Berkley’s new Classic Jig, available in 1/2- and 5/8-ounce weights has a loud rattle and also features a straight-shank jighook for a high hookup percentage and easy shedding of weeds. All-Terrain Tackle has added the grassmaster weed jig designed by Scott Mardin for the densest vegetation. Nichols Lures’ broad line of jigs includes the Impact Flippin’ Jig available in weights up to 2 ounces. Other favorites include Johnson’s Custom Jigs and Oldham’s Jigs, both designed to fish the densest hydrilla

Swimmin’ Jigs—Most anglers regard jigs as vertical drop baits. In the applications discussed above, a balanced fall is important in triggering bites. But the jig’s combination of density, compact size, and alluring features also lend themselves to a horizontal presentation called swimming a jig. From the Upper Mississippi River to Alabama and Arkansas, jig swimmers have accounted for huge bass and have won many major tournaments.

Tom Monsoor, usually the man to beat in Upper Mississippi River tournaments, swims a jig throughout the summer season and into early fall, targeting weedy and wood-laden backwaters of the Mississippi where largemouths abide. “Swimming jigs work best in relatively clear water, since they get reaction strikes from fish that see the bait passing overhead,” Monsoor notes.

“Instead of dropping a jig into a hole in cover, long casts are made and the bait is moved over varied cover, calling bass out. Depending on water depth and the thickness of cover, pointy-nose jigs from 1/4 to 3/8 ounce work well.” Monsoor crafts his own swimming jigs, as do many practitioners of this unusual technique.

Mitch Looper of Barling, Arkansas, a noted big-bass expert, swims a jig from the Prespawn Period into fall. “The best jig-swimming days are cloudy and windy,” he notes. “Bass are up and active and ready to hit a moving bait. The key is to keep the bait high in the water column, within a foot of the surface, swimming with a steady retrieve or with slight undulations imparted with the rod.

“Hold your rod at about the 10 o’clock position while winding the bait. When you get a strike, don’t set right away, but lower the rod tip and retrieve slack, then set hard.” Looper employs a flat swimming head that planes through the water. Like Monsoor, he uses a thin, light weedguard, since the bait passes above the densest cover, and the thin guard doesn’t interfere with a long-distance hookset.

For most applications, jig swimmers employ a skirt of living rubber since it undulates as the lure moves and puffs out when the retrieve is paused. Some specialists tie skirts with an underlayer of mylar to increase flash. Blues, browns, greens, and blacks work well where bluegills and perch are key forage. Where shad are the prime forage, white is popular, particularly in fall when bass feed heavily on the pale baitfish in tributary creeks.

A bulky trailer helps keep a swimming jig near the surface, and pork has been a traditional favorite, with the big Uncle Josh #10 chunk in brown, blue, or black to match darker jigs; and Uncle Josh’s white Spring Lizard Pup popular on white jigs. Pork also resists tearing when passing through tough vegetation like bulrushes, alligator weed, maidencane, or brushy cover.

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.