Jig Weight and Color - Jake Wallace and James Lindner

These are nice. There you go. Now you're talking, big boys. That's what we're looking for. Jim and I have been experimenting with the weight of our jigs today. We've found that a one-eighth size jig is the sweet spot, but on some days, a quarter-ounce might be better, or you might go lighter with a one-sixteenth. The weight affects the fall rate of your bait, which changes the action and can trigger different responses from fish. Adjusting this can help you determine what the fish are after.

We've also been testing different colors. I've got some Big Bite Baits Suicide Shads, and Jim's had success with a few of those. I started with neon chartreuse VMC bucktails and now I'm switching to black to see if that's more to the fish's liking, trying to 'match the hatch' and mimic what they're feeding on.

Shallow water fishing requires stealth in your presentation and boat control. You might wonder why I use bright yellow line—it's for strike detection. But, I have about a fifteen-foot section of Invisalign fluorocarbon, eight-pound test, tied on. This long leader keeps the bright line away from the bait. A lot of our fishing, especially with hair jigs and swimbaits, involves slack line techniques. It involves letting the bait hit the bottom, then popping it up and letting it fall without tight line contact. The bright line helps me see the strike; sometimes, I don't feel the fish hit—I just see the line jump, tighten up, and there's the fish. That's a better one, a big one.