(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
When Bobby Lane won the first MLF World Championship in 2017, a swimjig in heavy cover was a critical tool, but it wasn’t until he dialed in the right swimjig that he put himself in position to win the title. Fortunately, he likes the process of figuring things out, and therefore has a swimjig rod on the deck of his boat nearly year-round
“One of my favorite ways to catch fish in thick cover, thin cover, it doesn’t matter, but the thicker the better when I’m talking about a heavy-cover swimjig,” he said. “You have to have them in your tackle box.”
Whether he’s throwing them behind docks, into hay grass or in the middle of a field of slop, the right cover to winch out biting fish is also critical. For Lane, that starts with a 7’3” heavy-action Abu-Garcia Fantasista rod. Why heavy? “When that fish bites that thing you want to make sure you get him out.”
He pairs it with a high-speed Revo EXD casting reel. The “EXD” stands for “extra distance” and he’s not afraid to chuck the lure a mile into the thickest fields of cover he can find. He cranks down the drag as hard as he can and fills the spool with 40-pound Spiderwire Ultracast. He’s tried everything from 20- to 65-pound braid, but said that the 40 is a happy medium. Anything heavier and that EXD reel will empty the spool on a long cast.
He’s most excited about a new Berkley swimjig that will come out later this year with his design input. It’ll come in a variety of finesse and heavy-cover styles but the streamlined head will be the same. They’ll use super-sharp Berkley Fusion hooks. Perhaps most importantly, it’ll have the perfect weedguard. “What I can’t stand is when weedguards are too thick,” Lane said.
He uses two main trailers, one for the thickest cover and one when the cover is thick but has a few holes or open stretches. For the former, he likes a Berkley Grass Pig swimbait, which he trims down to match the skirt. “Looks just like a baitfish,” he said.
His second choice when he wants a little more action is a Berkley Rocket Craw.
The new Berkley swimjig will have a heavy-duty keeper that’ll lock any trailer in place.
Unlike some anglers, he doesn’t shake or hop and pop his rod tip as he reels.
“I like to just keep a straight retrieve,” he said. The important thing is to keep the rod in the right position for a solid hookset. That means “2 or 3 o’clock at the most.” When the fish strikes, you don’t need to cross his eyes like you would with a Texas rig. Instead, just “lean and pull into him.”
While Lane keeps his color choices in certain general ranges, unlike many pros he doesn’t keep them ultra-simple. “One or two colors isn’t going to work.” He has various shades of black and blue, green-pumpkin with a variety of accents and both subtle and flamboyant shad imitators. If you’d like to learn how adjusting his swim jig led to that critical MLF victory, check out his full video, filmed on the water, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
