Skirted Jig

Ask around the tournament world which single lure catches the biggest bass, and the skirted jig is the usual answer. A lead head, silicone skirt, weed guard and craw trailer, crawled and hopped through the cover other lures can't survive - it looks like a crawfish backing away with claws up, and big, old, cover-hugging bass simply cannot leave it alone. It is slow, deliberate, feel-everything fishing, and it is worth learning.

What it is & how it works

A weighted hook head molded with a fiber weed guard, dressed with a silicone skirt and a soft-plastic craw or chunk trailer. On bottom it stands claws-up like a defensive crawfish; the weed guard lets it crawl through wood and rock.

When & where it shines

Year-round, anywhere bass relate to bottom cover: laydowns, stumps, rock, docks (skipping!), grass edges and deep structure. Cold water and heavily pressured big fish especially - when they won't chase, they still eat a jig.

How to fish it

Drag, hop and shake it along bottom, pausing after every contact with cover. Watch the line and feel for the tick, mush or sudden weight of a bite, then reel down and set hard. Skipped under docks it reaches fish nothing else touches.

Tackle & rigging

7'-7'6" heavy casting rod, 15-20 lb fluorocarbon (or 50 lb braid in grass), high-speed reel to pick up line on the set. Trailer always: craw for hopping, chunk for crawling.

Colors & sizes

Green pumpkin and brown-craw on most bottoms, black-blue in stain and shade. 3/8 oz all-around, 1/2 oz+ for depth and flipping mats; finesse 3/16 oz when it's tough.

What makes this lure fail

Fishing it too fast (it's a bottom-crawler, not a swim bait), missing bites by waiting for a yank (a jig bite is often just weight), and skipping the trailer or letting it foul.