Beyond Ball Head Jigs - Swimbait Rigging Alternatives

Several details impact the effectiveness of swimbait presentations’ ability to catch fish. Certainly, a soft-bait’s quality and features are significant — a fact demonstrated by the skyrocketing popularity of CrushCity’s innovative Super TPE swimmers like The Suspect and Heavy Hitter.

Another key component influencing swimbait success is how the plastic is rigged. A ball head jig is a popular choice, but here are some other effective ways to rig a swimbait to catch more fish this season.

It’s a landslide victory for CrushCity’s The Mayor when paired with a Heavy Duty Weighted Willow Swimbait Hook. Designed for soft-plastic weedless rigging, this tricked-out hook is excellent for use with a swimbait for northern pike, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and walleye relating to weeds and other cover.

The VMC nickel willow blade is another key feature. The high flash and vibrations it produces, combined with The Mayor’s hard-kicking tail, make this presentation very effective at drawing fish out of heavy cover and up out of deeper water.

The Heavy Duty Weighted Willow Swimbait Hook’s self-centring spring secures the plastic, and its fixed weight keeps The Mayor swimming in a natural, upright position. An adjustable spinner arm makes it easy to customize blade position and maximize rotation.

You’ll be giving props to the Snitch Jig after pairing it with The Suspect or The Mayor. The Snitch Jig boasts several premium features, which make it superior to its propeller predecessors.

Its weight-forward, teardrop head design ensures maximum water flow reaches the sculpted blade, which rotates effortlessly against a bead stopper. As a result, the Snitch Jig produces loads of flashy spin and vibrations, making a swimbait presentation more enticing to fish.

Also intriguing - and strike-inducing - are the swirling water patterns the propellor produces. The jig’s small prop blade may appear unassuming in the hand, but in the water, it contributes to the Snitch Jig’s capability of out-fishing a traditional round-head jig, particularly in scenarios involving fussy, choosy fish.

Frustration can set in fast when a short-striking fish grabs a swimbait and yanks it down the jig without getting hooked. Not only does the fish evade capture, but it ruins the presentation for the remainder of the retrieve.

The VMC Grip-R Jighead puts a stop to such swimbait-pantsing shenanigans. Featuring a custom keeper with both a tapered lead cone as well as a thin wire keeper, the Grip-R Jighead delivers “best of the best” holding power for The Suspect and Heavy Hitter Super TPE baits, along with traditional PVC plastics.

Grip-R Jigheads are available in Finesse (1x strong hook) and Heavy (2x strong hook). The Grip-R Jighead Heavy also features a dropper loop for easy modifications, such as attaching a hook or attractor blade.

Anglers are wise to fish CrushCity swimbaits on drop-shot and Carolina rigs. Each of these rigs’ design results in the weight being separated from the hook, giving the swimbait a different action than when presented on a jig. Experiment with Super TPE and PVC CrushCity swimbaits to determine whether a plastic’s buoyancy triggers more strikes when drop-shotting and Carolina rigging.

Tip: VMC’s new Sniper Swivel provides a plug-and-play weight option for finesse Carolina rigging (minus the clacker).

Before bringing this blog to a close, let’s be clear on ball head jigs; they’re absolutely essentials for swimbait fishing. This holds true for lead versions, like the VMC Hard Ball Jig, and also tungsten varieties, like the VMC RedLine Series Tungsten Swimbait Jig that’s highly in-demand due to the exceptionally strong forward-facing sonar its round ball head produces.

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of such sphere-headed jigs can cause certain anglers to avoid using other methods for rigging swimbait. Don’t fall into this trap. Look beyond the ball head, and try the alternative jig and rig setups described above to maximize the fish you catch on these stellar soft-plastic swimmers.