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PR ESE N TA TIO N By S Scott M. Petersen
with Todd Faircloth
Fall 2020
T
ake a long hard look at your tacklebox. If you could only pick one lure
to fish for the next year of your life, what would your choice be?
That was the same question that I asked Denali Pro Staff member Todd Faircloth. Thinking a little he gave me his answer.
“My bait choice would have to be a jig,” he said. “My pick is a jig, because I
can fish a jig from top to bottom of the water column with many variations in
between.”
Faircloth began to elaborate. He quickly put four different jigs on the
front deck of his Skeeter, and we went through each one as he gave me his
breakdown.
SWIM JIGS
The first jig of Todd’s picked was a Swim Jig.
“I use a swim jig as my search bait, just like many other fisherman use crankbaits or spinnerbaits to find bass,” he said. “The reason that I choose a swim jig is I can vary the depth of the bait by changing the jig size and the trailer that I am equipping the jig with. By adjusting the trailer size and its action, that will have a direct effect on the jig, the overall picture, and the depth that the swim jig will maintain.”
Horizontal line ties keep the swim jig swimming in a straight line back to the boat on the retrieve.
“You may have seen other swim jigs on the market that have offset eyes,” he said. “These jigs do not swim straight and have a tendency to move off to one side or the other thus do not look real in the water.”
A good swim jig will have a plastic keeper. “If you cannot keep your plastics locked in place, it will cost you fish, in the long run,” explained Faircloth. “Your jig will not run straight and if your plastics pulls down, it may even cover your hook point costing you bass when they bite.”
Many of the swim jig have lighter weedguard to help on hookups.
Faircloth ties his swim jigs on 30-pound braid.
“Braided line has a low stretch factor and will give you a good solid hook sets in all conditions,” he added. “My choice of braid is Sunline SX1.”
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