A small swimbait with an exposed jig hook is simply one of the best ways to get bit. It will catch fish regardless of the season, species, or depth. One of the main advantages of the swimbait is the ability to cover lots of water and find schools of fish, then once you find them you can fine tune your approach and really pick them apart. Seth Feider explains how he uses a finesse swimbait to find and target schools of smallmouth bass.
He chooses to use a spinning rod regardless of the jig head weight because it allows him to cast further than a baitcaster, a huge advantage when fishing a swimbait. Also, braid to a fluorocarbon leader has less stretch which results in better hook penetration when fish bite far away from the boat. Seth keeps a variety of jig heads in his boat to match the swimbait to the proper depth and size of the bait. If your swimbait is too small for the jig head it will lose a lot of its action, or if the bait is too big fish are likely to miss the hook when they bite. Fishing these finesse swimbaits can be like riding a fine line, but when everything works the fishing can be exceptional.
