Swinging Head Tube Jigs

A swing head jig is ideal for presenting craw imitating plastics along hard bottom. In comparison to traditional jig head designs or tube jig inserts, they promote tail action, resistance to snagging, sound and vibration, better feel and detection of bottom, and higher hooking percentage.

Freedom Tackle’s Corp’s. live action hybrid jigs have been modeled by a universal angling concept: to give anglers the freedom of choice to use preferred hooks and baits at any time. The moment their swinging head jigs hit the water, they land upright in a perfect strike position, ready for smallmouths to gobble it up.

Available in 1/16, ¼, 3/8 and ½ ounce sizes, the Zodiac is a revolutionary tool for power jigging and probing through the rocky terrain and complex lake contour inhabited by smallmouths. Utilizing an upright weight-forward head design, the jig always lands in an upright position, evading snags and inviting feeding fish. The progressive thinking behind Tamburro’s design is beautiful in its simplicity with lifelike 3D eyes, a sonic brass echo chamber, interchangeable hook features, and free range of motion.

The first time I ever fished this rig was in May, 2014. I recall how late that month a warm front prompted smallmouths to abandon pre-spawn locations and to prepare for spawn in the coming hours. With locations and moods drastically changing due to climbing water temps, my partner and I had to abandon our suspended jerkbait patterns altogether and adjust to the fish.

Out came tube jigs, and a new little rig I concocted with Freedom Tackle’s Zodiac jig.

I focused on the sunlit main lake flats and rocky shoals, my power bouncing techniques with jig and Strike King Coffee Tube was getting viciously bit by giant drag-singing smallmouths. The explosive power I experienced from these fish will likely never again be replicated.

Because of crayfish forage base, most of my favorite soft plastics for smallmouths are bottom presentations, best executed by jigs or bottom oriented rigs such as the Texas and Carolina rig. Like the jigs being fished with them, smallmouth plastics have experienced a boom themselves, but despite how technical some brands and styles have become, I prefer to keep my presentations simple with the time-tested favorites.

Tube jigs work in all types of smallmouth water, but certain tubes work better than others. For instance, the Strike King Coffee Tube has accounted for more 20-plus inch smallmouths for me than any other tube bait. In recent years, Get Bit Baits 3.5 Double Dipped Tube, with much greater durability, performs just as well. Top colors: magic goby, natural craw, krazy craw, and molten craw.

Fish the package with a minimum of medium-heavy fast action spinning rod spooled with 15 to 20 lb. Cortland Masterbraid. My favorite rod for the rig is St. Croix Rods Legend Elite (ES70MHF) and Legend Tournament Power Swim (LBS71MHXF).

It’s a system of feel and requires a slightly different approach to retrieve and hook sets. It catches smallmouths and is an unbeatable rig with crayfish are the predominant forage.