This river bass ate a swim jig fished just outside some flooded emergent vegetation during the post spawn.

With most baits or special techniques, the origins are often debated. As soon as one person or locale is attributed with creating something, you can bet someone or someplace else will claim they did the same thing 20 years earlier.

But with the swim jig, one thing cannot be debated: The fisherman who did the most to make this bait and technique popular is Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wisconsin. And the body of water he did it on is the Upper Mississippi River. Monsoor didn't actively promote the technique, but he did often credit a jig for his catches. The manner in which he was fishing the jig didn’t become common knowledge outside a relatively small circle of river anglers for quite some time. After stringing together a number of tournament wins, including the 2001 Everstart Northern Division event out of La Crosse, and three consecutive Wal-Mart BFL Great Lakes Division championships, the secret was pretty hard to keep under the rug.

Today, Monsoor is capitalizing on his signature bait and technique with the Tom Monsoor Swim Jig marketed by Bass Pro Shops. Some big-name tackle companies, such as Booyah, Strike King, and Outkast have started to market dedicated swim jigs in the last several years, and a lot of smaller, regional brands have emerged. If you haven't used one, you're missing out on a new weapon for your bass-catching arsenal.

Fishing a swim jig is easy. But if your previous jig-fishing experience has consisted only of pitching and flipping one around heavy cover with a pork chunk dragging behind, convincing yourself to fish it correctly is the hard part. For sure, it seems a little odd to retrieve a bait typically presented vertically and slowly instead like a spinnerbait. You read correctly. A spinnerbait. Throw it out, reel it in. Resist the urge to drop it or pop it. Not that you can't trigger strikes by dropping it or twitching it, but the bait seems to be most effective when it's traveling horizontally through the water column at a steady pace. How deep? Experiment. You can burn it on the surface or work progressively deeper. Again, just like a spinnerbait.

So why not just throw a spinnerbait? Good question. But there are good answers, too. Probably the best answer is that a swim jig is better suited for fishing grass. The wire frame, swivel, and blades on a spinnerbait like to grab vegetation. You have to do a lot of "steering" on the retrieve to prevent a spinnerbait from getting fouled. And should the top arm of the frame hit a weed stalk just right, the bait will roll and expose the hook to a grass glob. A swim jig has less hanging off it, and slides through vegetation much cleaner.

Another reason is subtlety. There are times when bass may not want the flash or thump of a spinnerbait. Or some fish may be conditioned to avoid a spinnerbait since they see so many of them. A swim jig's lack of blades gives you a horizontal, baitfish presentation without the same look and feel of a spinnerbait.

Finally, a swim jig is really versatile. Case in point: Say you're fishing along some scattered eel grass and coontail clumps and you come to a little bay full of slop. Unless it's nothing but clingy, slimy filamentous algae, you don't necessarily have to put your rod down and pick up a frog. Just sling your swim jig out and work it back over the top. Slop bass will blow up on it just like a frog bait.

A 5-inch curl-tail grub glued to the keeper collar is a nice package. Most jig swimmers rig the grub with the tail down, although there are those who feel that tail up is better. Experiment and decide which position gives you the action you're looking for.

So what makes a good swim jig? Head shape is pretty important. Generally, a pointed, bullet-style jig head is best. It seems to shed grass better without the wide "cheeks" of an Arkie-style head that can tend to hold onto weeds.

Another important element is the trailer. Probably the best is a 5-inch curl tail grub. Yamamoto grubs work extremely well and have great action. But their high salt content makes them very prone to tearing. A good option is the 5-inch Mag Grub made by Action Plastics. This grub offers good action without the salt, and stays intact much longer. Regardless of the grub you choose, it's advisable to glue it on to the hook shank and keeper with some waterproof, quick dry adhesive. This will prevent a lot of frustration by keeping the grub from sliding down to the hook bend. A good glue choice is one with a screw top and a brush applicator. These containers seem to keep the contents fresh longer and avoid messes better than squeeze tubes.

Color combinations are only limited by your imagination. But two basic colors seem to cover nearly all situations. A black and blue skirt with a blue sapphire grub is a pretty good bluegill imitator. When shad become the primary target for bass, a white skirt with a milky pepper grub is tough to beat.

If you can find a jig with the skirt tied or wired onto the head, you'll be happier than one with the typical rubber collar that can slide down off the keeper and turn into a mess after pushing it back up a few times. They're hard to find, though. Look for a jig with a good strong, round bend, black nickel hook.

While swim jigs excel in grass, don't discount their fish-catching ability in wood, rock, and even open water. Monsoor has proven on the FLW Tour that swimming a jig catches fish in all cover types, and in water deeper than three feet. Swim jigs probably aren't the best choice for the very muddiest and very cleanest water. But outside of those two extremes, you can catch bass by swimming a jig in a wide variety of conditions.