Elite Series Bass Jigs
The month of May, the Kentucky Derby, baseball season and the Minnesota fishing opener, all this signifies one thing…SUMMER is here. Some of our bassin’ brothers down south have been casting and hooking up with largemouth and smallmouth since January, but for many of us in the Midwest, Northeast, and Canada, our fishing seasons are just kicking off.
Regardless of this, all bass anglers know one thing, jigs catch bass. Being able to pick the right jig based on the given presentation you are wanting to show a bass on that given day is so important, as today’s bass are seeing more and more fishing pressure.
With the Elite Series Jig line up, Northland has offerings for the bass fisherman to present their bait to a bass from inches of water, to 20 plus feet of water. We caught up with some of our pro-staff to get some helpful jig fishing tips, so you can make this bass fishing season the best one yet.
Smeltinator Jig and Smeltinator Underspin
The Smeltinator and Smeltinator Underspin Jig are well known jigs in the Elite Series Jig lineup, with two Bassmaster win’s coming on the Smeltinator from longtime Northland Tackle Pro, Jeff ‘Gussy’ Gustafson, including the 2023 Bassmaster Classic. Gussy has shared some incredible knowledge on the Smeltinator Jig as he has kicked off his 2024 Elite Series season.
Finesse Football Jig
Northern Wisconsin bass angler, Damien Luchterland, likes to use the Elite Series Finesse Football as a tube jig head. “The hook is the perfect size and gives you a bulkier head. I also think there’s something to be said about the way a football head drags across the bottom compared to a standard tube head.”
Besides putting the Finesse Football head inside of a tube bait, Damien will use the jig for his Ned Rigs, or fish small swimbaits on it.
“The best tip I can give about using the Finesse Football Jig, is to match the weight, so you can feel the bottom because a lot of time you get bites when slowly dragging or hopping it along the bottom.”
Fellow Northern Wisconsin smallmouth ace, Hayden Anderson likes to use the Z-Man TRD Bugz, “but really any finesse craw or 3” swimbait works when water is cold, and you want to grind the bait along the bottom.”
The thought for many anglers of a football head jig, is a big jig that is used for fishing off of structure for largemouth. Well, the Finesse Football Jig, has a unique oblong football head design, so it can be crawled easily over structure when finesse fishing for smallmouth, and the 1/0 Gamakatsu hook keeps the jig and soft plastics profile in the water, very natural and uninhibited. The Finesse Football Jig comes in four sizes, 3/16, ¼, 5/16 and 3/8 oz and four colors, black, black & blue, green pumpkin, and rusty craw.
“I like the Finesse Football Jig because of the small hook it has,” said Anderson. “We’re primarily smallmouth fishermen when we have the choice, so the compact football jig is perfect and having a small premium hook with multiple weight and color options allows us to really dial in a bite.”
Marabou Jig
The Canadian Snow Leopard as he is known on the Bassmaster Elite Series for many years had been tying his own hair jigs to target smallmouth bass. This time-consuming process is a thing of the past for Gussy, as he said, “the Northland Marabou Jig, is the best one money can buy, you get two tournament ready jigs in a pack with a quality hook!”
One of the features that sets the Elite Series Marabou Jig apart from others, is it has a keeper on the body of the jig and Gussy will thread a small piece of plastic on to that. “A small ½ inch piece of plastic adds weight to the jig, so you can cast the jig farther, and it gives it a better profile in the water.
Back in the day, Gussy’s go to/trademark color of a hair jig was one that he had added a little purple in to, and for no other reason, than to just make it his. “I use black the majority of the time,” said Jeff. “I’ll tie up a brown one if there is a bug hatch.”
There is no question that this finesse presentation coaxes big smallmouth into angler’s boats, like Gussy’s. Ranging from Canada, down to the Great Lakes, and out to the East Coast. Being able to pick the right size and color jig depending on the wind, depth of water, and clarity of water is made simple with the Northland Tackle’s Elite Series Marabou Jig offerings, as it is available in three sizes (1/16, 3/32, and 1/8 oz), and three colors (black, brown and black/purple).
Mimic Swim Jig
When a bass fisherman needs to present a lure to pre and post spawn bass that are setting up in reeds, there are limited options, as they can be an angler’s nightmare in terms of getting hung up.
“The head design of Mimic Swim Jig comes through any kind of cover, and the sharp and strong Gamakatsu hook allows you to use straight braided line, so you can get bass out of the thick stuff, while not needing to worry about bending your hook out,” explained Gussy.
Gussy will either rig a soft plastic swimbait or beaver style bait on his Mimic Swim Jig, depending on what the bass are feeding on. If they are eating shad, or other baitfish, then the swimbait is his choice. Whereas if the bass are eating crawfish, or bluegills, then a beaver style adds bulk to the Mimic Swim Jig and gives bass a bulkier profile to key in on.
Being able to match the size and color of your Mimic Swim Jig to your favorite soft plastic swimbait is quite easy, as the jig head comes in four sizes (1/4, 3/8, ½ and ¾ ounce), and eight colors, ranging from shad imitating profiles like Smelt, Purple Shad, Sexy Shad, to natural fish profiles like the Walleye, Perch, Bluegill, Green Pumpkin, and for an all-around and low profile head, Black.
Cabbage Crusher
One of the jigs in the Elite Series line up, that is quite versatile and a hidden gem, is the Cabbage Crusher. Toyota Series Pro, Tony Hatten says, “this jig excels in areas where you would normally throw a lipless crankbait or a spinnerbait. It comes through eel grass extraordinarily well.”
Hatten prefers to use the Cabbage Crusher in the spring and then again in the fall when the bass will move up on to the flats to feed and will rig a four-to-five-inch boot tail swimbait. “I will also add a skirt and a swimming craw type trailer to run it as a swim jig,” explained Hatten.
“One trick that I have found for presenting the Cabbage Crusher is to fish it like you would a lipless in the spring, most of your bites will come as you kill the bait and it’s falling.”
This unique Elite Series jig offering from Northland Tackle has a HEAVY 60-degree bend Gamakatsu hook, and dual titanium weedguard, so it can get fished in thick weeds. Depending on the density of cover you need to get through, and how deep the water is, you can select the right weight (3/16, ¼, 3/8, or ½ oz) Cabbage Crusher for you. Four jig colors (black, silver shiner, green pumpkin, and rusty craw) allow you to match up your favorite skirt, or soft plastic trailer to create the right color profile in the water for the bass to key in on.
Nedster and Weedless Nedster
The 2023 Champions Tour Championship winner, Noah Schultz relies on the Elite Series Nedster and Weedless Nedster routinely and will have one rigged, and on the deck of his boat from the moment the ice goes off, until it freezes up.
Schultz will use the Nedster when he is fishing around grass, or sparse rock as he likes to pop the jig head free from the vegetation when it gets hung up, to invoke a reaction strike. He will then turn to the weedless version when fishing around heavy rock or wood, so he can keep his jig from getting hung up. On either of the jigs, Noah prefers the Z-Man TRD for most of the time and fish his Nedster’s on a 10 lb braided line, connected to a 20 foot, 10 lb fluorocarbon leader.
“I like to run the lightest head that the depth and conditions will allow, but yet still be efficient,” commented Noah.
The super sharp Gamakatsu hook plain out sticks a bass when it bites the Nedster, which comes in four sizes (1/8, 3/16, ¼ and 5/16 ounce), and four colors (black, chartreuse, green pumpkin and rusty craw). So, no matter the lake or river, if you are throwing a Ned Rig, the Northland Tackle Elite Series Nedster or Weedless Nedster has one for you.
Weedless Wacky Jig
Any bass fisherman knows that a wacky rigged soft plastic stickbait catches bass. Any time of the year, you can rig up one and have a great chance to catch a bass on any lake or river.
For a different look with your wacky rig, you can opt for a weighted hook, like the Northland Fishing Tackle Weedless Wacky Jig. “What I like about this presentation is the weight of the jig, coupled with the weight of the soft plastic stickbait it will sink in the water quickly,” said Northland Tackle Pro Glenn Walker. “This has helped me if the bass are sitting up shallow in denser vegetation and you need to get your bait down to them, or if you are skipping boat docks, or over hanging trees and need to get some extra distance out of your skip.”
The Weedless Wacky Jig is available in both a black and green pumpkin colored head, so you can match the color of the jig to your favorite soft plastic stickbait. Depending on the depth of water you are fishing, and how fast of a fall you want your stickbait to have, you can select from a 1/16-, 1/8- or 3/16-ounce jig.
With bass fishing season here for all anglers across the United States and Canada, don’t delay in picking up some of these Elite Series Jigs, and use some of the knowledge from our Northland Tackle pros, and you’ll be able to get a leg up on the bass and your competition.
Shop : Smeltinator | Smeltinator Underspin | Finesse Football Jig | Marabou Jig | Mimic Swim Jig | Cabbage Crusher | Nedster | Weedless Nedster | Weedless Wacky Jig
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