Luke Dunkin’s Spinnerbait Alternative

If fall has been tough so far, you might want to try this simple tip

Several years ago, Luke Dunkin discovered an alternative to the ubiquitous spinnerbait in the fall. Since then, he’s been cashing in with a swim jig instead.

“The time I figured it out, I had fish missing a spinnerbait, and I started throwing the same trailer on a jig and they started gettin’ it – I mean swallowing it,” says Dunkin. “It was just trial and error. I throw a white jig a lot around grass, but I’d never thrown it on rock like that. But now it’s a mainstay in the fall, all the way until it gets too cold to get out there.”

Dunkin’s jig of choice is a white Dirty Jigs Swim Jig (mostly 1/2 ounce, but sometimes the 3/8-ounce model) with a white pearl Zoom Z Craw Jr. as the trailer fished on a 7-2, heavy-action rod with 20-pound-test fluorocarbon and a quick reel.

“I like to throw it when the water starts cooling off,” says the Tennessee pro. “I start when it gets in the mid- to low 70s, and it’ll work all the way through the fall when the water gets into the 50s too.

“You throw it places where you’d throw a spinnerbait or a buzzbait, but it just gives them a different look,” says Dunkin. “A lot of times on highland-style lakes, where it’s clear, when you get a little chop where you would burn a spinnerbait or something, you can erratically fish it, not stroking it, but popping it down a rock shelf or around laydowns. That’s where the white jig will really, really catch them.”

In addition to fishing the jig erratically around laydowns and steep rock, Dunkin also likes it around bluffs, flats with isolated cover and anywhere bass are targeting bait. He says it’s particularly good when bass are spraying bait out of the water but not visibly busting on top.

Dunkin says that a little chop is a must on clear lakes, but that stained water will let you fish it most anytime. That means it’s a go in a wide range of conditions on slightly stained places such as the Tennessee River.

“It’s just giving the fish a different look,” says Dunkin. “Most people, when they pull out a white jig, they’re thinking swim jig kinda stuff – willows, shallow grass and pads. I’m talking about hopping it, not swimming it, just really erratically jerking it. And it works on spotted bass, smallmouths and largemouths. You’ll see your line jump, and it’s on.”