4 Best Flipping Jig Trailers for Fooling Largemouth Bass

The flipping jig is one of the best largemouth bass lures on the market. Pairing one with the right soft plastic trailer, whether a craw, chunk, creature, or swimbait, is simple to learn and will help you land more and bigger bass.

Stick to these four styles of soft plastic trailers when rigging a flipping jig to catch more and bigger largemouth bass. | Justin Hoffman

What is a Flipping Jig and Why Do They Work So Well for Largemouth Bass?

If you're looking to catch more and bigger largemouth bass this season then look no further than a flipping jig. These living-rubber skirted jigs, attached to a weedless lead or Tungsten head and hook, are simple in design and deadly in underwater action and execution.

A black and blue flipping jig is a top rated color for catching largemouth bass. | weaponsofbassdestruction.ca

A flipping jig can be cast or pitched virtually anywhere big largemouth bass call home. With a beefed-up profile for fish to key in on and a tantalizing drop and swimming action that is hard for bass to resist, these craw or frog replicators easily fool largemouth into striking.

Prime baits for tossing to docks and laydowns, undercut banks, weed clumps and edges, or pads and slop, the flipping jig is a versatile four-season lure that is guaranteed to get bit.

A Weapons of Bass Destruction flipping jig paired with a Mayhem Thrust Swim Minnow trailer. | Justin Hoffman

Click HERE to read my full feature article on 'The Flipping Jig: Is This The BEST Bass Bait?'

Flipping Jig Trailers Give This Bait Added Action and Appeal

Although you can fish a flipping jig straight out of the package, pairing it up with a soft plastic trailer will give this bait its action and allure. As mentioned above, adding bulk to the bait and tantalizing action-packed appendages turns a 'naked' flipping jig into a full blown fish catching machine.

This 'dock fish' fell for a pitched flipping jig during a mid-summer cold front. | Justin Hoffman

A trailer will also slow down the descent rate of a flipping jig, allowing the lure to stay in the strike zone longer while working its alluring charm on the way down.

Lastly, a trailer allows you to match or mismatch colors between skirt and soft plastic pairing, giving fish more visual options for tricking them into a strike.

Here's my choice for the best four flipping jig trailers, highlighting why each works and when to use them.

Pair a Flipping Jig and Soft Plastic Craw Trailer For Added 'Flap' and Summertime Allure

The soft plastic craw is one of my favorite flipping jig trailers and for good reason - they mimic a freshwater crustacean perfectly and seem to ring the dinner bell loud for those active summertime bass.

A flipping jig trailer I routinely reach for when the water is bathtub warm, the added action from the craws tip the odds in your favor if bass are aggressive and chomping at the bit.

A craw flipping jig trailer is an excellent choice when fish are fired up and aggressive. | americanbaitworks.com

Craw trailers also give off a ton of vibration due to their flapping claws, making them an ideal option when fishing stained or muddy water. Choose a bright hue plastic craw in this case.

Craws between 4 and 5 inches work best as flipping jig trailers.

Top Choices for a Flipping Jig Craw Trailer

• NetBait Paca Craw
• Strike King Rage Tail Craw
• Z-Man Hella Crawz

Match a Chunk Trailer and Flipping Jig For Subtle Action and Cold Water Charm

A soft plastic chunk, although similar to a craw physically in so much as having claws, displays very little flapping action or water displacement. Think of the chunk as more of a finesse trailer for your flipping jig, excelling in clear water or when water temperatures are chilly and largemouth bass have a case of lock jaw.

A chunk trailer is better suited for when water is clear or cold. | zoombait.com

A chunk trailer has a more compact 'tail portion' than that of a craw, meaning it will slip through small pockets of slop or pads easier. And if you target bedding fish in the spring where legal, the tandem combo of a flipping jig and chunk is a hands-down winner.

Best size chunk trailer is 3.5 to 4 inches.

Top Choices for a Flipping Jig Chunk Trailer

• Zoom Salty Pro Chunk
• Tackle Depot Boom Chunk Jig Trailer
• Berkley Powerbait Maxscent Power Chunk

Creature Bait Trailer + Flipping Jig = A Scare Tactic Largemouth Bass Can't Resist

I'm a big fan of pitching Texas-rigged creature baits to slop and undercut banks. These larger than life soft plastic baits, with a myriad of appendages, offer an upsized profile that big fish simply can't resist. Pair them with a flipping jig and they scream 'trophy time!'

The Strike King Rodent is an excellent creature bait trailer for pairing with a flipping jig. | strikeking.com

If fishing thick cover where bass might not easily find a bait or water that is murky or muddy, the creature bait gets the nod as the preferred flipping jig trailer. Its also a top choice if I'm solely in search of trophy fish.

Once late fall rolls around and water temperatures plummet, a creature bait trailer is pretty much all I rig on my flipping jigs. With largemouth bass putting on the feed bag and targeting bigger prey, this larger than life creature gets the attention of hungry fish no problem.

Four to 5 inch long creature bait trailers are what I use.

Top Choices for a Flipping Jig Creature Bait Trailer

• Strike King Rodent
• YUM Wolly Bug
• Reaction Innovations Kinky Beaver

Choose a Swimbait Trailer Partnered with a Flipping Jig to Mimic a Fleeing Baitfish

We all know how well swimbaits work for catching largemouth bass. And a swimbait, paired with a swim jig, is a fantastic search lure for covering water and finding fish.

Partnering up a swimbait and flipping jig gives a cool look when dropping vertically, imitating a nose-down minnow or baitfish fleeing toward bottom. Its too much for any largemouth bass to resist.

A swimbait trailer paired with a flipping jig offers bass a baitfish imitator on the drop. | rapala.ca

I started rigging my flipping jigs with a swimbait trailer about three years. I'm definitely sold. Perfect for pitching to undercut banks or boat docks, I also like to dunk cabbage bed pockets with this one-two punch.

Let the swimbait trailer do all of the work on the drop. Believe me, largemouth bass will definitely take notice.
Choose a 4 inch swimbait trailer for your flipping jigs.

Top Choices for a Flipping Jig Swimbait Trailer

• Rapala CrushCity The Mayor
• Mayhem Thrust Swim Minnow
• Lunkerhunt HIVE Seeker Swimbait

Learn the Best Flipping Jig Trailers to Use by Testing Each Out On the Water

There's no better way to figure out the flipping jig trailer game than by putting in some time experimenting on the water. Spend a day rigging and pitching all four soft plastic flipping jig trailers to see both the action (or non-action) and how largemouth bass react to each.

The author shows off the rewards of pitching a flipping jig paired with a craw trailer. | Justin Hoffman

When it comes to pairing a soft plastic trailer with a flipping jig, craws, chunks, creature baits, and swimbaits all have a time and place - and they work equally well at putting largemouth bass in the boat.