Chris:
I have had the same experience except my situation is a little
different. About 4 years ago I met the guy that makes "the worm" which
is one of those pre-rigged swimming worms. He gave me a bunch and said
it would help my wife and son to get on fish easier. They sat in my
boat for a year before I tried one. I had a tournament mentality that
the bait wasn't for real fishermen. I started to catch a lot of fish on
them although not a great size in general. Then last year I tried
swimming a jig the same way I was doing with that worm. I didn't get
as many bites but the fish were larger in general. The first day of
the Northwoods Classic all my keeper fish in Boom came from swimming a
jig. This year I plan on doing it even more. So I think both have
there place. You can go through an area with a worm and then go back
through with a jig and catch a few more and probably larger fish. On
slow days I think a worm will give you more bites but normally I let
the fish tell me what they want on any given day. I'm glad you got
your boat and the water is finally open here in Wisconsin. The ice is
just coming off of Shawano and I hope to get out this weekend.